Sunday, December 21

We got up about 7:30 this frigid morning, and I did a treadmill session and resistance exercises before breakfast.

About 10 a.m., we were ready to head to another town to join Hubbie's family for a Christmas celebration. We were among the first to arrive, but others, who had to travel a greater distance, arrived nearer to lunch time.

The first thing we noticed when we arrived was that Granddaughter was wearing a cast and special shoe on her left foot. It seems she broke a bone in her foot, though she doesn't have a clue how she did it. She'd been having pain in her foot for a while before she decided to see her doctor. I wondered if wearing high heels had caused a stress fracture, but she's not convinced that's the problem. It's just one of those mysteries.

Before and after lunch, several of us worked on the 500-piece jigsaw puzzle that we brought along, but we were unable to complete it by 4 p.m., when we left to come home.

I limited my snacking before lunch, even though there was an array of tempting tidbits, including several kinds of fudge, like pumpkin and peanut butter, besides the traditional chocolate ones, plus a cookie assortment, veggies with horseradish dip, cranberry brie, and the three dips and cheese ball that we brought along. There was also chocolate cake, chocolate pie, and coconut cream pie for dessert.

Lunch choices were ham, green bean casserole, plain green beans, hot corn, cheesy potatoes, cranberry sauce, cole slaw, and homemade crescent rolls. I ate sparingly, but I did sample all of the dishes except the ham and green bean casserole. And I couldn't resist a slice of chocolate cake.

After lunch, there was a gift exchange among the 13 adults and five children gathered. Hubbie and I received several garden-related items, like whimsical stone-like ornaments with faces on them, a round brass eye-catcher ornament that whirls in the wind, and a rabbit lying on its back holding a birdbath or butterfly watering dish. These will all work nicely in Hubbie's shade garden.

Besides these gifts, Mother and I received Christmas ornaments and beauty products, and Hubbie got gift cards to home supply stores. One gift card was cleverly presented in a double-layer wooden gift tag. The tag was secured with a screw at one corner, and embedded in the top layer of wood was a tiny Phillips head screwdriver, which, when used to take the screw out, opened the two layers of wood to reveal the gift card within.

I got a neat gift from one of Hubbie's daughters. It's a small ceramic "pillow " vase with three holes in the top. It's meant for creating miniature fresh or dry arrangements.

This year, the little ones made cute foam Christmas tree ornaments that they proudly distributed to each of us. These will be right at home on the eclectic tree in the sun room.

By this time, folks were ready to get on the road home, but before we left, we donned the Santa hats that Hubbie's ex provided, and lined up in front of the Christmas tree for family group photos. Daughter set the timer on her camera and snapped several shots, hoping at least one will have us all smiling, eyes open, with no kids making weird faces.

We got back home about 5:30 p.m., and I heated low-fat, no-salt chili for Hubbie's and my supper, which we ate with crackers spread with Italian cream cheese. We had fruit for dessert. The rest of the evening, we relaxed in front of the TV.