Tuesday, December 22

Slept late this morning, and then did a treadmill session and resistance exercises. After being away from the treadmill for several days, I had to slow my pace just slightly. It doesn't take long to lose strength. But then, exercising regularly also means I can get back up to speed in a day or so.

Mother came over mid-morning, and we made a list of groceries we'll need for Christmas weekend. Hubbie called our favorite barbecue restaurant to order pulled pork to have with soups on Saturday, when Hubbie's family will be here. He ordered it for 11:30 a.m., and then went to pick it up around that time. He also picked up a package of hamburger buns, so that we could sample the barbecue for lunch. We put the rest of it in the freezer until Friday.

Before I went upstairs to get ready for the day, I called another local restaurant to order a dozen of their mouthwatering yeast rolls to have with Christmas and New Year's dinners. We'll pick those up tomorrow.

While we were doing those things, Mother chose another jigsaw puzzle to work on. Before she got started on the puzzle, I gave her a tenth day of Christmas gift...two word search books and some intimate apparel in a style that she likes and that are hard to find. She was excited by these.

After lunch, Hubbie and I ran errands...to the pharmacy to pick prescriptions for both Mother and me and to the Caring Hands Hospice office to pick up a pewter dove for Hubbie's sister. From there, we went to the WDCS.

When we got back home, I turned right around and went to town again, because I had some last-minute Christmas shopping to do. Things went very well, and I was able to quickly find what I wanted, as well do Mother's Christmas shopping for Hubbie, and get back home within an hour. I was even able to apply a $10 discount coupon to the purchase, which helped both Mother and me.

While I was shopping, Mother put together a pot of chili to simmer for supper. I returned home around 3 p.m. and sat down to catch up on reading newspapers from Sunday, yesterday, and today.

Around 5 p.m., we had bowls of chili, and afterward, we went on a tour of Christmas lights around town. We usually do this tour on Christmas Eve, but predictions are for stormy weather that night, so we decided to do it tonight.

We were impressed with how our town has outdone itself decorating for Christmas. Both the downtown district, and the park at the river are ablaze in Christmas lights...very enchanting. I think the reason for the extraordinary display is that we are listed this year in the tourism department's trail of lights brochure, so our town's powers-that-be wanted to make sure we are well represented.

It rained a little while we were out and about, but the temperature was moderate, so it was still pleasant. When we got back home, we had cups of hot chocolate with slices of chocolate date nut bread. Yum.

Mother went home after that, and Hubbie and I watched our favorite college basketball team play to another nail-biter win, after the game went into overtime. I had recorded the game on DVR.

Note: I got a very special Christmas card today from a high school classmate, who was one of my best friends, but that I haven't had contact with since graduation. I learned that she lives in a town about five hours away, near Hubbie's daughter's home. So I hope to be able to see her some time when we go to that area to visit Daughter. Tomorrow, I'll send her a New Year's card and letter.