Friday, Dec. 17

Up around 8 a.m. this morning and did a treadmill session and resistance exercises after breakfast. Once I was ready for the day, I did this and that before lunch...like putting a sparkly ribbon and a gift card on a bottle of chai mix to use as a hostess gift for an annual "Cup of Cheer" gathering at a friend's house.



Naturally, this simple task didn't go off without a hitch. For one thing, I couldn't find a box of gift tags I'd bought a month or so ago. Mother and I were sure they were in our greeting card making supplies, but if they are, they are buried deep. So I decided to just create one with card stock and a sticker.



Naturally, the sticker wouldn't stick, so I had to dig through my supplies to find glue dots to adhere it. Then I tied it to the bow with gold string. But naturally, the string slipped apart, and I had to tie it again, knotting it and knotting it to secure it.



Then I wrote a Christmas letter to a friend to include in a greeting card. Naturally, I then couldn't find her address. The last I saw it, I'd tucked hers and some other address cards into the Rolodex a couple of days ago, but when I looked they were all gone. I've hunted high and low for them to no avail. So I guess this friend won't get the card and letter. Maybe I'll call her. I think her number is in my cell phone address book.



So I decided to call the arts council director at the gallery downtown to let her know that I was bringing a couple of photos to her to give to the lady who asked me to print them for her (they are from the graham cracker cookie Christmas house workshop). Naturally, no one answered at the gallery.



Those were frustrating things, but not nearly as frustrating as Mother discovering this morning that there was a busted water pipe at her house, and water was seeping onto the lawn. Hubbie immediately called a plumber, who arrived right at noon. Since he was here, we got him to look at the upstairs bathroom sinks, which were draining extremely slowly. He fixed both problems, but advised that our faucets are leaking water down the inside of the wall, and we need to get them replaced. Merry Christmas.



After lunch, I decided I needed to chance that the art gallery would be open around 1 p.m., so Hubbie and I drove downtown. Naturally, a few blocks down Main Street, I remembered I needed to pick up two or three free editions of the regional section of our state newspaper, because some of the snapshots from the Christmas house workshop were in it (though, boo, none of our great-grandchildren were featured...however, one photo of Granddaughter and Great-Granddaughter were in our local newspaper).



Once we'd picked up the papers, we proceeded to the gallery and left a copy of the regional section, a copy of the photos featured in the local newspaper, a package of prints from the workshop, and the two photos requested by the lady.



Back home, I helped Mother address some of her Christmas cards (her hands are getting shaky for writing these days), and then we sat down to watch "I Want a Dog for Christmas, Charlie Brown."



Afterward, we went to the neighbor's "Cup of Cheer" drop-in event. The home where the event was held is relatively small, so it was pretty crowded with women. The ladies, including us, were colorfully dressed in holiday garb. The house was pleasingly decorated, and two long tables were laden with goodies. Drinks included wassail and coffee.



Lots of the ladies from water aerobics were there, so I got to visit with them. The lady I stand next to at aerobics is going on a cruise with her family beginning this coming Sunday. It'll be a 22 day excursion to Antarctica. They chose to go through the Christmas holidays because her son is in the middle of a very nasty divorce, and they want to get away from the turmoil. I'd say they could hardly get farther away than Antarctica!



Back home, Mother went to her house, and later, Hubbie and I went to a home medical service Christmas party at the country club. In the past, this party was held at a hunting lodge, but the lodge has since been sold. We're invited to this party each year because I'm on the advisory board.

The room that the party was held in was okay, but it wasn't as interesting as the lodge. The mantel in the room was decorated with various sizes of Santas. The tree featured purple and lavender decorations (purple seems to be the "in" color this year).

A popular local guitarist entertained before and during dinner. Dinner was buffet style, featuring green salad, fruit salad, and cranberry relish, as well as sweet potatoes and mashed potatoes, gravy, a green bean casserole, a choice of turkey or ham, fresh sliced by a staff member, and hot rolls. For dessert, there was a choice of apple or pumpkin pie.

I opted for the green salad, cranberry relish, sweet potatoes, a dab of mashed potatoes and gravy, a dab of the green bean casserole, and turkey. I chose apple pie, but ate only the apples and not the crust.

After dinner, the advisory board members were presented with gift tins containing jars of dips and packages of pretzels. One jar contains onion blossom horseradish dip, with a very high fat and sodium content, and one jar contains raspberry honey mustard dip, which is very low in fat and moderate in sodium content.

Then the head of the medical services praised the staff for a successful year. He also commented on losing his father this year, and gaining a grandson, born two months ago.

A staff member enlisted other staff members to participate in games. The first one was twelve folks singing "The Twelve Days of Christmas," with new lyrics expressing events that had happened on their jobs. Obviously, Hubbie and I weren't in the know for this one, although listening to the twelve try to sing their assigned parts was funny.

Then the medical services head, plus a board member and two other guys, were seated up front and issued "costumes" of a Santa hat, an elf hat, a scarf and bowler hat (for Frosty), and antlers. Then they were given bells for ringing in if they knew the answers to questions. The questions were simple ones relating to Frosty the Snowman, Santa and his reindeer, the Grinch, etc. I was surprised at how few these guys could answer. Obviously, men are not as "in the know" as women, maybe because we are more connected to children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren. I knew the answers to all of them but one.

We were back home around 8 p.m., when we relaxed in front of TV.