Sunday, Dec. 11

Today is Daughter's birthday. Happy Birthday, Daughter!

We were up around 7:30 so we could do some last minute housework to get ready for company this afternoon. After scrubbing the kitchen, dusting, vacuuming, etc., I fixed a lunch of what Mother called party food...stuff I'd brought home from Friday and Saturday events. I rounded the meal out with baked sweet potatoes and leftover macaroni and cheese.

After we cleared away lunch, I put a white cut work tablecloth on the dining room table, and thanks to a beautiful poinsettia and rosemary plant in a brass-like planter that Niece gave us yesterday, the table looked elegant.

In a corner of the living room, I covered a card table with a red tablecloth. I set the table with my everyday almond-colored dessert plates, and "Bah Humbug" themed cocktail napkins.

Around 2 p.m., our friends arrived. Good thing we spruced the house, because the ladies made themselves right at home, going from room to room downstairs to see the Christmas decorations. I had closed the blinds to the sunroom, because it's sort of a mess, with Christmas ornament totes stacked here and there, litter boxes for the cats, and potting shed stuff, but the ladies insisted on seeing the tree out there, anyway.

After the tour, I served them a choice of rum cake, or pound cake topped with pie cherries, and cups of hot homemade chai tea. I also offered turtles candy that I'd bought at the craft fair yesterday.

We had a good visit. Before they left around 3 p.m., I brought out tubes of hand cream (a bag full of them) from a popular intimate apparel shop, so they could each choose a scent that they liked as my token Christmas gift to them.

We relaxed the rest of the afternoon. We had a light supper...Mother opted for Ramen noodle soup, and Hubbie and I decided on more party food.

Afterward, we made a batch of chocolate/peppermint bark candy. Hubbie crushed the peppermint candy disks for us, I melted the white chocolate and dark chocolate chips, and Mother layered the chocolates and swirled it, then patted the peppermint candy into it. She enjoys kitchen projects, so I try to make sure there's something she can do while sitting at the table in the kitchen.

This activity, and the visit from our friends today was good for Mother, and helped lift her spirits, as did the visit from Niece and Daughter yesterday. She hasn't been able to go to any of the Christmas events this year, so any holiday activities at home make her feel a part of the festivities.

Later, we watched a Hallmark Channel Christmas movie called, "The Santa Incident." Santa's sleigh is shot down when he flies over restricted military airspace, and then he is interrogated by a pair of homeland security agents. Unless a couple of kids, and Santa's elves, can get the agents to believe in Santa, Christmas will be doomed.

Mother went to bed shortly afterward, and Hubbie and I watched TV for a while longer, until our bedtime.