Sunday, Dec. 18

Up at 6 a.m., so we'd have plenty of time to get things ready for a visit from Hubbie's family. After breakfast, helping Mother dress, and getting ready for the day myself, Mother and I worked in the kitchen.

Mother made slaw dressing and mixed with a bag of shredded coleslaw. Then she halved red potatoes and placed them in a dish with melted butter and Parmesan cheese to be baked later. After I halved boiled eggs and deviled the yokes with mustard, salad dressing, and spices, which Mother then put into the egg whites.

I helped her go back to the den to rest after that, and I continued in the kitchen...seasoning chicken breasts for the slow cooker, slicing bread, etc. I also set the table and finished sprucing the house.

Family arrived around 11:30, bringing goodies and gifts. By noon, the ten of us were ready to sit down to lunch. We had the chicken, sliced ham, green beans/corn medley, sweet potato casserole that Daughter brought, Parmesan potatoes, deviled eggs, coleslaw, and sliced sourdough bread.

I guess the meal was a success, since we ate nearly all of it except the ham and bread. Everyone loved the chicken and asked for my recipe. I don't have a recipe...I just season it with this and that. Today, I brushed the meat (that I'd rinsed and patted dry) with olive oil. Then I sprinkled it with no-salt seasoning, pepper, paprika, thyme, and sprigs of rosemary from the plant that Niece brought us last week, added chicken broth to the pot, and let it cook a couple of hours.

I don't measure much of anything when I cook, but Daugher insisted I estimate the amounts of seasonings I used on the chicken, and write the recipe down for her, which I did, but I'll be surprised if what she prepares comes close to what we had today. I couldn't duplicate it exactly again, myself.

We were all so stuffed after lunch that no one wanted peach cobbler or rum cake, but later we grazed on snack items that Daughter had brought.

Once the kitchen was cleaned, and the food put away, we gathered in the living room to exchange gifts. The daughters, in typical generous fashion, gave me birthday gifts of a brown choker necklace from Africa that I'd admired last summer, a decorated large coffee can filled with several rubber stamps and a punch, as well as photo corners and glue squares. They also gave me a package of blank cards and envelopes. The rubber stamps feature greetings suited to Caring Hands Hospice patients and their families. The cards are meant for that project also.

For my personal use, they gave me a zippered makeup pouch, a tube of facial cleansing cream, and a neck warmer/cooler (this can be put in the microwave or the refrigerator to be used to ease neck pain or just relax the neck and shoulders.

Mother also received a makeup pouch, and a tube of hand cream. Of course the rubber stamps, etc., are meant for both of us to use.

The daughters and granddaughter were impressed with the etched Christmas ornaments we gave them. Hubbie had already gifted them for their birthdays earlier.

Although we agreed not to exchange expensive Christmas gifts, the daughters still gave their dad a couple of gift cards to a local home improvement store, as well as a really neat multi-level hummingbird feeder, a gardening calendar, a Farmer's Almanac, and a travel glass that they said does not "sweat" on the outside.

We spent the next hour or so playing card games and working a jigsaw puzzle. At 3 p.m., they left. Some traveled about an hour to their homes, while one of the daughters and a granddaughter traveled about five hours to their town.

Soon after they left, I made a glaze for the rum cake I baked last night, and then I fixed a supper of cold chicken and bread and butter for Mother. Hubbie and I decided to have peach cobbler and ice cream.

Then we watched the movie musical, "Scrooge," starring Albert Finney. While I watched TV, I wrote notes on Christmas cards to be sent to family and friends. I've reduced my card list drastically, and only send a handful now.

Mother went to bed around 8 p.m., and Hubbie and I continued watching TV until our bedtime. It was a busy day, but a good one.