Sunday, Nov. 18

Slept late this morning, until around 8 a.m. Skipped my exercises after breakfast, because I wasn't sure when Daughter and Great-Granddaughter would get up. Turned out they slept until 10 a.m.

After they had a cereal and orange juice breakfast, we watched my "Charlie Brown Thanksgiving" DVD that includes a feature about the Peanuts gang as pilgrims sailing on the Mayflower to Plymouth Rock, where the first Thanksgiving is held. Great-Granddaughter said she saw this DVD at school last week, but she enjoyed watching it again.

Later, I fixed a lunch of fried chicken breasts, mashed potatoes and gravy, and corn-on-the-cob. Since Daughter and Great-Granddaughter had eaten so late, I was afraid they wouldn't be hungry for lunch. But I needn't have worried...they enthusiastically chowed down.

After lunch, around 1 p.m., Daughter, Great-Granddaughter, Mother, and I went to the middle school auditorium to see the other dance studio's performance of "Babes in Toyland."

The show wasn't until 2 p.m., but I figured that if we didn't arrive really early, we would have trouble finding a parking space, and I was right. Again, there was exactly one handicap space left, which I squeezed into.

Inside the auditorium, at the ticket table, a very fake looking Santa greeted the children. Great-Granddaughter wasn't buying his act, stating that "he looks weird." I agree. He had really worked the makeup on his face, and overused the white-beard spray, which he'd also applied to his kinky hair. I commented to Great-Granddaughter that this was probably one of Santa's helpers. But I don't think she bought that, either. I wonder if, since she's eight years old and in the second grade, if she's suspicious of the Santa thing. I'm sure the kids at school have been tossing the idea around, but opting to sort of believe yet, since it might garner more gifts.

We selected seats preferred by Mother, about halfway down. Daughter and Great-Granddaughter wanted to sit down front, but unfortnately, the first several rows were reserved, so they came back to sit in the row just ahead of us.

Presently, the county's largest woman sat in the row directly in front of them, blocking Great-Granddaughter's view. So they went to a section in the back of the auditorium, where their view was unobstructed. Soon afterward, the county's tallest man sat down directly in front of Mother. She chose not to move, since she was in an aisle seat, and by peering around the guy she could see the stage.

It's as if these people scan theaters or auditoriums for the shortest, smallest people to plunk their oversized selves in front of. It's thoughtless, at the very least.

This auditorium was obviously built for youngsters, who don't mind hard seats, but because we grownups need more comfort, I brought along cushions for Mother, Daughter, and me.

This was a cute show, though it was more like a dance recital than a polished performance like last night's "Nutcracker Ballet." Still, it packed the house, of course. Mother and I decided that the flower shops and grocery stores that carry flowers must have had a booming business this weekend, judging by the bouquets we saw last night and today. The "Nutcracker" had three performances, and "Babes" had one. That represented a whole lot of kids getting bouquets!

It's obvious that Daughter needs more experience manning the wheelchair for Mother. I thought she was going to dump her out a couple of times, because she hasn't gotten the hang of turning the chair around when approaching anything with a raised area.

On the way out of the auditorium at the end of the performance, Daughter hit a tripod with a video camera on it, making the camera drop forward. Fortunately, the camera stayed secured. Then outside, Daughter failed to turn the wheelchair around and back down a steep ramp, nearly pitching Mother onto her face. A kind gentleman offered to back the chair down the ramp, which helped.

Back home, we had snacks before Daughter and Great-Granddaughter left for home...coffee and Fig Newtons for Daughter, Mother, and me; a chocolate cupcake and milk for Great-Granddaughter; and gingersnaps and coffee for Hubbie.

Daughter and Great-Granddaughter headed home around 4 p.m., and Hubbie accompained Mother to her house. After that, it was TV time.