Wednesday, Nov. 28

Slept late, until nearly 8 a.m., but did stair stepping, resistance bands, and weights exercises after breakfast. Sis accompanied Mother to our house later.

Seems that Mother, who usually rises around 5 a.m., slept until 7 a.m. this morning. She declared that the reason she overslept was because she had a late night...being out until 8 p.m. constitutes a late night for her.

As soon as she warmed up with a cup of coffee, she went to work constructing a graham cracker cookie Christmas house. The house will be used as a model for Saturday's workshop at the art gallery downtown, and at a Literacy Council pre-school Christmas event on Dec. 13.

It was around 11 a.m. by the time she'd finished the house, so she relaxed for a while, and we watched an episode of "Dancing With the Stars." A little later, we had lunch...Ramen Noodle soup for Mother, and chili for Sis, Hubbie, and me. Hubbie arrived just after we had started lunch...he'd run a couple of errands, including delivering the Christmas cards we made to Caring Hands Hospice.

While he was there, he explained to the volunteer coordinator that Mother and I will not be able to attend the Christmas tree lighting ceremony, since we will be going to the Water Babes Christmas party that day. But Hubbie will stand in for us at the lighting ceremony.

Then we made another double batch of cranberry sauce, and a couple of pots of boiled chicken. Mother sorted the cranberries, and diced apples for it, and she and Sis sliced and diced onions, carrots, and celery for the pots of chicken.

Afterward, we watched the finale of "Dancing With the Stars." I was delighted that my choice of the contestants won the mirror ball trophy. I had recorded both episodes on DVR, and then studiously avoided watching the morning show today so I wouldn't know who won. However, Sis and Mother did watch the show, so they knew, but they didn't spoil it for me.

Following the show, Mother headed to the couch for a nap. I spent the afternoon putting the finishing touches on Christmas decorating, while Hubbie and Sis occupied themselves in their own activities.

For Hubbie, it was mainly calling family members to check on his sister, who was scheduled for shoulder surgery today. She was supposed to have it early this morning, but it kept being postponed until it was 3 p.m. before it finally happened.

For supper, we had some of the boiled chicken, with bread dressing leftover from Thanksgiving, but stored in the freezer until now, mashed potatoes (Hubbie did the honors of peeling and quartering the potatoes), gravy made from some of the chicken broth, cranberry sauce, and yeast rolls made by Sis. Very good post-Thanksgiving meal.

After supper, we watched "The Polar Express," the first of the Christmas movies that we enjoy. Watching classic Christmas movies is one of the joys of the season for me. Sis and Mother love them, too, though Hubbie is a bit lukewarm about them.

After the movie, Sis accompanied Mother to her house, and Hubbie and I spent the rest of the evening watching one-hour shows.

Note: Hubbie began experiencing a queasy stomach this afternoon, though he went ahead and at supper. I hope the problem goes away by tomorrow, and that it's not a prelude to a bug that's been going around.