Monday, Dec. 24

Up late, around 8:30. Skipped my exercises, because I had a busy day ahead. Hubbie accompanied Mother to our house around 9:30, and she chopped veggies for a couple of pots of chicken...one for chicken noodle soup this week, and one for chicken and dumplings tomorrow.

While the chicken simmered, I got ready for the day. Then Mother and I watched "Scrooge," starring Alastair Sim, followed by "Amahl and the Night Visitors," a 1951 opera in English. A lame boy tells tall tales to the point that his mother doesn't believe him when he tells her there is a bright star with a tail in the night sky.

Later, she doesn't believe him when there is a knock on the door, and he tells her there are three kings there. As can be guessed, the boy is cured, and he goes with them to visit the Christ Child in order to leave his crutch.

After lunch, Mother went to the couch for a nap, and Hubbie and I went to the WDCS for last-minute groceries for the holiday. The store was packed wall-to-wall with people doing the same thing. Plus, folks were stocking up in case of a predicted winter storm on Wednesday.

Judging by the mild weather today, though, it seems strange that we could be in for such harsh weather in only a couple of days. Most folks are praying for snow, but our concern is that ice will accompany the snow, and ice threatens to knock out power.

Later, we had a supper of leftover goulash, with cottage cheese, and slices of sourdough bread and butter. Afterward, we made our annual trek around town to tour the Christmas lights.

This year, the local Chamber of Commerce gave awards in several categories...to the river park display, which features thousands of lights and animation, and which this year also features a display synchronized to music, and sequential white lights in a tree that look like snowfall; to an over-the-top display at a local home, which was given the Griswald award; to Main Street, where public buildings are dripping with lights; to a bank as the best business display (but we disagreed...we like another bank's display better); to the best of show home...a home in what we call the "Ego Mountain" area (for the homes of wealthy folks); and to a home with an animated horse and buggy, which won, of course, for best animated display.

Back home, we enjoyed cups of hot chocolate, with slices of chocolate cake (rum cake for Hubbie), and then we opened gifts. We were all pleased with what we got, except for one gift I got from Hubbie as a joke...a padded toilet seat, which he bought because he decided we needed a new on in the upstairs bathroom, and thought it would be funny to wrap it up for Christmas. He guffawed when I opened it, but Mother and I just gave him a strange look.

To his credit, he also gave me a beautiful sparkly and fringed paisley shawl, a glittery red and green pendant necklace, a real leather coat, and some scratch-off tickets (taped to the back of a box of chocolates) that netted me $10. Mother gave me a gift card to my favorite bookstore.

My presents to him were gift cards to the home improvement store, and the farm store, three novels downloaded to my e-reader (one is the new John Grisham novel), a big package of peanut brittle (homemade, but not by me), a bottle of lotion that is supposed to be good for his dry, cracked fingers, and scratch-off tickets that netted him $14. Mother gave him two new shirts...one black knit pullover, and one burgundy and black plaid flannel.

Mother got a Whirl-a-Squirrel, a pouch for her wheelchair, a tray to attach to her walker, a jigsaw puzzle, and a book entitled, "How to Tell if Your Cat is Planning to Kill You," an appropriate choice, since she has such a tempermental cat.

Mother was ready to go home around 9 p.m., so Hubbie accompanied her. He and I spent a little time watching TV, and then headed to bed, too.

Note: I checked department store buttons today, and found I'd won on two...$10 for one and $5 for the other. Could be a while before I can use them, though, thanks to the storm. But they are good until the end of the month.