Thursday, Dec. 13

Up around 8 a.m., but skipped my exercises, because my back is bothering me. Lately, I've had occasion to have to sit in hard wooden chairs, or folding chairs, which seem to compress my spine and cause pain.

So I just went ahead and hit the shower (hot water felt good on my back), and got dressed in holiday array for the Master Gardener potluck lunch and Dirty Santa gift exchange.

Hubbie accompanied Mother to our house while I was upstairs. We spent the morning relaxing, and then headed to the party around 11 a.m.

A nice group showed up for the event, but not as many as were ezpected, so there was enough food to feed an army...turkey and ham, dressing, gravy, and rolls, all from a popular restaurant, and side dishes provided by the members. There was a choice of slaws, cranberry, and fruit salads, and sweet potato dishes galore. Desserts included lots of pies, three of which were sweet potato, a few that were pumpkin, and an assortment of others...peanut butter, lemon buttermilk, cherry-o-cream cheese...and a couple kinds of cakes, as well as cookies.

Since I don't eat cornbread dressing, and the gravy was very yellow, I ended up with turkey and a variety of sweet side dishes. Once I had dessert, I'd had enough sweet stuff to get a sugar high.

There was so much food, that everyone loaded up styrofoam containers to take home. I brought home enough food for a couple of days, while Hubbie and the others played Dirty Santa.

Hubbie drew the number one for that game, and got a red watering can, but that was stolen, so he chose another gift. This one was a gift pack of cheese, salami, and crackers. At the end of the game, the leader said that since he hadn't had an opportunity to steal a gift, he could choose anything he wanted in exchange for his gift pack. Or keep the gift pack, if he wished. He didn't, and I'm glad, since we wouldn't have eaten it.

This was a rule I'd never heard of before. And it didn't make sense, since actually, he had a chance to steal something after someone stole the watering can from him. But instead of stealing from someone at that point, he chose another gift from the table. At any rate, he slowly looked at all the gifts, and then stunned me with what he chose...the gift he'd brought for exchange, the cute birdfeeder, with a bag of bird seed!

It was a nice party, but, except for a secretary from the Extension Services office playing a couple of Christmas tunes on a baby grand piano, there was no entertainment, like there usually is. But that was fine with me, because even with cushions we brought with us for the chairs, my back was complaining by the end of the Dirty Santa exchange.

I think this year, everyone was tired, and didn't want the party to drag on too long. As someone commented, every year the season seems longer, with more and more activities competing for our attention, which leaves less and less time to relax and enjoy. This year, Christmas activities began in November for us. Before we know it, Christmas will start in October. Well, it sort of has, since seasonal decorations and trees were already in the stores by then.

We were back home around 2 p.m., and Mother lost no time heading to the couch. While she slept, we went to a town about 20 minutes away to buy a new power backup/surge protector for the upstairs computer.

While we were there, Hubbie asked a staff member why my android cell phone battery runs down so quickly. She said it was probably the blue tooth app, and she tried to find it to shut it off, but she couldn't. So while we traveled back to town, I explored the phone, and finally found it, and turned it off.

In town, we stopped by the bank, and then went to the WDCS for a few food items. Back home around 4:30, Mother was ready to go home, so I gathered food from lunch for her to have for supper, and then Hubbie accompanied her to her house.

After that, Hubbie and I went to the preschool for a graham cracker cookie Christmas house workshop. We arrived before 6 p.m., the appointed hour, and had to park at the back of the school, because so many had arrived already.

Inside (once we found an open door), we saw a room full of kids and their parents already at work on their projects. Seems they'd arrived at 5 p.m. Guess they wanted to make sure they got to do it, in case supples were limited. We didn't stay long, but at 6:15, parents and kids were still streaming in, and volunteers were rushing to set up more tables and chairs. I don't know what the final count was, but it was way more than expected, I'm sure.

We left the model house that Mother had built, in case anyone needed an example. One lady said the reason it was so neat was that it had been done by a professional. Hubbie hastened to tell her that a 90-year-old woman did it. Mother will be happy to hear she has been called a professional.

At home again, Hubbie and I each had something different for supper. I had fried eggs and toast, with a Little Cutie for dessert, and Hubbie had a slice of sweet potato pie, and a cup of chai tea.

Spent the rest of the evening watching TV.