Last week was a busy one, the week before Christmas and finishing up on last minute activities. I met Mavis for lunch on Monday at the Yankee Tavern so we could exchange gifts and catch up. That is a convenient meet-up place and I had a delicious burger.
The grandkids were out of school and parents were still working, so Camille and Norah had a sleepover on Tuesday night and Charlotte on Wednesday night. She and I went grocery shopping on Thursday so I would have what I needed for Christmas. We kept busy with crafts, making fudge, eating, watching movies and other shows and games. I just love having them over, but am ready for quiet when it’s time for them to go back home.
This is one of the projects that Charlotte and I worked on. On a past visit, she bought fabric at JoAnne with the intention of making a dress. She designed and measured the dress, had it all marked out on the fabric - wanting it to look like the Aphrodite character in one of the books she has been reading. I didn’t make many modifications other than increasing seam allowances and it turned out just like she intended.
I was quite surprised when I got a text message Thursday night from my old friend, Elaine, who reached out to see if I was still around and doing ok. We met back in 2007 while working at San Francisco RV park in Pacifica, CA - Mike and Gail worked together doing maintenance and Elaine and I worked in the office. Both couples were there to be close to sons who lived in San Francisco. We became friends and hung out quite a bit, doing some siteseeing on our off days, going for walks, and having meals together. When that gig was over, Mike and I continued to travel around the US and they moved back to Southern California and settled in El Cahon. Gail had developed Alzheimer’s and Elaine took care of him until he passed away in 2020. I last saw them in 2015 when I took a road trip with the Hoovey’s to San Diego. It was so nice that she reached out and I’m sure we will stay in touch after this.
Ben’s family, Jill’s parents, and I all decided that we should test for Covid before gathering for Christmas and we all tested negative that morning. I spent a good part of the day on Friday cooking and on the phone with Christmas wishes. I offered to make my traditional Cranberry Cake with Hot Butter Sauce for dessert on Christmas Day and also Chili for Christmas Eve. I’m just such a klutz these days and managed to spill at least 2 servings of chili on the kitchen floor as I was preparing to load up my car. I then wondered if there would be enough servings, so I added a few ingredients and some additional seasoning and we ended up with just enough to go around. While cleaning up that mess, I managed to spill Chili all over my bathroom rug and bath mat and misplaced my car keys. Grrrrrr! The keys were later found in my overnight bag - they must have dropped when I was scrambling to recover the hot pan of Chili.
Christmas Eve day was in the mid-40s and dropped down to a high of 23° for Christmas Day. The holiday events were enjoyable and everyone had fun opening their gifts. It was so nice to see Lois and Dennis again - the poor guy has gone through the loss of his 94 year old mother, a diagnosis of Multiple Myeloma cancer, the start of a treatment regimen and a 5-day hospitalization with Covid-19 complications. He is feeling much better these days and we all felt so fortunate to be able to gather together.
This morning, I was saddened to hear that Patrick has tested positive for Covid after a night of chills and fever. I pray that he doesn’t get severe symptoms and doesn’t spread it to others.
The news lately is all about the massive numbers of Covid cases that are leaving hospitals overflowing and a shortage of tests, unusual December weather (horrible tornado damage in KY and TN and MN had 7 tornadoes touch down last week - the first in history), and today, there were over 1200 flight cancellations due to staff shortages because of Covid, leaving holiday travelers stranded in airports. When will it end?
Yesterday, we warmed up into the 30s and had some rain, that was followed by about 2.5” of snow topped with more rain/sleet that caused a crunchy layer on top of the snow, slick conditions and a challenge to scrape the ice off of the car this afternoon. There is more snow coming and temps will be dipping down under 10° in the forecast for this week. Brrrrr!
