December 28, 2007
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Apologies and the Preparations for Christmas
I am still amazed that Baron was fascinated by all the lights I had decorating the inside of the house but he never…not once….bothered them. He just looked and looked the first two or three days and then ignored them entirely. He also never bothered any of the presents under the tree or the ornaments on it. He gave them all a sniff or two but that was it. Amazing behavior as far as I am concerned.
My apologies for the long delay in updating this blog. I can only say that I really got *into* buying gifts for my son, daughter-in-law and their three children. I hadn’t spent a Christmas holiday with them in over 7 years and this time I wanted to give them actual gifts and watch them open the presents. My son brought the family down from his home in Tennessee the day AFTER Christmas. I made dinner, watched everyone (including my son) open their gifts except for my daughter-in-law and the youngest grandchild, Traci. She started getting sick on Christmas and was running a high fever the day after. She was generally listless so my daughter-in-law stayed home with her. I really had hoped to watch her and Lisa open their gifts but I sent them home with my son. I did get a report that she just loved the velour outfit and cute top I bought her as well as a *Learner* crochet kit that shows her how to make a cute hat and scarf. She also got some cute Princess jammies that she immediately put on.
My granddaughter Amy is artistic and they wanted to encourage that so I had a ball putting together a shitload of acrylic paints in almost every color they had plus some sealer and acrylic varnish. I bought canvases of different sizes and some special paper that you can use acrylic paint on that came in a pad of twenty-five or thirty, I forget which. I also got her a variety of brushes from the very fine to wide and flat. Some sponge *brushes* and a palette completed the box I packed. It was well worth the effort because her face was a study in amazement when she opened the box. I could tell it was a hit and she spent an hour looking at all the colors and inspecting everything else.
My grandson is 15 and in the Marine ROTC in high school. He’s on the drill team (which I just love after seeing my son on one when he graduated from boot camp when he enlisted in the Navy). I bought him some tops in camo (which he loves for paintball but I didn’t know that when I bought them). I got him a couple of those as well as a couple of others in beige and brown. He put one of the shirts on immediately and kept telling me how comfortable it was.
My son I gave a present that every household needs. It was an 18V cordless, reversible 3/8 drill with an assortment of bits, including the ones for screws. It also had a sander, a small saw (I can’t recall what they call it at the moment) and a really great light, also cordless. The set came with two rechargeable batteries for them. I thought my son would fall off his chair when he opened THAT one.
As a joke, I also gave him some socks and underwear. My sons used to hate the fact that two of the gifts they received every Christmas was new underwear, t-shirts and socks. After my son was married a couple years, he said to me *I really miss those presents now, Mom*. At the time, we laughed about it but I remembered. He laughed when he opened up the boxes and said to me *You might have meant it as a joke, Mom, but I really need these*, which brought on a bigger laugh from all of us.
His mother-in-law came with them since she was visiting them for Christmas and Reta and I always got along well. She lives in the Ft. Lauderdale area and works for a dermatologist there. I know her so I got her a gift set (keeping in mind that she flew in and might have limited room in her suitcase). It’s one of those Relaxation ones but has an eye mask and a neck pack that you can heat in the microwave or put in the fridge. It’s lavendar for relaxation and she just loved the smell of the lotion, the shower gel and the bath salts. Reta is the type that works hard and she is the office manager now so that means more stress than usual. I wanted to give her something she would like and I did from her reaction.
Dinner was a success. The ham was wonderful, mashed potatoes perfect as well as the bean casserole. I had made some cranberry relish which no one had had in a long time. Reta had never had it and ate quite a bit of it. We also had nice dinner rolls, sweet potato casserole and red eye gravy. I had made pumpkin pies and an apple pie. I sent home a whole pumpkin pie and half the apple pie with my son as well as lots of the leftovers so that Traci and Lisa would have some of everything. I even sent home some deviled eggs and some of the shrimp we had for snacking on while dinner was cooking.
Unfortunately, I overdid myself and suffered for it the next day. I was in such pain that I couldn’t get upright for most of the day. Even the pain pills didn’t help much but did keep me from screaming. That and the heating pad worked finally, just in time for me to go to bed again.
Baron spent most of the day trying to *barter* one of his chew bones for regular food. He went to everyone and would put it in their lap then take a step back. If they didn’t react, he would push his nose into their side and step back again. I told everyone to just say *No* and they did. He took back the chew bone and went on to the next person. He finally flopped down in his kennel and gave out an audible sigh and laid down, sighing again. We all burst into laughter because it was just too darn funny to see him *act* like he was being ignored and not allowed to join us in our fine dining.
The Beast and I went out today (yes, today was a good day for me. Relatively pain-free and I haven’t taken a pain pill at all). We ended up at Badcock furniture and bought a new living room set. I just love it. It’s a brushed fabric in burgundy. We bought two recliners, a loveseat to match, a new coffee table with storage boxes built into it as well as matching end tables. I can use the boxes in the end tables for magazines and I intend to keep my current afghan project in one of the coffee table boxes. Now here’s the best part. The love seat is actually two recliners. And it is long enough for me to take a nap on but shorter than the couch we currently have which will give us more room in the area where we will put it. I get everything delivered next Friday. My niece, Tara, is taking everything we have in the living room for her family room. She already has my rattan couch, chair and ottoman and is looking forward to having the rattan end tables as well as the rattan coffee table.
We also gave her my freezer since we don’t need it any more. Our freezer in the refrigerator holds more than enough for us, including some *stock up* items. I buy a lot of chicken to cook up for the dog, as well as some for us. I never thought I would be the kind of owner that cooked up special items for a dog but here I am. He does, however, have a wonderful coat on him and is very healthy according to the vet. He got his last shots the day we left for Florida for the closing on our house there. I have discovered a few *pet friendly* motels (Motel 6 is one of them)
and we stayed in them during our drive there and back home.The closing went well and our money was wired directly into our account by the title company. That is part of the reason we went out and bought the new furniture. Now there are only a few other items we will buy and that’s pretty much it for us except for putting new counter tops on our cabinets. We are putting granite counters on the cabinets and tile down on the kitchen and laundry area floors.
I think it’s time to finish this *journal* and crochet some more of the afghan I owe my great-nephew. I had hoped to give it to him as one of his Christmas presents but didn’t get it finished with everything else I was doing. Even shopping for Christmas gifts had me coming home to take a couple pain pills and lay down for an hour or so. Oh well, it’s over now so I can start putting away all the Christmas stuff so it’s cleared out before the new furniture is delivered. I want to clean the carpet again before then so my week will be busy again. Thank goodness I still have pain pills left
Love you all. I wish you a wonderful, healthy and prosperous New Year. Be kind to one another and be sure to tell those you love that you do….and do it often.
