Christmas in the past and now on to 2021 in 6 days!

 TERRY

I have nothing new to report about Terry.  For some reason she kind of has her days and nights mixed up a bit.  As I turned over to sleep last night she was wide awake.  Now, at 8:10 AM she is sleeping and I have been up for 2+ hours!  She did wake up about 11:00 last night and needed some help so I am not sure when she turned the TV off and slept.  I am getting pretty darn good at helping her during the night as I walk around in a half sleepy daze!  

Karl, a tennis friend who often makes court times, sent a text last night and said, "It is supposed to be 45 tomorrow so I am cancelling tennis".  Well I sent back a picture of a sad face!   As I  opened the garage door to get the paper this morning I thought MAYBE he was right!!!  Well I turned my phone on to look at the weather and it was 43 with a HIGH of 57 today.  He MAY have made the right decision!  So I will stay inside this morning and maybe get some things done.  

The temp in the house as I got out of bed was 72 so I turned it up as Terry likes it somewhat warmer than that.  

We did have a nice quiet dinner last night.  I made a garlic sauce to go with the standing rib roast and then sides of truffle infused mashed potatoes and of course the green bean casserole that everyone makes for holidays.  With the prep, the cooking time and the clean up it seemed like I lived in the kitchen all day.  Well if a person is a klutz in cooking like me it takes a LONG time.  Then I just decided that I had to get things cleaned up and it was nice this morning when I walked into the kitchen and all was clean with the "clean" light on the dishwasher.  I then thought back and was thankful for my efforts yesterday.  We now have way way too much food in the fridge.  Coming from a home of long ago where NOTHING went to waste I just hate to throw food away but I have my doubts that we can eat everything as the days pass.  Yesterday I threw away 1/3 of a meat loaf as it was 10 days old.  Terry is not comfortable eating food that has been in the fridge that long.   I am not saying she is wrong I just cringe anytime I throw away.

I am going to do my annual ritual this morning.  That is filling a large coffee cup 2/3 with FP and 1/3 with Irish cream and then sit back to reflect.  I reflect on blessing, on lost loved ones, on events, family and much more.  It is a mixed experience as over a short hour I know there will be smiles, tears and then some of those "what if" things as well.  OH, and then I will finish up with "Lord what should I do to become a better follower of you and how can I love and serve family and friends better?"  Somehow that always seems to get me off on the right foot as I approach a new year.  However I admit that I don't always stay on the right foot if you know what I mean.  

Before I pour that cup I will end with a short Christmas story that took place perhaps 65 years ago:

I think it was about 1955 or so.  Dad had been gone for several days as he had some health problems and had driven to a place in South Dakota for treatment.  Much of the preparation for Christmas had fallen on Mom and I can add that was not uncommon as Mom was the "go to" person in our family so often.  Being who Mom was she was excited that Dad would be coming home that day and then 3 days later we would have Christmas.  Mom was sure Dad would have some presents for all AND perhaps lutefisk as a bonus!  Sure enough on a cold cloudy afternoon Dad drove into the yard.  Actually I was the one to let people know as I had climbed on top of the barn to look.  I knew I would not be staying there long as my ears may freeze.  No covered ears for me so that meant maybe 15 minutes of looking and watching for Dad.  About the time I was ready to give up I spotted our car coming from the east and I just knew it was him.  SO with speed, only an 8 year old excited boy would have, I spread the news before the car came into the driveway.  Well we were pretty sure that Dad had gifts in the trunk BUT as he came into the house he had a brown paper bag and he announced that he had a surprise.  Well of course all of us kids were sure we were in for a special treat but when he opened the bag our faces fell.  There in his hands were some odd looking cone shaped things of different colors on the outside and shiny silver on the inside.  There were many of them and we looked at each other as if there had been some mistake.  Dad proudly announced that he had purchased reflectors for the lights on the tree and they were really beautiful.  One can imagine how excited us kids were!!!  Well it ended well as Mom was thrilled and as we put each one on the lights and turned the tree on I have to admit they were pretty.  Mom made a big deal of them and I know she was pleased.  Dad did make up for it on Christmas Eve with gifts that came out of the car trunk!!!  

Here I am pretty much finished blogging for the day.  I will now pour that special blend of FP and Irish cream and head to the living room to "remember".