OH, DEAR READER

of mine!  It is evening.  The hours are trickling away.  Soon we will just have minutes.
The end of a year always makes me nervous.
I'm dragging my feet and sort of looking back over my shoulder.
It's because running out of time, ultimately,  is such a strange and extremely weird concept to contemplate. No. More. Time.
And counting down time, watching it slip away, well...
Let me just say,  I'm glad we're all in this together!
Happy New Year, Reader Dear!
Happy New Year wishes to One and All!
.......


(I would be so happy to hear from you, Reader Dear!
Especially if you live in the Czech Republic. 
Or, really, just anywhere you happen to be passing time!)

THE EXTENDED FAMILY

Christmas meal tonight was going to feature what it has always featured, down through the ages--chicken corn pies!  And this year, helping to eat the pies would be an elderly aunt of The Yard Man, one whom he was able to bring from her nursing home in a wheelchair-equipped minivan.  It was relatively easy to collect Aunt Ann from the home.  Although she cannot take even one step alone, she was ready to roll when The Yard Man arrived, and he was able to get the wheelchair into the van by himself.  He then stopped by the home of his salad maker and picked her up, and the bowls of lettuce salad she had so recently concocted.

They set off down the road toward The Yard Man's sister's house, and Aunt Ann marveled at being out in the broader world.  "This is such a treat!" she exclaimed more than once.

It had been so simple.  "We'll have to take Ann out more often!" said the salad maker, and The Yard Man agreed.

Ah, but then--a small surprise!  "We're having this meal in the basement!"

Not to worry, Reader Dear!
This extended family can extend themselves in many wonderful  ways!* 

......
*Besides the muscles, I'm thinking of the
making of the chicken corn pies! 
Always delicious and delectable!

......

A MERRY CHRISTMAS DAY, 2014*

9:00 a.m.
(Off-camera) emptying dishwasher

10:00 a.m.











(Off-camera) loading dishwasher

11:00 a.m.
(Off-camera) emptying dishwasher





 

 12:00 p.m.
(Off-camera) loading dishwasher

1:00 p.m.

2:00 p.m.
(Off-camera) emptying dishwasher

3:00 p.m.

4:00 p.m.

 

5:00 p.m.    

(Off-camera) Roast Turkey & filling with gravy, garden corn, sweet potatoes, cole slaw, chocolate cake 

(Off-camera) loading dishwasher                                    

7:00 p.m.

8:00 p.m.
(Off-camera) emptying dishwasher
9:00 p.m.

                                     

(Off-camera) loading dishwasher                                                      
10:00 p.m.
(Off-camera) emptying dishwasher

*Reader Dear, it was!

CHRISTMAS EVE WISHES

Reader Dear!

I had another full day of  rushing to gather the last-minute Christmas necessities (Well, mostly food.  Only two gifts.  And, back to the store for yeast, because the third trip to the grocery was specifically for yeast, but the yeast was hard to locate, and one can get distracted...)

There was food preparation. Oh, and there was that frustrating hour finding a locksmith for those tenants who broke their key in the lock, and hated to call on Christmas Eve (but they really did need to lock their door on Christmas Eve, you know)!

And then there was the quick supper for the Dark-haired daughter and David and the Yard Man and me, so we could hasten off to the Christmas Eve service at church.

Ah, and what a pleasure to relax and take a deep breath and sing, "All is calm, all is bright"! 

The "unrehearsed pageant" was refreshing, as well!  (Reader Dear, you should have seen how those kids slung the holy infant around, and he made not a sound--that Baby Jesus was such a doll!)

 

After the candle-lighting, there were even refreshments to enjoy (cookies I had no part in baking!)! 

Yes, Reader Dear, my evening became calm and bright!

I'm wishing you the same!

(Unless, of course, you prefer dark and rowdy, in which case I fervently wish you a Dark and Rowdy Eve!)

"IT'S NOW OR NEVER!"

I informed the caretakers of my wee actors. "If I can't get a photo tonight to send out with Christmas cards, I'll have to give up the tradition!"

To be honest, Reader Dear, I started the whole endeavor in my typical wait-until-relaxation-and-pleasant-enjoyment-and-creativity-and-tweaking-of-results-are-no-longer-possible mode! We were well into December before picture procurement lit up the part of my brain that actually follows through on things!

Lots of photos were taken in the handful of times the five of us--Yard Man, Little Actor, Small Actor, Tiny Actor and myself--were together.   Twenty-two snaps of the camera on the first try.  Ah, but it was relatively late in the evening for those little guys.  They were tired.  They were busy playing.  One of those three in particular was very opposed to the whole idea!  It didn't go well.


A week went by before we were together again, this time at a restaurant.  "Well, look here!" I crowed.  "There's this nice scene painted on the wall!  It'll look as though my actors and I were shooting a movie in Italy!"

But, dear me, we had no lighting crew.  It was dark in that part of the restaurant.  The actors were not thrilled to be in Italy; they were busy eating American pizza! And, furthermore, we still had one holdout for NO PICTURES!

(I'm not saying who.)









......
So, now, once again we were all together, and it was verging on too late! The Yard Man and I already had on display a whole slew of cards we'd received from folks who seldom find themselves scrambling (and I'm not talking eggs here)!

By now I had dropped my expectations severely.  Hard enough to get a shot where five of us were smiling into the camera with Christmas cheer ("You don't want any of these!" said the photographing daughter after snapping at least a dozen shots), I decided I would be happy with one good shot of just the little guys.  My only stipulations were that all three actors had to be in the picture, and all three had to be looking into the camera.

I sat with camera in hand and encouraged and cajoled and bribed and snapped photos with each and every fleeting possibility of meeting my goal.

Sigh.
A Very Merry Christmas to you, Viewer Dear!
......

O, CHRISTMAS TREE

O, Christmas Tree

How lovely are they branches!

(Especially now that I've got you festooned in lights and baubles!)

......

I OVERDOSED ON

sugar at the holiday event that my Yard Man and I attended last week.  We were generously invited to a show by the staff of an office that The Yard Man used to frequent.  Included in the evening were pre-show  hors d'oeuvres. These were termed "heavy" hors d'oeuvres, Reader Dear.  That simply means it was supper, but one had to eat it on a tiny paper plate. (Not that one cared, because the spread was fine--crab cakes, chicken pieces, meatballs...and a grand finale!)

When I got to the dessert tables, the woman ahead of me requested a sampler plate.  She couldn't make up her mind, she said,  between three kinds of cheesecake and bourbon pecan pie and peanut-butter something-or-other.

"What a sweet idea!" I exclaimed.

Sugar sweet!

I enjoyed the show that followed.
The singers sang beautifully, the dancers danced impressively, and I plummeted with aplomb!*
......


(*When I came down from my sugar high,
I swore off high fructose corn syrup and honey and sucrose and agave nectar and tapioca syrup and maple syrup and cane sugar and brown rice syrup and pear juice concentrate and beet sugar...[yes, all of that ilk] for the foreseeable future**!)

......

(**how far can you see into the future, Reader Dear?)