Christmas 2018

NYC windows taken by a Facebook friend. One of my regrets is not exploring midtown during my recent stay

this house is near my niece

A friend and I went last week to a bar in Plymouth that is named after this Bernese Mountain dog that seems to have free rein of the place. Health rules? I think she is exempt because she is a therapy dog

our main Xmas tree loaded with mainly grandkids' presents. Maya picked hers up early as she spent time with her father this year

should have taken photos before opening the presents..not after

Hannah likes to be entertained by her cousins. I'm still scary

Daniel entertaining Hannah

Another Christmas came and went. Less competition with the in-laws this year so it was easier to schedule a time. We did have Julie's father join us. I decided a brunch would be easier but it was difficult to schedule all my duties along with a long run. Fortunately I work very quickly, which my cooking teacher noticed last week when I was asked to help prep stuff for our class. Do I have experience? Aside from years of being a wife and mother, I used to cook for 70 people at a time in the co-op when I was going to school. I have to be fast. Naomi seemed to acquire my chopping skills too as that is now what her main job is now.

Aside from fruit and cold cuts, I made a large frittata, which no one ate (except me) and coconut pancakes, which everybody ate especially with those fancy amarena cherries  spooned on. Maya, who hates most food, now is a fan of the cherries too. I decided that baking bacon in the oven works out way better than frying. No more splatter around my stove.

For weeks we've been trying to balance out the gifts buying and wrapping them. We don't buy presents for each other as buying for everybody else is so time consuming. Are they all happy? I hope so but Steve mixed up two of the presents annoying the recipients. Out again to rectify this. Anyway it was nice watching the kids play with each other. I do like our family gatherings even though they are a lot of work.

My friend is hospitalized again with what would be a minor infection in anyone else makes it impossible for her to breathe without being in an oxygen tent. Recently an old boyfriend contacted me to say that he has been diagnosed with the same leukemia my friend had. The 'cure' would be a stem cell transplant assuming he could find a match. But he is opting out saying that aside from not surviving the 'blast' in which they kill all of your bone marrow, he doesn't want to deal with host versus graft disease which after witnessing what my friend goes through, who is much younger, is certainly a valid concern. So every three days he needs a total blood transfusion. How long can he keep that up? Three years tops. This isn't the same boyfriend who has morphed into  a f***ing Trumpkin but the one after. In a painful attempt to try to understand what 'they' can be thinking, I read his annoying posts. The only bright side is that he has a son, who refuses to call him dad, refutes most of his postings with the Truth.

So one's health is so precious. Things change in an instant as we are finding out on multiple fronts.

A minor annoyance: Naomi intersected with a herd of deer so she has one of our cars. Is the damage enough to consider her car totaled? TBD. The amount they will pay her won't cover much of a car. Perhaps she can have one of our cars and keep the money until she can amass more to buy a suitable car. It's probably time for us to get a new car anyway.

No white Christmas this year for which I am thankful. Maybe another bike ride for this year tomorrow?