The Holidays

Christmas was a success in our house. Tony, Em and Judy came for dinner and then present opening. Dinner was great, if I do say so myself. I bought too much for Em and held a few things back. Her 3rd birthday is in three months and I'll give them to her then.

Ron and I didn't exchange personal gifts this year. Last month we bought a GPS which was our agreed-upon mutual Christmas gift.

The day after Christmas I just hung around the house. I picked up empty boxes and stray bits of wrapping. I ran the vacuum and generally straightened.

Saturday, yesterday, I drove to Schenectady to visit Cara, my Little Sister. We went to lunch and then to see the movie Marley and Me. Cara is doing well. Her diabetes continues to be under control. She's doing fairly well in school. Her attitude about life in general is very good, and she's doing a great job of avoiding the pitfalls that often occur with girls in her age bracket from her background.

Today I woke up and gave myself permission to do nothing but watch TV, read, play on the computer, etc. Of course the minute I give the OK to be a slug, I get the urge to not be one. I decided to start turkey soup using the carcass from the turkey breast we had for Christmas dinner. Toss in some onions, carrots and celery, plus leftover gravy, and it smells good even to me. Then I got working on wrapping and packaging a few Christmas decorations. It took days to put them out. It will take days to put them away.

Weather - We've had ups and downs in weather. After two weeks of ice, lots of snow and cold weather, the temps turned around last week and everything is melting. It's a mess!! Today the temp is supposed to go into the 50s.

Gas prices - I paid $1.72 at Cumberland in Glenmont yesterday.

Life lessons - Kids don't need a lot of things to be happy. Kids need mommy, daddy, grandparents and aunts and uncles. In other words, they need love and attention. Em had a good time Christmas day, at both grandparents' homes, but what she felt most was the love we all have for her.