Christmas #1

This is a year when our "Christmas" will be spread over several days.  Today was the day to have Christmas with Ned, who will be in Jamaica with Marta, Jeri & Phil and Walt's sister and brother-in-law.  It sounds like they are going to have a wonderful week there, with private beach, someone to drive them around the island and even, he thinks, the villa decorated for Christmas.

We made arrangements to have dinner with my mother tonight.  I wanted to be sure to send the Christmas packages for everyone with Ned.  He said "make them small" and they were...very small, other than his complete Breaking Bad CD set, which he opened tonight.  I knew he didn't need to take that with him to Jamaica.

Ned and Marta gave Walt and me the perfect Christmas gift:  They donated several dog beds and blankets to their local animal shelter in our name.  Nothing could possibly be more satisfactory.

We visited a bit and my mother apologized several times for having nothing to serve us because she didn't know we were coming (yes, I called her and let her know about 2 hours before we were going to get there).  There was a gift bag there with a book in it (but no gift card) and she doesn't know how it got there or who gave it to her, so if anybody who reads this brought it, please let me know!

We went off to the restaurant and had a lovely dinner, which ended with big chunks of coconut cream pie.  My mother didn't order any but Ned said they would share, which seemed to work for her.

After dinner we walked back to her apartment.  I just love this photo.  I have a similar one of my aunt Barb walking to her apartment with her daughter.

Back at the apartment, Ned pulled out the "travel guitar" he has borrowed to take to Jamaica since he doesn't want to pack his big guitar.  He surprised me by playing "I have a song to sing-o" from Gilbert & Sullivan's Yeoman of the Guard.  I didn't know he knew it!

My mother seemed to enjoy it.

We had gone to dinner at 5 so by the time we got back and visited a bit and decided to leave it was just slightly after 6...an early evening!   But it was a low key Christmas and since we pulled it on her kind of as a surprise, she didn't have time to get sick to her stomach worrying about "entertaining."

I probably won't even tell her that Tom et al. are going to come to see her on Christmas day because either she will get sick with worry, or forget anyway.  Better let it be a surprise.  Walt and I have decided to have dinner at Atria Christmas night, since we can't find a Chinese restaurant that is going to be open that night (which says good things about the consideration the owners of such restaurants have for their employees).