Post Holiday

I love Christmas, but from 11:00 a.m. or so on Christmas Eve until bedtime Christmas night I seemed to be in the kitchen feeding, serving, preparing, cleaning up, or whatever. There were breaks to open gifts and eat -- of course -- but not much down time. I also had busy days planned for the weekend. Now I am having time to just relax and savor my gifts.

Since I can no longer have most goodies, my family had to be very creative this year. I can tell you that I will smell great and enjoy some good reading and tea drinking. The guy in the pictures is Norvall. He's my Yeti and I will be illustrating his growth. He started as something smaller than the bottom of the glass and now has to stand up all of the time. He doesn't purr or snuggle or ask for belly-rubs like a cat, but he also doesn't eat shoelaces and phone cords and the hems of new blouses one loves and he is really inexpensive to keep. He lives in the hall bathroom so that the family members who do eat those things won't decide to eat him.

Decorating -- we're done!

The tree is completely decorated and -- just like every year -- I am amazed at how it transforms our living room.

This year I'm having a hard time feeling celebratory. The food and drink of Christmas is such an important part of the season for me. I like being this size (and these healthy doctor numbers) but I do so miss eggnog and hot chocolate and shortbread and rum balls and fruitcake and.... Well, I could go on and on. I miss baking goodies for Christmas baskets (and I don't know what else to give people) and you can't just not feed friends who drop in at the holidays. The old "Nuthin' says lovin' like something from the oven" is so true for me. Next year will be better and I will learn to celebrate without food. For now, however, the inner me still wants to cook for and feed everyone. There is a bit of Bah, Humbug involved in being skinny.

Christmas Progress

The tree is up and partly decorated. I have hung the cat ornaments, and the travel ornaments (best souvenir you can buy -- you get them out once a year and remember all of the great vacations), the birds, my grandmother's little balls, and the lovely ornaments Janice made us with all of our family names. Left to go are the hand blown fancies I have been collecting a couple a year and the things the girls made while they were growing up.

It takes me forever to decorate the tree because I have to unwrap each thing and each thing brings back memories that must be savored. Our Christmas tree would not pass muster at any fancy tree store, but it is like a wonderful scrapbook that goes back over 40 years.

I guess it is a love tree.

Gratitide List

My 12-step program asks that I make a gratitude list each day. At the top of today's list is Tripple-A.

I got out of my Thursday morning meeting -- at a church as far across town as it could be -- and found that my battery was dead, dead, quite dead. No lights left on (despite the fact that I had turned them on in the early morning fog). Just dead.

I called AAA and (after making sure that I was somewhere safe) they said that somebody would be there to help within the hour. Less than 15 minutes later this very nice young man showed up and charged my battery for me. His name was Sam, he had amazingly colorful tattoos, and he worked very efficiently. After a quick check to be sure the little old lady would get home safely, he gave me the number for AAA battery replacement and suggested I go straight home and call them.

I got home and called Roadside Assistance again and ordered the battery truck. Another young man named Dustin was there in less than half an hour. He put in a new battery and checked the charging system and whatever to be sure something in the car wasn't causing the problem. No tats to keep my entertained, but he did a great job. Now I'm good to go.

Sometimes people my age worry about the younger generation. Both of these guys were great. I probably reminded them of their grandmothers. They did their jobs well and were grateful for the work. One even told me he was glad people still had car issues because it means that he has an income. So many businesses don't seem to care about customers lately. AAA and its employees appear to be glad that I am here and they are willing to help me solve my problems.

Time Out

I just realized that I haven't added to my blog for over two months. My sponsor in FA tells me to write on paper, not on the computer, but I seem to get something from writing here where there might be somebody else on the other end. And then, I simply don't much like to write on paper (although I do it because anything that might keep me from eating addictively will be done).

In the meantime we have been to Scotland and back, we both suffered from a week's worth of jet lag, Alex has come down with and gotten over a bad cold (stayed in bed for days) and I seem to have acquired the same germs (stayed in bed for one day, things to do).

The trip was lovely. Inverness has just the small city feel that we were looking for. One of the pictures shown here is part of the city as seen from the castle on the hill. One is Culloden Moor, such a desolate place for that very short and very decisive battle.

The beautiful little girl is Rosie. Her Gran is Alex's cousin Aileen. She really is a delightful child. Almost two and I can't imagine anyone ever describing her as a "terrible two". We stayed with her Great Gran (Aunt Ena) in Glasgow and Rosie's visit was one of the high points of the entire trip. While there we learned more about family history and got to read the last letter Alex's Uncle Peter sent to his mother just before he was sent off to what was to be his final mission. We also got to visit with all of Alex's generation and some of the next. Alex's dad was the eldest of nine and Aunt Ena was the youngest.

I will get myself motivated again. My aim has always been to write a little something each day or two. Helps me remember that my experiences are worth something and helps me get back into the habit of simply putting complete thoughts on paper.