Merry Christmas

The chicken is in the toaster oven cooking. It's a perfect fit and a better choice than turkey for us. Turkey is okay but not my favorite meal. Tom is peeling potatoes because mashed potatoes are his forte. Oh, I can cook them well but he has two things he can prepare in the kitchen very well: omelets and mashed potatoes. And I mean great omelets. So if he can do it, why refuse the help? It's just that we can't both be in the kitchen. It's that small.

So I've done my job and the chicken is smelling up the house and now it's his turn in the kitchen. When he's done and the potatoes are boiling, I can go in and fix the vegetables. It's like a tag team event.

Sunday night is his family's Christmas party. I don't usually go because it's crowded and I don't have anything in common with anyone there. I've tried to integrate into the family but apparently my culture (southern Indiana) is foreign to them. They grew up with a father who pitted them against each other and their coping mechanism was to make jokes of everything, including each other. But for me, it comes across as ridicule and mocking so I tend not to hang around them. One event had me sitting in a group of them while they made fun of Christianity. I just got up and left the room.

But Tom wants me to come and I know it hurts him that I don't go so I will go for him but this doesn't mean I'm going to go to every event.

We all did pretty well for Christmas. Tom bought me some gold earrings. They're the real thing (I am terribly allergic to nickel and even the nickel free earrings break me out after a while) and very beautiful, but a bit heavy. I'm sure my ears will get used to them though. They're hoops but not plain hoops and yet something I can wear daily. Nice.

I also got Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince from Zach and a Celtic music cd from Tom.

Tom got a new hunting knife, some sleeping shorts for his hunting trips, and a Bob Dylan cd.

Zach got a head set for his computer, a Loony Tunes dvd, and a heavy weight hooded sweatshirt.

We're not lavish here and some gifts are just practical but it's enough.

The pets actually made out like bandits. They both got some gourmet foods and some toys. It was fun to watch them try to get to them in the wrapping. Of course, Professor had more fun with the wrappings than the toy.

It's still raining on and off today. A lot of the snow is gone but more is coming...so they say. I have to go to church tomorrow to set up for morning prayer on Sunday. Our priest is down in Indiana visiting her family. We always do morning prayer the Sunday after Christmas. It's a nice change of pace.

I've got big plans for next week, including a change in the way I eat. I need to focus on lowering my cholesterol. My sugar has been excellent so I most likely won't need to make any adjustments there but I can't do the work I want in the yard and garden next summer with all this weight.

Next month I have an appointment with my rheumatologist and I'm going to ask to go back on the arthritis meds. It's not bad but it limits me.

I haven't ordered any seed catalogs. I'm still reading blogs to see what other people use as I only know of Henry Fields. I've never ordered from them but I don't know if they're a good source or not. I also need to get to reading my Encyclopedia of Country Living. There is much I don't know yet.

The oven just dinged so I need to get supper ready.

Merry Christmas to everyone who reads my blog. And thank you so much for reading it. I really do appreciate people stopping by and love to read the comments. Thank you!

TTFN