And Another One Down

(Barney loves wrapping paper)

Well I made it through another Christmas without being crushed or melted. I think not having that family party was very relaxing and I was able to enjoy the holiday so much more. I had a really long fun day on Christmas eve. After Meals on Wheels, my daughter and I had lunch at La Bistro which is a really nice Italian restaurant that we used to frequent quite often when we lived closer. My Sweetie and I even went there for our second anniversary and one year we even did Christmas eve dinner there with my parents. They have a piano so that was a really fun night. For some reason, I had sort of forgotten about it, but what happened was, I needed to buy a Honey-Baked ham for Christmas day and the HBH store is right next to La Bistro, so that was very convenient. They have the best lobster bisque in the area, so I had soup and salad, which made a great (very early) appetizer for my Christmas eve dinner. And my shrimp boil was the best I have made. Everything was perfect. I hope I will be able to find that same shrimp and those same potatoes next time I make it.
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After we had lunch and lodged the giant ham in my little ice chest, we went to visit Myriam in her rehab place. She was glad to see us and happy to see the Cuban beach photo I had made for her (with a "Get Well Myriam!" printed on it.) Like so many other Cubans, she and her husband fled when Castro took over, but she will always miss the pretty beaches of her youth. The phone rang while we were there and it was her surrogate family calling to say they were on their way and she wanted me to meet them. They used to live across the street from her and she was their babysitter for years from the time the boy was a baby. And saying "the boy" is funny because this was a big giant guy although he was only 16. He looked so much like my daughter it was eerie. They just looked at each other for a few minutes. There's something about redheaded freckled people that just makes for a common kinship I guess.
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We left after they arrived and did a little shopping, hit a bar and then picked up the green beans for the next day. And yes, I can make green beans, but I really love the green beans from the Texas Roadhouse and was making it easy on myself since I was going to be making Alton Brown's macaroni and cheese. When we got home we wrapped some gifts and stuff until it was time to run down to Carole's. I was finally going to meet Carole's kids and she was meeting mine. I was a little nervous at first, but her daughter made me feel very comfortable. Some people are just natural social relaxers or something.
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After we came home and made the shrimp boil, we watched Burn After Reading. If you are a Coen brothers fan, you will LOVE this movie. I already want to watch it again.
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Christmas morning, I woke up too early and was going over the mac and cheese recipe and couldn't get back to sleep, so I finally got up. I made breakfast and My Sweetie and I exchanged gifts. My MIL called to say that the two oldest kids of my SIL would not be there as they would be with their dad. So I thought, "Well that's okay, there will be some good leftovers." Then I took my shower and started on the mac and cheese. When that was all finished and I was ready, we packed up all the food and gifts and headed to my MIL's house. When we got there she told us that my SIL was sick and she and her husband and youngest kid would not be coming. So I had a Honey-Baked ham for 10, and green beans for 10 and mac and cheese for 10. My MIL had made two pies and had two pans of rolls. For three people. Well that was just silly. Anyway, we decided to go visit Bill in his rehab place before we ate. I thought it was sort of odd that I ended up going to two different rehab places to see two different people two days in a row that happened to be Christmas eve and Christmas. I bet that won't happen again. And maybe I should have used some commas back there somewhere.
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Bill was rather chipper and it was good to see him again. Fortunately, as was the case with Myriam, he had no "roommate" at the time, so we had the room to ourselves. He asked us all "Don't I look much better?" and my acerbic MIL said, "Better than what?" I think My Sweetie said, "You look a lot better than you did in the hospital." and I think I said, "I'm glad to see you sitting up." The thing is, when we first got there the doctor was there. My MIL asked him why Bill was losing blood, and right there in front of everybody, he said, "Well often when you get this old and are catastrophically ill, your bone marrow shuts down and stops producing new blood." I was sort of mortified to hear that but Bill was just sitting there looking all chipper and all. I'm not a doctor, but I think it's probably not good if your bone marrow shuts down its production. So Christmas day was sort of a bummer.
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Christmas day ended up just feeling like a Sunday, so when I woke up this (Friday) morning, I thought it was Monday and was about to strip my bed because I wash my sheets every Monday. Fortunately I caught myself in time. Then I did that post Christmas gathering of the boxes and wrapping paper and bows and things. And I was glad it was Friday.
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I hope you all had a very Merry Christmas and did not get crushed or melted.