For 59 years straight I went to church on Christmas Day. Not this year! Confident the service would be streamed, I turned on the iPad. When I couldn’t find it, I ran to ask David if he knew anything about it. He didn’t. I tried again, seeing the statement that the next service to be streamed would be on December 31. I was frustrated and very disappointed. I must have missed any mention of which services would be shown and recorded. As I sat there in despair, I noticed a text message had come in at 9:50. It was from next door neighbor D. She wrote, “Merry Christmas! Are you doing anything special?”
I replied, “Shawn, Bob, Logan, and Lisa are coming for dinner about 12:30. There is lots of food. Would you join us? Love to have you!”
Her reply turned the day around. Yes! She and Jeff would love to come. That gave me such a boost. I set the table for seven and began to prepare the vegetables. The Chicken and Stuffing casserole was in the refrigerator, ready to be cooked.
Here we are, having almost finished the main meal. D prefers not being photographed, so I cut her off. For the foodies, we had chicken casserole, baked potatoes and baked sweet potatoes (not having seven of either), broccoli with Hollandaise sauce, and fried apples. Shawn’s rolls were a lovely addition. For dessert we had the pound cake Shawn and Bob gave me for my birthday, as well as some Lebkuchen. D poured chocolate wine, her contribution to the meal, to go with dessert. That certainly hit the spot!
Lisa said beforehand that she would be very happy if she could watch the football game. At the table I asked her when the game would begin. “Six minutes ago,” she answered. She and Logan watched the game quietly on a phone, not intruding on the rest of us at all. I thought it was a brilliant solution. Everyone got what they wanted.
Unobtrusively, Kasey was working the table from below. I don’t feed the dog from the table, making her wait to lick a plate later. I don’t know what she garnered, but she was very happy. I was glad she had been indulged without breaking my personal rule. Her face showed up in this photo. What a happy dog! Bob took her out for a walk. He came in laughing, saying she ran in circles around him. He just held up his arm holding the leash as she raced around.
The party lasted long enough to be totally satisfying. We relaxed and visited in comfy chairs. Despite my objections, Shawn and D washed dishes and let me load the dishwasher. Everything was cleaned quickly. I’ll say as I’ve said before, I have the world’s best neighbors.
After everyone left I talked to son John $ and Rose, eating Chinese food in Washington. Grandson Nathaniel and Sarah chatted on the phone with me while they traveled from her mother’s home to her grandmother’s house. Daughter Lise was the last, doing Facetime and introducing me to her friend. Tanya (sp?) prepared American macaroni and cheese, a particular favorite of hers. Tanya also cooked the traditional Danish pork dinner and potatoes. The white potatoes are sweet! Lise said many Danes don’t do it as well as she did, and she comes from Nashville TN! She also served the traditional rice pudding, a dish much more elegant than the name implies.
It seemed everyone had a marvelous celebration. It was wonderful to be included in person and via tech assist. It was truly a merry Christmas for me.
Mehrling Muse 