Christmas Ups and Downs

‘Twas the night before Christmas……

....when Ross and I set off for the Christmas Eve service at church, and had gone about 2 miles…..when, what to our wondering eyes should appear,…….. no, not a miniature sleigh, and eight tiny reindeer, just….

......pitch black!

Yes, the headlights on our car went out. This was not good!
It was rather unnerving, to say the very least. I sat stunned, in panic mode. Fortunately Ross was driving and had the presence of mind to turn on the flashers, which still worked, and thankfully, gave us enough light to drive back home and swap my car for his.

Now we’ve only had this car since July and while it’s not new, it’s much newer than his, and supposedly the better vehicle! Our mechanic has had it for the last 2 days trying to find the problem…keeping it overnight to drive home himself, hoping it would have another ‘episode', but naturally it wouldn’t act up for him. Murphy’s Law, you know. So far, after checking everything he can think of, this knowledgable man hasn’t come up with an answer because his diagnostic instruments can’t detect where the problem is if there is no problem!! Grrr. He wants us to drive the car until it happens again and then bring it back. OK! I’m really looking forward to repeating that experience!

We wanted to drive it on the 3.5 hour trip tomorrow evening to have our Christmas celebration with our son, his wife and our 2 grandsons on Saturday. Taking the other car is an option, but it doesn’t ride nearly as well, and makes our backs ache. We've opted for comfort, so instead of leaving tomorrow night after Ross gets home from work, we'll go Saturday morning and come home on Sunday.

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The girls and Ko came on Christmas Eve and we enjoyed a bottle of wine together. While watching little bits and pieces of "It's a Wonderful Life", we arranged the presents under the tree. Kylie and I cried when Zuzu said her famous line in the end, and Kathy laughed at us :)

I thought of Tammy and her new grandkitten, Clarence.

I took this before it got too crowded




We nibbled on cookies

Yes, The sugar cookies were frosted and decorated!

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Christmas morning dawned bright and green...no blanket of snow for this Christmas Day. I came downstairs to find Ross looking very green around the gills. He had woken up with some sort of nasty virus.....nausea and a splitting headache! The poor man could hardly function. He ended up sleeping most of the day, leaving us to open presents without him.



Here's Kathy in a "Mad Bomber" hat that Akio gave her.

Unfortunately he couldn't be with us because he spent Christmas with his lovely mom.

He also sent Ross a "Mad Bomber" hat which, I think, was his favorite present :) Ross got up in the early afternoon and opened just a few of his presents, then snuggled up in his recliner wearing the hat because he had the chills, and went back to sleep. The girls thought this was a perfect photo op.



They are their father's daughters!



Before he went back to sleep Ross managed to sit for a moment at the table for a photo, but the sight and smell of food was a bit much for him.



Our very good friend, Nancy, came in the morning to open presents with us, and brought her famous cream puffs for our dessert, as is her custom. She sat with us for a glass of milk and shortbread cookies (her favorite), before going to other friends to share their Christmas dinner.

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Kylie and Ko arrived home just a few days before Christmas from a wonderful 12-day honeymoon in Paris and Brussels. They couldn't get away back in September after their wedding, so had to delay the honeymoon until December. If you'd like to read about it and see some pictures, you'll find it here, on Kylie's blog. I promise you'll have a laugh at their adventures :)



They brought us the most delicious chocolates from Brussels. Truly, I've never had anything like them. They're amazing!

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I always love this week between Christmas and New Year...a time to relax and rest, after the hectic weeks leading up to Christmas Day. School is out for the week and I can catch up on things I want to do.

Tomorrow will be Ross's last day of work. His health is causing him to take an early retirement. He has plans to do lots of woodworking and is looking forward to finally having the time for it. I think I'll be glad to have him home?? I'll let you know how it goes!

I hope you're all having a nice restful week!