Christmas Weekend Revisted Part 1

Success!
The holiday came off beautifully.

I live in fear of building holidays up in my mind and then having them dissappoint. You often hear of that happening to so many people.....Often I have assumed that eventually...... it would happen to me.
It didn't.

Happily....another holiday unscathed. No disappointments, no let downs. I allowed myself to enjoy the moments for what they were and let gratitude fill the days.

Friday evening, 12.21.07

I finished work and drove to New Jersey. The purpose of this journey was to pick up my grandparents and bring them back to Virginia with me for the holiday. They are too old to drive and I know for a fact....that at 86 and 84 years old, our holidays together are limited.

I did not allow myself to grumble at the traffic or the bad drivers. Instead, I listened to my music, made some holiday cheer phone calls and enjoyed the 3 1/2 hours of solitude in the car. Upon arriving in New Jersey, I was lucky to not have to parallel park my car! Hooray, a space was open and I slid right in!

Nan and Pop had waited up for me....we visited for a few hours before heading off to bed. My plan was to do a bit of my "office" work in the morning and hit the road for Virgina at 1:30pm.

Saturday, 12.22.07

Woke up late. aaaggh

Are you familiar with that panic feeling at waking up later than intended? You are tired, groggy and trying to jump out of bed as fast as possible....as if jumping out quickly will make up for the extra hour you slept. I rushed downstairs in a panic to turn on my laptop and catch up with any crisis that may have occured since shutting down at 2:30am.

No crisis.

I began making the calls, sending the emails.......all the while fielding questions from the kitchen about what did I want for breakfast? did i want an orange? how about a banana? (Nan has a thing about fruit consumption in the morning) I chose the banana.

The day progressed and shocking - I was not able to leave on time. One thing after another came up with work....not allowing me time away from email and the phones.

Nan and Pop busied themselves packing and deciding what to wear. Raincoat or winter coat? Dress or skirt? We also decided that they should open thier presents from California before we left.....Let the festivities begin!

With gifts openend, we loaded the car and began our ride to Virginia. As the hours passed, I began to realize all of the "to do's" that still had to be done.

In my mind, I planned to feed Nan and Pop before arriving home. Besides, I had not a scrap of food in the house. I needed to get to the grocery store and buy list #1 that I had prepped thru the week, had to decide on the final menu for Christmas Eve and Christmas Day, had to complete list #2 for final grocery store run, had to complete Christmas shopping, wrap gifts, finish final batch of cookies.

I knew that feeding Nan and Pop would have to involve a restaurant that served basic food that would be hot, and include soup or salad, and vegetable and starch......Being limited on my choices, I opted for the Cracker Barrel. Nan had chicken and dumplings with carrots and fried apples. Pop had pot roast with carrots and mashed pototoes and green beans. (He actually pointed to the picture in the menu and said, "bring me exactly that") Much to my chagrin the vegetables were clearly from a can and cooked to mush......luckily, that is just the way Nan and Pop like them.

With the grandparents fed, we headed for home. I dropped them off, unloaded the car and put in a movie for them to watch as I went to the grocery store. With "It's a Wonderful Life" playing I headed for the store.

The grocery store on the Saturday before Christmas....I prepped myself for chaos....but because it was after 8pm...it was quiet! Hooray! I ran up and down the aisles making my selections. Being motivated by my houseguests, I knew that I had to have plenty of fruit. I also had to buy a tea kettle. They love hot tea for lunch and dinner. I quickly crossed off my list and only had a few items that had to be moved to list #2. Apparently they had a run on basil and lemons. I came home just in time to see George Baily rescue Clarence from the river.

I unloaded the groceries, tucked everyone into bed with strict instructions that we would be going to 10:30am mass on Sunday.

Sunday, 12.23.07

I arose early and headed to the gym. Ran a few miles on the treadmill, lifted some weights knowing that I would be sleevless for the symphony performance. (somehow convincing myself that a few reps on the weight machines would give me instant muscle definition instead of flab) Returning home, the grandparents were already awake and ready for church. We attended mass and left for the Kennedy Center. We were pressed for time. The priest had felt a little long winded and now we had less than one hour to get there, park and find our seats. And of course, with older folks, you can't make them hurry.

It was fun to watch them ooh and aah at the Washington sites....Nan asked about 8 times if that was the Potomac River..."yes, Nan"

Pop marveled at the Watergate....isn't that where Nixon got himself into trouble?...."yes, Pop"

We were fortunate to find parking rather quickly, up the escalators we went....made a quick stop to the bathroom....(well kind of quick, they are old) and made it to our box seats. We were at the symphony for a performance of Handels "Messiah" My favorite part is "For Unto Us a Child is Born"......the rest....not so much. I was actually disappointed in the performances of the soloists....

On the upside, my favorite cello man was there....I enjoy watching him. Nan did fall asleep, which made me giggle....but she is 86! She can sleep whenever she wants! Of course, she claimed to just be resting her eyes.....she thought the music was lovely. Her favorite part was the older woman playing the violin. Nan was convinced that the woman had to be in her 80's and wasn't that just fantastic that she was still performing. I did not see this woman and can't weigh in on whether or not she was 80 plus.

With the performance over, it was once again time to eat! Old people are on a very tight eating schedule.....and the days events were preventing the preferred timelines....once again, I knew we needed to have soup or salad, entree with vegetable and starch included. We took them to a diner type establishment....I thought the food was terrible....they loved it!

We drove home and enjoyed the holiday lights....had a hot cup of tea...some of Nan's wonderful cake...enjoyed some cookies from Cat Boy....and off to bed they went.