Solstice Day - The Cookies and de' Lights

It is Saturday December 21st, the first day of winter, the shortest day of the year (daylight wise). 

This morning we were busy with chores.  I made cookie dough, went grocery shopping and got in a two mile walk in the drizzle.

Tom went to Jill's house to work on the chimney. It kind of looks like he is the Grinch, stuffing the tree up, but really he is getting things ready for Santa.  He had to install a new cable to operate the damper, and then clean out some of the ashes and soot, collecting quite a bit on himself in the process.  I hear it was quite a comedy of errors, but he got the job done.  Now the yule log can be burnt.

This afternoon Jill and the kids arrived to bake cookies -  gingerbread and lemon sugar cookies. 

We had quite a production process going, and we finished up about 4:00, in time to get a snack before heading out for the Solstice part of the day, celebrating the returning of the light in the days ahead by going to see the lights.  In this case it was the Garden d' Lights at the Bellevue Botanical Garden. It was wet, a steady, fine rain, so I didn't take my big camera, and my little Canon tried it's best to focus in the dark with raindrops on the lens. 

 It was 6:00 when we finished with the garden lights and headed, the wrong way, to dinner.  Once we got turned around on the freeway and passed the traffic going to the mall, we landed at the Yankee Grill in Renton for a later than usual dinner.  We entertained ourselves with our phones and cameras while waiting for our food.

And now we are all settled back into our homes on this long, dark, wet night.  Sunday will be a slow day, and maybe a few seconds longer?

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas!

 This was the scene when I went out to the street to get the newspaper this morning.

We knew it was coming, just not how much we would get.  And could our guests make to our house for our brunch?  The Friday morning breakfast bunch was due to arrive at 10:00.  I was ready.

 There were phone calls and emails and discussion of road conditions and best routes to take.  Meanwhile I went ahead with the cooking, a shrimp quiche, a broccoli and ham quiche, salad and cardamom bread, which I had baked the day before.  And cookies, of course.

And they all made it!  By 10:30 we were dining and talking and having a good time!

And speaking of good times, here's what the kids were up to at their house.  Schools were closed and it was time for playing in the snow before the rain started.  

Jill made me aware that this is the first time the kids have ever made a snowman.  Colorado snow was always too dry - powder snow.  They were amazed that you could just keep rolling a snowball and it got bigger and bigger!

And what's a snowman without a snow cat?

Now a cold rain is washing all the snow away so weekend traffic will be back to normal, and the prediction for Christmas is DRY weather.  We'll take it!

It was a lovely holiday decoration while it lasted.

It's time for the holidaze

I guess it's nothing unusual to say we've been busy.  But it's a different kind of busy.

Last Friday we attended a wonderful brunch hosted by a teacher friend, Becky, front row, third from left in photo.  Tom was there too, since these are the women HE taught with, not me.  But because we hosted the end of the year party in our garden for many years, I was adopted. 

Tom missed the photo because he got the call from Irene's school again.  She was sick.  Tom went to fetch her and get her settled on the couch, then came back to the party in time for the cookies.

Irene was fine by the time we got back home and I fixed her some soup for lunch.  We picked up Isaac from school and took the kids shopping, then fed them waffles for dinner.  The kids were back Saturday for an overnight so that Jill could go to a party.  

Sunday we had the family party at Jan's in Gig Harbor.  

Monday was a work day, cleaning house, exercising, getting lists of shopping up to date and finishing up a few more things.  We got the call from school that Irene was sick again, the third time in about two weeks, and this time she really looked sick.  But after a long nap on the couch, and lots of screen time on Tom's tablet, she announced that she was ready for her lunch of chicken noodle soup, saltines, and Gatoraid.

See that stack of cards ready to mail on the table behind Irene?  Yep.  We got those done too.

 Monday evening we actually went to the mall!  The first and only time.  And then we struck out, came home and found what we wanted on the internet. 

Oh, and for those who are wondering, I got the call from the surgeon's office.  My back surgery is scheduled for January 31. I want to keep up with my exercising and try to manage my weight a little better before then.

Josy has trouble keeping track of who's coming and going around here, but she usually settles in with us in the evening, when I finally sit down and have time to catch up on what's going on in the blogisphere.

 Yesterday I got my walking and exercising in before we went to lunch with staff from my school, most retired but a few still actively working in the district.  The ones still working are now a principal and a staffer in the district office, so, unlike teachers, they can get away for an hour or so.

 Feliz Navidad at Azteca.

Yesterday afternoon we finally got going on the gift wrapping, a marathon session that has us almost finished.  We'll finish up today and then I will start prepping for the Christmas brunch we are hosting Friday for the breakfast bunch we meet with every Friday morning.

We haven't firmed up plans for the weekend yet, but I think there will be cookie baking with the kids and hopefully a trip to see lights for Solstice on Saturday.  

We'll see what the weather allows. We're back to typical Christmas in the Evergreen State, low 40's and drippy.

I hope you are all finding some of that "merry and bright" too!

We needed a little Christmas...

My sister-in-law, Jan, Tom's twin, is headed south at the end of the week to join the California Reeders in their holiday festivities.  Her partner, Ann, is doing the same with her southern family.

So we needed a little Christmas, right this very minute, that minute being Sunday afternoon, after the Seahawks game, of course.  Winner!

We all loaded up in the mini-van and headed to Gig Harbor where we feasted on roast beast, shared gifts and ate cookies.  It was a lovely start to the holiday season.

Thanks, Jan and Ann.  And safe travels.

Decision Time

Those of you who are also my Facebook friends already know I met with a neurosurgeon this morning to go over the results of the MRI on my spine that I had a while ago.

The results clearly show the compressing of one disc and the compression on the nerve trunk that is causing my leg pain and tingling. This is all due to a condition called spondylolisthesis, when, in my case, the L-4 vertebra is tipped out of alignment.

The MRI shows that surgery is indicated if I so choose that treatment.  The surgery would involve a laminectomy of L-4, replacing the disc, and fusion at that point with rods and screws and bone grafting.  

I have been dealing with varying symptoms now for a long time. The kind of pain shifts, originally in my right leg and now in my left. Currently I have a minimum of pain but much more tingling down my leg.

It is tempting to delay surgery until I really need it - that is, until I am having much more pain.  But that tingling tells me that there could be nerve damage, and that is what I want to avoid.

This is a major procedure and the recovery time is about three months.  The good thing is that the best therapy is walking.  I'm good at that!

I have been getting some advice via Facebook, most of it pointing me in the direction of going ahead now and scheduling surgery, probably for late January. It seems there is quite a queue forming for back surgery after the new year.  I am not alone out there.  In fact my surgeon preformed three of these same surgeries just yesterday!

I'll sleep on it, but I'm pretty sure I'll be calling in the morning and getting signed up.

In other news, when I got back from seeing the surgeon, I went for a 3.85 mile walk before the rain started.  I loved the sunny weather while it lasted but I was getting tired of the freezing cold. The thaw is coming slowly and that's good for our roads.  

Yesterday I got photo cards made, and wrote and printed our holiday letter.  This afternoon we made two kinds of cookies - total now of five kinds.  

Tomorrow we're attending a Christmas brunch with school friends and then we'll pick up the kids from school for early release Friday and take them shopping for gifts for their mother.  We'll feed them dinner while Jill attends a staff party.  The kids will stay overnight with us Saturday night while Jill goes to another party.  There will be cookie baking for entertainment.  

We'll all go to an early Christmas with sister-in-law Jan and her partner on Sunday.  They will be going to California to spend Christmas with family there later in the week.  

I think I'll schedule some resting for Monday, and I may still be working on those Christmas cards and letters that are currently sitting on a tray, ready and waiting, but untouched.

More Fun Shopping

Tuesday was the day of our annual Christmas Shop field trip.  We love experiencing the glitter and glitz, the fun and the flowers presented at these two garden stores, Wight's and Molbak's, both north of Seattle.

There were just three of us this year.  Other things happen.  But it is officially Mavis's field trip, and she was there!

I didn't take my cameras and was not planning to take photos, but eventually I couldn't resist, and my iPhone came out of my pocket and snapping shots began.  Here is just a bit of the beauty we enjoyed.

 No, I did not resist.
Yes, I did buy more ornaments - some for others, but a few for me too.  I just squeezed them in.

I hope you too are having some days that are merry and bright.