On Saturday mornings, unless we have to get up early, James' usual habit has been to wake at 8:30, decide he can't sleep, and get up. This morning we were snoozing until almost ten. It was quite lovely. Thus followed perambulation of the pooch and eating of the breakfast before heading out into the world. James still sounds like a frog, but not quite as croaky as previously.

Our first stop this morning was Goodwill. If I'm going to start Christmas decorating, I need to put the everyday decorations in boxes in the laundry room, and that meant finally getting rid of the old microwave cart. We loaded that, plus a few clothes, a few housewares we don't use, a stuffed dog, and the old crock pot, and took it to Goodwill. They almost didn't take the cart; I guess I acted pitiful enough. Then we bought gasoline at Costco, and could finally enter the fun portion of the afternoon: going to Trader Joe's.

Last month we stocked up on pumpkin bars, which they only sell in October; today we stocked up on cranberry bars, which they only sell before Christmas. James likes to have the throughout the year, along with the apple, strawberry, and blueberry bars. And we ended up stocking up with Christmas dessert treats: candy cane Joe-Joes, peppermint bark, peppermint puffs (we like to have extra so we can eat some when summer is getting on our last nerve). Plus chicken sausage, tomato soup (they had a sample of it; it tasted like a grilled cheese sandwich...LOL), pumpkin crackers, and finally something called "gingerbread sticks." We ate one each on the way home, and think we may have a substitute for gingerbread boys, since Books-a-Million no longer sells pastries at all and we can't go up there at Christmas for cocoa and gingerbread anymore.

We came home via JoAnn. Sometimes when we have the power chair with us, we don't want to bring it in a small place and we leave it on the lift. To warn people it's there, we tie the red bandanna from the emergency box on it for higher visibility. But people drive so crazy these days that we keep worrying that's not enough. JoAnn has bandannas in different colors and I bought one that's a mix of flame yellow and flame orange. If they miss that they deserve being sued! Also got bulbs for the window candles, some small cross-stitch craft items, little pine trees for the Christmas village, and, because I had a 25 percent off coupon on the entire purchase, a mindfulness magazine called "In the Moment."

A funny: I was surfing Facebook as we drove home—we came through the battlefield park and the trees were gorgeous!—and came upon a live broadcast of a tuba Christmas concert from in front of Faneuil Hall in Boston. We listened to this on the way home; they played all sorts of tunes and the audience was so appreciative. I love the internet!

Chilled out for the rest of the afternoon, and then I finally got my barbecue pork ribs at Fried Tomato Buffet. We were supposed to go two weeks ago, but I was so sick, and then last weekend was Hair Day, and we were both sick. Didn't eat very much: probably about four or five ounces of the pork, some cucumbers, and some olives. I don't have much of an appetite since I was sick, which I guess is a good thing, but which doesn't show up very much on the scale.

We stopped at Lowes on the way home to get a new set of net lights for the bushes outside. We'd lost a quarter of our current set a couple of years ago, and then right before last Epiphany lost another quarter. I stepped on a couple of the bulbs two years ago as well, so the set were pretty well shot. We looked at other outdoor lights and then headed for home.

Watched a recent (90s?) animated special called The Story of Santa Claus tonight on CBS. Kinda cute, in that old-fashioned soft animated style that I prefer; I hate the current cartoon stuff that's all angles! Nicholas Claus and his wife Gretchen are evicted from their toy shop because they can't pay the rent because Nicholas, remembering his lonely life as an orphan, gives away all his toys. The nasty landlord even takes Gretchen's wedding ring! Lost in a storm, Nicholas and Gretchen are transported to the North Pole, where they save the life of a young elf named Clement. The reward for this, the cranky old head elf tells them, is to have any wish come true. Nicholas, true to form, says he wants to give every child a toy on Christmas Eve instead of asking for something for himself. The elves have to pull this off or they will lose all their magic. With the help of little Clement and the stereotypical little bossy, eyeglass-wearing mathematically-inclined girl Aurora, they go about making it happen, even though old cranky guts doesn't believe they can do it. Wished it had a bit more "heart," but it was cute.

Labels: Christmas, errands, food, shopping, television

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