Christmas Presents

I have always been a big fan of Christmas.  Early on I'm sure that presents had a lot to do with that.  But my early memories included the joy of the big family gathering on Christmas Eve.  All my cousins on my Mom's side of the family were there.  Such great fun!

As we grew older with families of our own, the cousins celebrated separately.  Dottie and I have been hosting Christmas Eve quite a few years now with my siblings and hers, and other family and friends.  It still is a highlight of the year for me.

This year, as we started to get ready the the party, I was having trouble swallowing.  I could not even get a drink of water down.  It never had been that bad for that long before.  You could imagine my dismay when I envisioned having to call off the party and go to the emergency room.  YIKES!  Luckily, after my nap, the pipes opened up again.  But that was not the end of the evening troubles.  As everyone was arriving, the fire in the fireplace was lit and we soon discovered the flue was closed.  The house was filling with smoke and people at the same time.  YIKES, again!  Luckily with the help of the attic fan and open doors and windows, we were able to clear the air and proceed with the festivities.  We ended up having a wonderful time with everyone.

I am still counting my blessings for my early Christmas present (swallowing) and sharing a precious evening with our loved ones.

More pictures to illustrate the presents that brought Dottie and I joy.

Lucy with that smile for grandpa dyno

The joy in Lucy's face playing with her new Elmo doll.

We hope everyone was able to find love and joy this year.

p.s. I have been able to swallow much better since Christmas Eve.

Waiting Rooms...

…can be tough too.  Here is our experience this last week: 2 Rooms, plenty of waiting.

Last Wednesday I had an appointment with my dermatologist.  Dottie decided to go with me since we were running errands afterword.  That was a big mistake.  We waited an hour and a half in a small fairly crowded waiting room.  That was bad enough, but Fox News was on their TV the whole time.  Those of you that know my political leanings can imagine how this compares (for me) to some of the treatments I have been through.

That shot was of my last skin treatment this past spring.  Ouch! Forehead only so as not to break the blaug site.

On a side note, this visit reminded me of an old George Carlin routine where he talked about cancer.  He maintained that if you had cancer, you needed another kind so they could kill each other off.  I must be in great shape.

This Wednesday, Dottie and I spent about 5 hours in the Barnes Jewish surgical waiting room.  It was a much better room than last week, but still a long time.  We were there because our son, Nathan had surgery to remove part of his colon.  While our wait was tough, Nate had a harder go of it.  Luckily, the surgery was a success. He'll be in the hospital 5-6 days and will be somewhat recuperated by the time I have my surgery in mid-Jan.

That is enough for now, but I'll leave with a couple of shots of what I do when I'm not in a waiting or treatment room or fixating on music?

   Watching birds from my kitchen.