Christmas 2024

What a wonderful week!  

Monday was quite laid back compared to every other day so far this December. The only thing that marred the day was a letter I had received the Friday before and I finally had time to follow up on. It was from Anthem Blue Cross Blue Shield saying that I was no longer covered by them for my Medicare Advantage plan! I was dumbfounded when the phone call I made confirmed this news. I had decided to opt out of the MU sponsored Medicare Advantage plan through Steve because the rates were going up quite a bit. I really don't need as much medical coverage as Steve does (at least, not yet) so we sent an email in early November to MU HR telling them to take me off. In the intervening weeks, I began receiving mail from Anthem welcoming me and including my ID card and a quarterly spending card. Then I got that final letter! Finally, after several phone calls, it was clear that MU dropped the ball and never actually took me off of their plan. So, they put me back on and we will just pay the higher premium in 2025. And, at the end of next year, we'll see if staying with United Healthcare was a good thing....

Tuesday, Christmas Eve, we picked up Beckie at 10:30 in the morning and went to Historic St. Charles to enjoy some 19th century Christmas ambiance for the few hours that they were open for tourists. The rain held off and temperatures were rather pleasant. We had hoped to eat lunch at Salt and Smoke on Main Street but they were closed. So we ate at our favorite standby which was McAllister's.  We stopped by a Costco on the way home for a rotisserie chicken and dip and bread for Christmas day. 

The photo below is in front of some dancing chili peppers singing Feliz Navidad. (definitely NOT 19th century there!)

We left Beckie at her house and headed home where we all took lovely naps. Christmas eve was just Steve and me eating our Bethlehem dinner, watching The Christ Child - A Nativity Story and Scrooge.

Christmas Day was rather quiet, compared to other years. We fed the sister missionaries breakfast. We opened gifts. Throughout the day, we FaceTimed with Julina, Elise, Sarah, Kirsti and Steven (he was FB Messenger) . Beckie came over around 2:00 and the Southerlands arrived around 4:00. Dinner was a gigantic charcutier with meats, cheeses, spreads, dips, chips, fruits, veggie sticks and goodies. We opened the joint gift from all the kids at that time - a fancy bird feeder that has a camera and motion detection that snaps pictures when a bird approaches. So cool! It has taken a few days for the birds to discover this new feeder but I am happy to say that, as of today, it has been found by the bird community. Below are some snaps - papa cardinal, mama cardinal, a woodpecker and a blue jay:

We watched It's A Wonderful Life Christmas morning and, while it was running, I finished my Christmas cards!  Woohoo! Below is our lovely tree this year. I took it down yesterday afternoon.

Another Christmas/birthday gift from Emily are these silly toilet paper holders. We got three and all have found homes in our three bathrooms

Thursday, the 26th, Steven and Tamara were driving through St. Louis in the evening so we drove over to Ballwin to see them and have dinner together - basically Christmas day leftovers. Delicious.

I started my morning walking on Thursday and Friday - not the entire distance but about half and it feels good to be doing that again. Steve and Fred celebrated their 72nd birthdays (Fred's is December 1st and Steve's is January 17th so Christmas week is just about half way between the two) by getting lunch around the corner at the Stellar Hog BBQ. Throughout the week, I have been working on cutting fabric into squares for more quilts to give away. And, we have watched two movies: the 2020 version of The Secret Garden and Empire of the Sun, a 1980's Spielberg that featured a very young Christian Bale. The version of Secret Garden was not exactly true to the book but it was a good watch. I don't remember it taking place around World War II, though. And, Empire of the Sun presented a viewpoint of WWII that one doesn't really think of much - China occupied by Japanese troops and a British prisoners of war camp in Shanghai. We also watched the Christmas special of season one of All Creatures Great and Small and episode one of Skeleton Crew. As we watched the latter, Steve commented that it was reminiscent  of Goonies and I would agree.

This morning, I drove Beckie bright and early to the airport where she was flying to Little Rock to spend some time with Kyle and Micah. Then, home and off to 9:30 church meetings for the last time until 2026. I am looking forward to 12:30 meetings in 2025. Church attendance fell victim to holiday travel and illness and the Primary was the hardest hit. No one in the presidency nor the music people were present so I led the opening exercises with a newly called teacher playing the piano (Chris) and someone not even connected to Primary (Karen) and a mom (Erin) sitting in to help corral six rather wriggly boys for the hour. I had a lesson prepared but it didn't last long so thankfully, Karen thought of the game "button, button" and that kept the boys happy for the last fifteen minutes.  Whew, there is a reason God sent me six girls and only one boy!

The final photos are from the stake Christmas concert that was held two Sunday ago. You can see me playing maracas in the first photo (Steve is in the far right), me conducting the orchestra in the next (Steve is the white shirt guy to my left in front of the rostrum) and me singing in the final picture (and that is probably the top of Steve's head below).

 

The Push To Christmas

By now, dear blog readers, you are used to me filling my days with many, many activities and this week it was goodie making and delivering, a LOT of driving, a LOT of early morning departures and a few late evening bedtimes. It was tiring!

Monday evening, Steve and I drove to the West County Mall where we met the Southerlands at the Giving Machine. Here we are with the items we purchased to donate. 

Temperatures early in the week were so mild that I was able to finish trimming back my roses and mums and NOW, the yardwork is completely finished until early spring. I also went over to the cemetery to finish up the loose ends of photographing the tombstones in section 14. 

Tuesday morning, I had a mammogram at 7:20 in the morning! I spent the rest of the day baking sugar cookies, making cherry-nut cookie doughs (a half-batch each of gluten-free and gluten-full) and doing water colored cards. 

Wednesday morning, Steve and I drove Sally down to Open Door Animal Rescue to be there by 9:00 (meaning we left at 8:20) for her annual vet exam and vaccine updates. I baked the cherry-nut cookies that afternoon and decorated the sugar cookies that evening. 

Thursday morning I left the house at 8:45 to have a left breast ultrasound because the radiologist thought he saw something on the Tuesday mammogram. Happily, after being prodded by the ultrasound tech and getting a more extensive mammogram on the left side, it was determined that it was just a lymph node....WHEW! I was never so happy to be so tortured.  Steve and I walked up and down Bates Street late in the afternoon and delivered goodies to the neighbors. We also went to Fred's where I wrapped three gifts for him (remember he is blind). Kindness Begins With Me had a fundraising event at Panera Bread that evening where they donated part of the cost of a meal to the non-profit so Steve and I had dinner there. I was skeptical about finding anything gluten-free but was pleasantly surprised with their apple pecan salad. Delicious. I had an 8:00 pm rehearsal at the church with string musicians. We had a sextet playing a Christmas medley for church on Sunday and three of those musicians also needed to rehearse their part in a choir number also being sung on Sunday.  

Friday morning I worked on finances while Steve took Fred on multiple errands, including the post office. We went to the temple that afternoon and in the evening, I dipped gluten-free pretzels and nut clusters while we watched The Ultimate Gift. 

Saturday was a temple baptistry shift until 7:00 until 11:00 (meaning we were up by 5:00 and on the road by 6:00). Afterwards, we drove home, ate lunch, packed up the car, took a nap and then drove two hours to Columbia to spend the afternoon/evening with Elise who is not coming here for Christmas because she has to work so much before and after the 25th. We also returned Smokey Bear's cat tree back to Elizabeth and took a little Christmas gift to Melanie and Sal. We didn't do much at Elise's except eat dinner, watching Meet Me In St. Louis while we ate, and we played a few rounds of Tenzie before driving back home at 8:30. We took Sally, the road-trip-loving dog along and that is her in Elise's arms in the photo.

Sunday morning we had to leave the house at 8:15 to be at an 8:30 choir rehearsal. We sang "What Shall We Give?" in church and our rehearsal time with that piece up until then was just not adequate so we really needed to work on it. We had hoped to practice last Sunday after church meetings but a last-minute baptism pre-empted our rehearsal time and so 8:30 in the morning the day of the performance was our only other option. Happily, the members of the choir (basically a double mixed quartet plus one) are all strong musicians and they didn't need a lot of work on their parts. It turned out very well with the string players doing well on their parts, too. The string sextet (one bass, two cellos, one viola, and two violins - me being one of them!) played a medley of "Hark The Herald Angels Sing, Angels We Have Heard On High and Joy To The World" and we sounded pretty good. I then accompanied on piano the family trio that sang "Away In A Manger" and I helped sing along with the Primary children who sang two pieces. Plus, I was on organ that day! I really hate being the Jeanne Lambson show but I guess it is what it is....

Church was only an hour long so we got home early, ate an early lunch, took a little nap and then drove to Ballwin where we joined the Southerlands as they sang carols to three members of their ward. Then, they followed us to our part of town where we sang to three members of our ward. Then we had dinner together at our house and sang a few more carols around the piano. All the Southerlands are such good singers and I think we sounded pretty good. At each house, we just sang two carols and ended with "We Wish You A Merry Christmas". The first photo is us singing at the last house we visited before dinner. Lucy and I handled the alto part and Lucy is a very solid alto! Emily, Larkin and Quinn sang melody, Steve took tenor and Joe and Noah were awesome on bass. (Notice Steve's and my matching Christmas shirts - they are a mock advertisement for the Haynes Sisters singing White Christmas at Columbia Inn in Pinetree, Vermont)

This last photo are of the Southerland grandkids at our house after dinner

I wish I could say I watched a LOT of Christmas movies but, aside from The Ultimate Gift, I watched nothing! Just too busy. BUT, I needed something to watch while I decorated sugar cookies and I just couldn't decide on which Christmas movie to put on (Steve was in a meeting and not able to watch) so I started watching the BBC Sense and Sensibility 3-part mini series (the one with Dan Stevens) and, even though I have seen it a few times before - heck, I OWN the DVD - I got sucked in and ended up watching all three episodes throughout the week. 

This week I am taking it easy - really!

Now we can do Christmas

With Thanksgiving being so late this year and with us making a trip to see Julina the rest of that weekend combined with my surgery....well, getting geared up for Christmas has been a challenge. I just didn't have the brain power to think about decorating, gifts and goodies all at once. Things had to be done in sequence so we got the tree on Wednesday the 4th but decorating just couldn't happen until after the civic orchestra concert on the 7th. So it was not until the 8th that we started to decorate the house. We were able to finish that by Tuesday the 10th.  Thankfully, regarding gifts, I didn't have to go out and buy anything - gifts have been made throughout the year - but I was not able to sit down and organize the wrapping and delivery plan until Wednesday. And now, next week will be goodie making and delivering and card mailing. And, then, the next week is Christmas! And my head is finally in the game...

Back in September, I bought some tulips for my large outdoor pots but our autumn temperatures were so mild that I didn't want to dig up plants that were still blooming to plant them. Then I had my surgery and we had a severe cold snap so, even if I had any energy to plant bulbs, the dirt in the pots was frozen solid. Finally, earlier in the week, we had a nice warm-up so I was able to pull up the dead plants and put in the bulbs. I was also able to winterize some other areas in the yard. I still need to trim back my mums and then I think I can be done with yardwork until spring. 

The choir that Emily sings in has a concert the same time as the stake Christmas concert this evening so I was able to attend her last rehearsal on Tuesday night (I usually have civic orchestra rehearsal on Tuesdays but we are now on hiatus until January). What a lovely time I had - sitting and soaking in beautiful music from a 200+ voice choir! And, Emily and I both wore the same shirts that night!

Beckie joined Steve and me for dinner on Wednesday. Of course, this is a busy time for her at the restaurant so we treasure any time she can spend with us.

I mailed Christmas packages Thursday morning. We enjoyed dinner at our friends, Mike and Karen Bazdresch, Friday evening. We drove to St. Charles Saturday afternoon to connect with Steven to give him his gifts. We will return to St. Charles for our annual visit on Christmas Eve day and Beckie will be joining us. 

The BIG event, though, on Saturday, was my recital that included my private students (those who could attend) and my home school orchestra students. A couple of years ago, Steve and I had visited a senior living facility called the Altenheim when we were deciding where we would live when it came time for us to be put into assisted living. I was impressed with a lovely grand living room that had a piano so I thought it might be a good place to hold a recital. I reached out to them in the fall to see if that could happen and was told "yes". Good - winter recital was all set......only, the piano in the grand living room does not work so my recital yesterday was placed in basically a wide hallway where a "functioning" piano was located. But, this piano was pathetic - it was a half step flat and some of the keys only worked part of the time! I had to place the chairs for the performers a ways away from the piano with chairs for the audience in-between so I not only couldn't hear my students very well, I also could hardly see them. And with this long and narrow venue, we had to leave space for wheelchairs to go in and out of the dining area that was next door!  AND, there was a cage of delightful parakeets at the end of this hallway that wanted to sing along. Plus, it was unbearably hot. NOT the best recital situation but we all made it through and it was blessedly short.  I usually take a group photo but I spaced out and forgot. Here is a photo of me with Arielle, one of my private students. We are in the grand living room area where I had hoped to have the recital. And below that photo are three of my home school students in the wide hallway setting - Payton, Eleah and Damaras.

Here is the whole group and you can see how narrow the space was (and the parakeet cage in the background)

Christmas movie watching has also begun - we caught Muppet Christmas Carol and White Christmas while at Julina's and we saw Lemon Drop Kid last night. We watched Red One on Friday and both Steve and I really enjoyed it. We loved the message that Santa had - and the actor who played him, J.K. Simmons. It was fun to see Bonnie Hunt as Mrs. Claus, too.  I also watched a non-Christmas movie last night called Sugarland Express. It was Steven Spielberg's first feature film and the first time he collaborated with John Williams doing the score. It was based upon a true event and was an interesting, if not sad story about two low-level, criminals in Texas wanting to take their baby away from foster care. 

I played in a cello trio in church this morning and the choir sang "Candlelight Carol". The stake Christmas concert is tonight and I am helping conduct two choir numbers and four orchestra pieces. Then, all I have left in the music performance column is another string ensemble and another choir number next Sunday.  And, then it will be Christmas....

 

Curse the calendar!

How can it already be two weeks since I last blogged?!?!  Life is just zipping by so quickly and I can't seem to find the brakes....

Since my last blog, I turned 69 years old. Steve and I went to breakfast at IHOP where I enjoyed a stack of gluten-free pancakes that were to die for. I drove (for the first time since surgery) to the Monday morning Afghanistan women's group gathering and mostly just sat and worked on a nifty knitter hat since I wasn't up to doing much else. That afternoon, Steve and I did a bunch of errands and he grilled pork steaks for my birthday dinner and he made a delicious chocolate cake for dessert. It was in homage to one just like it that he made for my first birthday with him fifty years ago. I know I have a photo of him holding that cake but we have both looked in our files and can't seem to find it. Sniff. We ended the night by watching Hook.

Fast forward to Thanksgiving on Thursday. Elise arrived Wednesday night and we three watched Pan. It is a Peter Pan origin story that was really quite weird. I don't need to see that one again. Dinner on Thursday was at Emily's. I cooked a twelve pound turkey, made a bunch of gluten-free stuffing and a batch of my mother's cranberry sauce. I also brought a pumpkin cheesecake, a gluten-free pecan pie and a gluten-full blackberry pie. It was nice to not be the host and Emily did a beautiful job of setting two tables. Dinner was so yummy and we had fun afterwards playing games.

Friday morning, after Thanksgiving, Elise, Steve and I loaded up the car (and Sally) and headed to Indiana to spend the weekend with Julina and Alex. A reunion of friends from Elise's time in Indianapolis was planned for Saturday since her former roommate, Rachel and her husband and two kids were in town from San Diego to visit. She reported that it was a great visit. Our time in Greenwood was brief but we were able to attend the temple Friday night - Julina, Elise, Steve and me - and Steve and I were able to take Shiloh to breakfast Saturday morning. 

We headed back to St. Louis Sunday morning after Julina's church meetings and got back home by about 2:30. After a little nap, Elise loaded up her car and Smokey Bear, the cat, and drove to Columbia amid heavy Thanksgiving returning home traffic. Elizabeth, Smokey Bear's "mom" was released from the rehab hospital on Saturday. Missouri got snow on Saturday so we returned to a nice dusting of white (and pretty bitter temperatures!)

 

This first week of December was full of so many non-holiday activities that our house still needs to be decorated. We did manage to get a nice little live tree on Wednesday and we brought it into the house on Friday but it has yet to be strung with lights and ornaments. Maybe tomorrow night? Beckie took Steve and me to visit the Global Market in Kirkwood on Thursday morning and we had such a fun time going up and down the aisles filled with foods from all over the world!  Notice the matching shirts Steve and I are wearing...aren't they fun?

Last night, Saturday, was the St. Louis Civic Orchestra holiday concert. It was full of fun music to play and you can see that the entire cello section was full of the festive spirit.

Today in church, Steve played a lovely Christmas carol, Stars Were Gleaming, in a low brass quartet. Christmas means lots of music at our house for which I am grateful.