Wonderful Holiday!

What a marvelous Holiday season this has been! I am thankful that I have had the energy to participate in and enjoy many holiday functions. I attended a Christmas dinner with the Daughters of the King, a women’s group at my church on December 6. I had not been able to attend meetings all year while on Chemotherapy, but I missed my sisters in Christ and really wanted to see them. I also went to a party for the CPAC (Citizen’s Planning and Advisory Council) with Al on December 5. He wore a Christmas shirt that said, “I’m on the naughty list” and I wore one that said, “I’m on the nice list.” Everybody laughed and said that Al’s shirt was very appropriate for him – and mine for me. On December 8 we went with our friends Pat and Pam to the Trans-Siberian Orchestra Christmas concert. Dorothy and Q went also. And we had an unexpected visitor, my sister Christine from Orlando. She happened to have the day off so she came to visit. She ended up getting a ticket to the show also. Because of my shortness of breath Al had asked for handicapped seating. We had great seats in front of the club bar, with plenty of leg room and a great view of the stage! This was the same musical group I wrote about in April when we saw their “Beethoven’s Last Night” concert. I was touched by the libretto of that concert when the narrator said, “Beethoven, the devil lies!” I realized that the devil had been lying to me about my condition, so I stopped listening to him and have been on the way to remission ever since!

On Sunday December 11 we went with friends (Tish and Bob) to our local dinner theater to see “A Christmas Carol.” Tish and I wanted to go to a place that we could dress up, so we asked our husbands to take us there. The food was delicious and the play was excellent. The following Friday Tish had a Christmas party at her house with a group of friends that, like Tish and Bob, are dear to our hearts. Usually Al and I join these friends for cards games at Brenda and Al’s house, but I haven’t been able to attend that much this year. So again, it was good to see such dear friends and prayer partners.The next day, Saturday December 17, we went to Orlando to see the 5,000,000 dancing Christmas lights at Hollywood Studios. WOW!!! They were amazing, synchronized to music. We went with my sister and her friend Helene. Helene works at Disney and was able to get us free admission. It was quite a show!

The following weekend was Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. My sister Christine came up from Orlando to spend the holiday weekend with us. It was my nadir period (time after chemotherapy treatment during which red and white blood cell levels decrease) but I managed to help make Christmas dinner and set the table. I picked an easy recipe from my December 2011 issue of Real Simple, fruit-filled pork loin roast with roasted root vegetables, wild rice and a salad. Al made corn bread and we ate pecan pie for dessert. Dorothy and Q joined us. That afternoon we went to the movies. Dorothy was on vacation from her school for 2 weeks so we got to spend time with her and Q and their 3 pets, Moon (the cat), Chiquita (the dog) and Coy (the guinea pig). I hope all of you had a holiday that was as wonderful as mine!

Pictures show our Christmas tree (which I had the energy to decorate after Al set it up), Tinker Bell and an angel that my mother-in-law bought in 1947 when plastics first came out; all the cards we received displayed on our wall; our red bougainvillea, and a close-up of the red bougainvillea growing through the ivy lattice.