Christmas is doing a little something extra for someone.
I have one thought for this morning after listening to the news!
It’s becoming madness!
We were up at 6:00 AM and continued decorating the tree until 8:00 AM when I took Mary to the PT session, and I took the sleigh down the street and had a coffee while they worked on her bones. After the session, we went to the cleaners, then to the bank, and finally to Rockwell’s for breakfast which we shared.
Colleen was off to visit her mother in La Mirada. She used the van because she could not find the keys to my car because I had my car keys with me. Oops!
I put on my new UGLY sweater, and this year it was hideous!
Indeed!
We worked around the house, mostly decorating the tree until Colleen returned and Paul was cleaned up. We then headed for the Nixon Library. It is an impressive building and reminded me of how much he did in his 1 1/2 terms; it made other presidents look very sad.
Few remember what he did for women’s rights and the changes in the military, not to mention opening up China, starting the EPA, beginning the coordinated fight against cancer, getting nuclear arms under relative control, and stopping the Vietnam War. All people remember is Watergate.
The Library is only 15 minutes from our home.
Colleen had never been here and was quite impressed.
Colleen’s first visit!
Here come the choo-choo trains. Like other years, the model railroaders set up an impressive display in the Library at Christmas. Several trains ran all at once, with 4-8-4 chugging right along. I thought to myself, “Ticket inspectors, and you’ve got to hand it to them….”
The HO-Guage trains were there today!
They were set up in the lobby and had quite a run, with some trains having twenty-five cars. I remembered back to college when a friend of mine quit his job as a reporter and left town by railway. It was an ex-press train.
I was expressly forbidden to run around the display making choo-choo sounds, especially train whistle sounds! (Little do the girls know I rooted just a little bit on the way out).
More trains.
Nixon was a lawyer and liked his yellow pads and used them for years to capture his thoughts; the Library had originals and translations. He had brilliant ideas like “win the peace!”
In his study with the yellow pad, he created terrific ideas for our country.
We departed just as the Library was closing, but you can see many more pictures on our website.
The three of us had a wonderful time.
Merry Christmas to everyone!
Mary arrived home and went into cooking mode while Colleen and I went through my Christmas decorations. I pared them down significantly, donating two large boxes of tree ornaments to Goodwill.
Mary was cooking for the birthday party.
Scout, The Wonder Dog, helped us by staying in his bed and not pestering. He is a good baby and even got grooming of sorts before we hit the sack!
Scout “helps”
After the food prep was done, Mary joined us for the party upstairs, completing the tree decorating activities. I put the angel on the top of the tree, but she is crooked; only Becca can get the angel straight as I am too short!
Fixing the angel is a job for SUPER BECCA!
We all got silly towards the end of the evening with dancing, singing, another tomfoolery being accomplished! The girls told me, “Paul, you are the reason Santa even has a naughty list.” My feeling was hurt, not too badly, though. I quickly did my math and mentioned that “FYI: By the end of the Twelve Days of Christmas song, your home is crammed with 23 flying Birds and 50 hyperactive Humans.”
The following video is hard to explain, so I shall not do so!
What is troubling is that we are sober!
We declared victory at 9:00 PM and went downstairs for a small dinner! We called Robin to coordinate tomorrow’s activities, and then we crashed. Mary and I watched part of a Dolly Pardon Christmas movie before the Sandman visited.
