It is now December 2020, and Sue has been gone for almost ten months. Christmas would have been sad except that Dr. Mary entered my life, and my kids readily welcomed her into the family with open arms. I introduced Mary to our tradition of watching “The Christmas Story” and dining on Chinese Food. We celebrated at my home in Los Alamitos. The kids had a great time teasing me about always falling asleep.
Not this year!!!
Well, we had our champagne and our glass of wine and turned on the movie. We did OK until about halfway through, and we both fell asleep. The kids teased us that it was the first time Mary and I slept together; they were right.
Out cold!!!
We missed the end of the movie, and the kids thought that was great. We were made for each other!!
Mary brightened up my life during this season and has been making life wonderful ever since. I am a fortunate man indeed.
Visit our Daily Diary entry from December 25th, 2020
At 4:00 am this morning, I woke up thinking it had to be Santa on the roof, but it was only the VERY HEAVY rain, which sounded like someone was there! We headed to the kitchen, unloaded, and reloaded the dishwasher in preparation for today’s festivities.
Around 9:00 am, we made a series of phone calls, starting with Colleen, and then we went through our kids, leaving messages or talking to them.
By 11:00 am, we were getting ready for the expected visitors:
- Dianne & Fast Eddie
- Bob and Robin
- Bob & Donna
- The Liles’ clan
- The Lind clan
- Crazy Greg
- …and us!
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Our family and guests began showing up right on time, 5:00 pm. Our live Christmas Tree alerts us as people approach the front door. Is he worried about tree fires this year for some reason?
Mr. Tree is making sure he does NOT catch on fire.
The feast is open for business, and Chinese food disappears at an alarming rate. Eddie goes first to make sure everything is OK.
The dinner bell has chimmed.
The front room erupts in laughter as stories are told and retold about years gone by. Bob tells of the dinosaurs that roamed the area when he was a kid.
Stories are told in the formal dining room.
Bob, not being able to restrain himself, adds fuel to the laughter fires.
Bob has stories to tell, also.
It’s time to prepare the Mulled Wine. We filled the punch bowl with two bottles of dry red wine, then added some sliced oranges, courtesy of Jeff, our neighbor, and our own lemons. The metallic bridge was affixed to the top of the bowl, and a sugar cone was carefully positioned in the center.
The Kraken was liberally splashed onto the sugar cone, soaking it through and through. We drew straws to see who would light the flames. I lost, so I pulled out my trusty lighter, and with a whoosh, flames shot into the air, frying several gnats and leaving marks on the ceiling.
The sugar cone is soaked in Kraken.
As I supervised, Mary carefully played in the fire, adding Kraken to the melting cone. The liquid sugar dropped through the bridge directly into the bowl, making for a delightful after-dinner drink.
Here comes the fire.
THEN IT HAPPENED: a spark from the mulled wine drifted over towards our tree, and the tree caught fire. We were lucky to have three members of the Orange Auxiliary Fire Department with us this evening.
In seconds, Amy, Dianne, and Donna changed into their firefighting equipment, and with the help of the Grinch and several bottles of champagne, the fire was put out. The smell of burnt pine needles and steamed champagne filled the room, leaving several people asking for more!
These three brave and versatile ladies saved the evening! Santa hats off to the fire crew!
Dianne comes to the rescue.
Donna is also a part-time fireperson!
Amy puts out a tree fire.
The party continued with cups of grog being consumed. Charlie and Alex, our grandsons, were assigned to firewatch duty. We wanted to make sure no additional sparks were flying around.
Visiting goes on all night long.
The grog hunt was on. Bob, our resident German, gave us a passing grade on our efforts to recreate this delicious drink!
Bob and Donna look for grog refills.
Robn and Mary sat back and rested after watching the exceptional firefighting performance.
The girls decided to sit and rest for a few minutes.
All kinds of weather
We stick together
The same in the rain or the sun
Two different faces
But in tight places
We think, and we act as one
Just like “White Christmas”
Meanwhile, back in the formal dining room, Mae West had the most challenging job in the evening: keeping an eye on Fast Eddie!
Mae West keeps an eye on Fast Eddie.
The girls gather around the table while the boys find a comfortable place to swap stories.
The boys talk about the desert trips—Joe on the left (Son) and Zack on the right (Grandson).
Becca and Amy are both teachers, so they always have a lot to talk about.
Amy and Becca talk shop!
Mary revealed how she influences Santa.
Mary influences Santa.
Bob Duda set up the camera to capture all sixteen of us!
Yeah, yeah, the gang’s all here.
As the evening wore on, I thought a lot about my life. I have been fortunate in my 81 years on this planet.
Good night, all, and Merry Christmas!
We had one more glass of wine before retiring to the TV room.
“Cookie little boy???”
Mary had not seen this movie before, while I remembered some of it! Siblings Kate and Teddy Pierce hatch a scheme to capture Santa Claus on Christmas Eve. When the plan goes awry, the kids join forces with a somewhat jolly Saint Nick and his loyal elves to save the holiday before it’s too late.
