Estimated reading time: 6 minutes
“Christmas can’t be bought from a store. Maybe Christmas means a little bit more.” — Dr. Seuss
What happened last night? Our entire household, including Scout, The Wonder Dog, slept in past 8:00 AM; unheard of! Perhaps it was the rain? Maybe the sleep fairy sneezed while flying overhead and oversupplied us? Maybe it 2was because I was so tired; I only heard one loud noise all night long. I told Mary, “The amount of sleep needed by the average person is five minutes more.”
Really?
Mary packed up two “meals-on-wheels” kits from the excess food we had (cooking just for two is impossible!). We got ready for Girls Night Out and departed, with Colleen joining us. We made the drop-offs in “fly-by” mode, just delivery and no visiting!
The Elks Lodge was full of Christmas parties, but we managed to squeeze into the lounge. I shared with Colleen and Mary and therefore had a full plate! I was as full as a tick.
We were talking about eating as children and I told the girls, “I was so ugly my mother used to feed me with a slingshot.” Meals are a funny thing, especially Chinese meals; think about it, you do not sew with a fork, and I see no reason why you should eat with knitting needles.
Colleen was so kind as to snap a picture of us by the Elks beautiful Christmas Tree; we may attempt to make Christmas Cards from this one. If that doesn’t work we will sell it to Black Flag Pest Control as a way to frighten mice to death and be green at the same time.
We are having fun together; does it show?
From the Elks, we headed home to rest before this evening’s foray into the unknown! Mary and I crashed almost immediately, and Colleen dozed off between phone calls to family back home and brother Joe. I felt stuffed when I arose from the nap. I dreamt I was forced to eat 25lb of marshmallows; when I woke up, my pillow was missing.
Scout, The Wonder Dog, came to us with a request; “I want to go for a walk.” He gets so excited; he looks like he is having a seizure. We got his collar on, and Colleen took the reins. Off we went for a quick pre-sunset trip around the clock. Remember, “When you have a dog, you never walk alone.”
Scout has a unique way of walking!
We had to hurry along as the sun was setting just as we closed the door to leave! It had been a stormy day so tomorrow will be picture perfect!
The sun had just set as we took off down the street!
Back into the car, and we are off like a shot. We dropped Mary at a hotel adjacent to South Coast Plaza. She wanted to say goodbye to current members of the OC Ophthalmology Society, where she was a past president. Colleen and I wandered over to the Crystal Court and walked the hallways.
Colleen embarrassed me just a bit; I overhead her conversation in the dress store:
Colleen: May I try on that dress in the window, please?
Clerk: No, ma’am. You’ll have to use the fitting room like everyone else.
We saw the top of the beautiful decoration at the center of the Crystal Court; we could not figure out how they built that thing inside the building.
I was ginormous!
We continued walking and shopping, and we were amazed at the decorations, they were huge!
View from the top!
Even the wreaths were spectacular! Where do they store these items? It is a mystery!
They better be up there secure!
When we got to the first floor, Santa spotted me in my “off-duty-Santa-costume” and waived. We decided we needed a picture with Santa so, we dialed back our clocks about 45 or more years, and into the booth with Santa, we went. Santa asked me what I got my wife for Christmas, and I responded with, “I bought my bride a fridge for Christmas. – I can’t wait to see her face light up when he opens it.”
We had to have pictures, so we opened our bag of gold, bargained for a photo, and voila, we had our image taken by a cute little elf.
We look pretty good for being 127 years old!
I told Colleen, “When you stop believing in Santa Claus is when you start getting clothes for Christmas!”
I had to ask Santa what he wanted for Christmas, and he announced in no uncertain voice, “See’s candy.” Departing his tiny photos area, I whizzed out my phone and asked where was the nearest See’s candy store. It was precisely eight feet behind me; I turned, and as if by magic, there it was. Santa got his present for Christmas, and Colleen and I got a teeny-tiny chocolate thingy! Dang! I got Santa a gift for Christmas!
My iPhone buzzed, and I thought it was Mary, but it was Bob Z. They got their home decorated; we must go by and see it soon!
The hampster powering the lights probably gets tired fast!
Colleen and I dined at an exclusive supper club; I think it was called “Ruby’s,” where we shared an open-faced burger as we were watching our weight. Good for us! But, then our eyes got tired of watching our weight, and two delicious malts got delivered to the table; we know not how it happened.
We decided to go back to Mary’s hotel and wait in the bar where we would imbibe on ice water and behave. Well, that didn’t happen. When I ordered our wine, the phone rang, and I changed the order from two glasses to a bottle.!
Colleen got her untangled from the thread caught in the jewelry.
MAry asked about our two hours of roaming around the shopping center,
I mentioned “The Wonder Years.”
We departed for home about 9:00 PM with a very short stop at Ace’s; they were closed! By the time we got home, we went through the mail and crashed.
