We are closer to Christmas and I have been busy trying to work on my Christmas cards, Gift purchases and preparing Christmas treats!  My voice was slowly returning-it freaked everyone out at work to hear me in a low, scratchy voice. But I made it to work with lots of cough drops. We had our Rehab Christmas Lunch outing on Weds afternoon. We decided to go out to lunch at a local tavern. We had hoped to get all our patients treated early in the day, and then go out and be done for the day. But our schedule did not work out. We were busy at work so we just took a break during the day. We also decided to exchange Secret Santa gifts which was fun. I got Movie Tickets along with some Walking Dead socks and pens. I was thrilled! My Secret Santa asked for a Target Gift Card, but I threw in some of Tom's homemade Gin and Amaretto. We had a very enjoyable lunch outing, but my celebrating was not over yet.

After I got off work I headed over  to Mom's place for a Christmas Open House. Sunrise sets up Hor s Douevres tables and they had plenty of food! Pastas, Roast Beef, Sausage and Sauerkraut, Quiche, Shrimp, Fruit and Veggie plates along with a dessert bar. And my favorite, a liquor bar! Not only did I have a spiked Egg Nog, the Activity Director introduced me to a whole new drinking experience. A drink called Cinnamon Toast Crunch. It involves mixing RumChata and Fireball Cinnamon Flavored Whiskey. Wow. I still had some Christmas shopping to do that night, so I had to put my drinks in To Go cups. I also got to take home the table decoration-a bottle of Red Wine. I sure do enjoy the events at my Mom's place.

I have also been busy trying to catch up with last minute appointments before the year ends. Mom and I both had dentist appointments. Tom already squeezed in an appointment for Scott, and Allison had an overhaul earlier in the year. She is looking to schedule having her wisdom teeth out sometime next year. I also had to meet with my Mom's broker to review her finances. Last year Tom shared some of his homemade gin with our broker Peter and now he is hooked. So naturally I had to drop off a few more small bottles as Thank Yous. And I dropped off some flowers and a tray of Costco cookies to the Nursing staff at Mom's place. I have been a busy little elf. I also made up gift bags for several of our residents at the nursing home for presents on Christmas day. Many of our residents do not have family or have limited income, so we staff members usually adopt a few people and buy them gifts. .

And Scott was squeezing in his elf work too. We both went shopping for his Adopt A Family as a service project for the National Honor Society. He had to pick up a few gifts for several kids and then wrap them. We had fun in the toy aisle at Walmart. We have not been toy shopping in quite awhile, so it was fun to look at all the kid's stuff and try to figure out what they would like. Scott picked out a huge dump truck for a 2 year old boy, an UNO blaster card game for the 7 yr old girl, and ponies and puppies for the 5 yr old girl. Then Scott was busy buying White Elephant gifts for his school friends. We both enjoyed our shopping experience together late Friday night.

Scott wished he could just concentrate on the fun stuff, but he was still busy with school work. He has been working hard on his History Video, and he also had to read an extra book for English class. He was able to choose the book, so we talked him into reading "The Lord of the Flies". We felt he should not miss out on this traditional high school experience. And his class was also reading about slavery in colonial America. One of the assignments was to reproduce a spiritual song like the ones' the slaves used to sing, but to make it modern and focus on a subject the student's felt strongly about. The assignment was labeled "Slave Song" on the school website. Needless to say, it did not go over well with some of the students and parents that read it and before you knew it, the story was on National News and the teacher was suspended for assigning racist projects!  So the assignment was cancelled, the teacher came back to school and cancelled the book reading on Frederick Douglas, and instead told the kids they all had to write and present a speech on something controversial. Gee. Scott ended up giving a speech on Violence and Video Games. Is There a Connection.  I guess this worked out better than the slave song.

Scott was trying to get as much of his homework done ahead of time. He was also scheduled to work extra hours at the roller rink for extended training sessions. And he had a Holiday Cookie Exchange Party to attend on Sunday afternoon and needed to bake something. Instead, we woke to a terrible ice storm on Saturday morning. I thought they would close the roller rink, but instead they just cancelled the morning training session. I had to send Scott out to scrape the ice off my entire van. I dropped him off about 30 mins late. I still could not believe the rink was open as I passed multiple accidents driving Scott to work. And speaking of accidents, we had a huge 65 car pile up on 1-95 in Baltimore. It was raining, but everything froze when it hit the roads. So basically cars were driving on an ice rink. A oil tanker barreled into a few cars stuck on the freeway, flipped over and exploded. Not surprising, the driver was killed. And the tanker fell off the overpass, hit a car below and killed that driver. Afterwards, truck after truck went sliding and crashing into the burning pile of wreckage. 65 vehicles later, 2 deaths(only). What a mess. And it was all caught on video from a guy stranded on the other side of the freeway. So naturally I thought they would close the roller rink! Nope.

Our family was supposed to spend the morning at breakfast with Tom's student and her family. Nishay had invited us all over before Scott went to work. I was looking forward to seeing them all again and dropping off a gift. I found a book that covers the history of the 1800s house they are renting. It was built by a Pastor who fashioned it after a castle in Germany. He used the house as a school for boys-the family lived on the first two floors and the boys bunked together on the 3rd floor. The book had some amazing photos from the early 1800s of the boys and family on the grounds of the house. Instead, Tom took Nishay out to lunch the following week and Scott and Tom drove over to the house to pick up some homemade chick peas left over from the breakfast.

After Scott got off work, we both got busy in the kitchen making some treats for his upcoming Holiday party on Sunday as well as for Boy Scouts. We decided to make something easy-chocolate covered pretzels and oreo cookies. All the treats were a big hit. On Sunday, Tom headed off to Pittsburgh for work, I headed over to my Mom's place for another Girl Scout choir concert. The residents really seem to enjoy our  mix of holiday songs. Tom dropped off Scott to his party before leaving for Pittsburgh. After our Girl Scout concert, I spent some time helping Mom finish up her Christmas cards before joining Scott at his party. I was also invited and attended last year. His Catholic school friends and their families put on the nicest Holiday party complete with an incredible amount of food as well as tons of cookies to exchange. They even make up gift bags for all the guests, including treat bags for pets! I love attending with Scott-I get so spoiled!

Allison meanwhile finished up her Finals but did not head directly home. Her roommate, Jen was graduating early and the ceremony was held Saturday morning. Allison was invited to attend the ceremony and out to lunch with Jen's family. I am glad she did not try to drive home on Saturday. Instead she headed home Sunday afternoon after dropping in to visit with her boyfriend, Tyler at his apartment.

Only 1 week to go!  Sending out a Big Happy Birthday wish for Linda Seitz!