So Christmas is finally here! I still had some last minute shopping to do, and Christmas cards to send out, and food to purchase and gifts to wrap. I managed to help my mom finish up her Christmas cards on Sunday after our Girl Scout choir program ended. I still had to get my cards in the mail, and a few packages. I also had to squeeze in a trip to the doctor for a quick blood pressure check. Fortunately I got good marks at the doctor's office.

Tom spent a few days in Pittsburgh working on a project, but thought he would be done for the rest of the year. Not sot. He ended up working right up to Friday before Christmas. He also was finishing up an online exam from his PhD program. He wanted to get ahead so he would not have to worry about homework over Christmas break. Scott also had school right up until Friday. He had to turn in his History video that he had been working so hard on these past few months. He also had to turn in all his gifts that he purchased and wrapped for the NHS service project. And he had a few quizzes and tests before the week was over. But he really enjoyed his outing to the UTZ potato chip factory in Pennsylvania with his Engineering class. They went on the trip to see how the mechanics of the factory works. He liked the outing, but it put him back one day in school so he had some work to make up.

We also made some extra goodies, chocolate dipped pretzels and cookies, that we brought to the end of the year Boy Scout Court of Honor ceremony on Weds night. The boys made some crafts, received awards, put on skits and then we had a buffet dinner. Again I was already stuffed since we had a wonderful luncheon at work that day. Last year we had terrific gifts from work, raffled off to employees. I actually won an Ipad last year This year things have been a little tighter in the budget, so everyone received a lottery scratch off ticket and a Walmart gift card. And they skipped the facility wide game-Guess that Holiday Movie or Song. Last time they had the contest I was banned from playing since I kept winning. But lunch was very nice and I won a dollar on my scratch off. Works for me! Our rehab dept also was a bit behind on decorations this year, but we did manage to get something up on our rehab door. We hung a black tablecloth over the door with a red ball in the center and the words "Rudolph In the Dark". Nothing too fancy. And we all traded little goodies with each other. I made up Dessert bags for each of the Rehab staff members which included, of course, chocolate dipped pretzels and cookies(which they loved!) in little, plastic ziploc containers. Which they also loved.

Allison meanwhile was spending the week before Christmas at home fulfilling her jury duty!  She was summoned in the Fall and tried to get out of it by letting them know she was away at school. No matter, they rescheduled her over Winter Break! So she ended up at the court house on Monday morning, but they sent her home. She also showed up on Tuesday and was sent home. By Weds she was dismissed completely with her $15. Perfect! So she did not have to worry about getting stuck on a case over her Holiday break. Thank goodness. Now she could just concentrate on enjoying herself. Instead, she also caught a very bad cold. But not before she spent a day visiting Tyler again with his cats. She did help me run a few errands on Saturday morning-Christmas Eve! I had a few more presents to pick up and errands to run-the bank and post office before picking up Mom B. I also had to pack up Mom's suitcase for our upcoming trip. Tom and Scott were on a mission early in the morning. We bought a new recliner chair for the family room and it was ready for pick up. So Tom and Scott headed over to the warehouse to get our new chair. We 3 girls decided to  take a break and visit the nail salon for a little pampering before heading out to Christmas dinner and church. We love to attend Christmas mass at the Cathedral at Charlestown Retirement Community. We had an early dinner(Chinese of course) before heading to the 7pm mass. Nice thing about Retirement communities is that the majority of the residents  attend the earlier 3pm mass. So the 7pm mass was not crowded at all, the music was incredible, and Allison and I carried up the gifts! I haven't done that since grade school! I even ran into a few of my old patients and their families from my previous workplace. After mass we drove around the neighborhoods to enjoy the Christmas lights before dropping Mom off to her apartment.

On Christmas morning our family opened up our  presents while I made breakfast casserole. Everyone was very happy with Santa's gifts, and then it was time to clean up. I put together a few snacks for a light lunch in the afternoon including pierogies and smoked salmon, and then got started on Christmas dinner. Of course we decided on ham and mashed potatoes. Sadly we caught the Raven's football game prior to dinner and since they lost to the Steelers (boo)we won't be seeing any more of their games this year. I also picked up Mom for Christmas dinner at our house in the afternoon and then we enjoyed cheesecake for dessert while Mom opened her gifts. Before you knew it, we were dropping Mom off back to her place and finishing packing for our scheduled trip to Williamsburg and Virginia Beach the next day.