So Tom was glad to be home, but still had lots of work to do including quite a few summary reports to complete from his trip. He also sat down to check out his next online class and decided there was too much busy work in this class to take around the holidays, especially since we will be traveling, so he is putting it off until next semester.
We had a busy Holiday weekend! Scott returned home on Friday night via Southwest airlines! He finished his finals on Weds, closed up his room and took an Uber to the airport on Friday for an evening flight. Thank goodness he beat all our rain. It rained the entire weekend, non stop. We have had quite a bit of rain this year, as you can imagine if you saw any of the stories about another major flood in Ellicott City. Most of those buildings are still closed or condemned. Our Girl Scout choir was asked to sing at the beginning of a boat parade in Annapolis, but the event was rained out and postponed for the following weekend. Our choir had other obligations and could not reschedule, but Allison ended up attending the event with a few of her college friends. The interns from Northrop had planned to go on the weekend it was rained out. So instead, Allison talked her friends into attending and they had a wonderful time! I think I may have had a little influence on Allison's enjoyment of boat parades since I usually dragged the family off to any type of parade, including the holiday with lights parades! And I know Mom and Dad Seitz usually enjoy a Christmas light parade in their community each year in Florida, but I am sure their weather is quite a bit nicer for the event. No worries, Allison was bundled up with lots of layers, and quite prepared with snacks and folding chairs. I trained her well!
The dreary weather this past weekend did not put a stop to our Holiday White Elephant Party. I thought it would be nice to get all the neighbors together for some fun and socializing. We had a great group of 12 guests and a very interesting round of White Elephant gift swapping, followed by a very competitive Christmas trivia game. I made a big ham, mac n cheese and a veggie lasagna as well as baked bean casserole. Desserts from walmart and costco, as well as the mac n cheese and lasagna. Neighbors brought extra desserts and appetizers as well as a salad. I really did not have a lot of time to cook or bake. I am busy getting ready for our big trip as well as Christmas. Looks like we will be celebrating a bit earlier this year before our trip. Do not feel like dragging a bunch of Christmas gifts along this year. Plus I am still sending out my Christmas cards, along with my mom's Christmas cards. I printed up some photos for her and she finished filling out her batch of cards this past week. We were so busy on Saturday preparing for the party, that we decided to skip the US Army Field Band Christmas concert in downtown Baltimore. We also missed their local concert at a nearby high school since I was singing with the choir. I was rather disappointed, but the concert was being held downtown, and the weather was pretty crappy, so Tom and I decided to pass this year. Plus we could not talk anyone else into attending. It seems that everyone was busy preparing for Christmas!
I also had to take Mom in for her second ortho appointment for a knee injection. This time she did not seem to mind the shot as much, and she even remembered going the week before! Oh darn. I spent the afternoon with her having McDonalds for lunch in her apartment(again) while she filled out her cards. Then I joined her for a day at her Sr program for a Christmas Holiday party. We had a great time exercising, playing trivia games, and enjoying a visit from Fireman Santa and his dog Sparky, as well as a Christmas Ukulele and Guitar concert. Plus we had lunch and some very tasty desserts. Besides hot apple cobbler, they served a raspberry/lemon cake baked by one of the center's regular volunteers. And everyone received a bag of cookies to take home. Yum.
On Sunday, I was visiting Mom again at her facility as our GS choir came to sing at her new facility for the first time. We sang for the residents in the lobby, and then again upstairs on their 3rd floor for those that have a difficult time attending as they are all in wheelchairs or have limited mobility. The residents, family members and staff all seemed to enjoy our performance. Afterwards, I brought Mom home for a mini Christmas celebration. We had a wonderful standing rib roast dinner that Tom had prepared and mom opened her Christmas presents. That way I can pack her suitcase with some of the gifts she received, like clothing.
Our GS choir also sang at a local nursing home on Weds night. We love to sing at this facility located next door to the GS Headquarters. We sing in the building's chapel and it has incredible acoustics. Even a small group of us sound wonderful. I did not realize that the facility used to be a seminary. Makes sense. It looks like an old castle.
During the week, Allison and I had another GS Jamboree planning meeting. We decided on the menu and made sure all the activities had a volunteer to run the stations. I will be helping with Fire Building and Safety and Allison has Archery and Rock Wall climbing. And possibly sling shots! She also had the second follow up meeting for the GS Gold Award approvals.
I also managed to squeeze in a day at work!
Sending out a big Happy Birthday to Linda Seitz who celebrated on Dec 12th. And our very own Cookie celebrated on Dec 13th! (she's 9 years old!). To celebrate we took her to have her photo with Santa at the pet store on Saturday. And Congratulations go out to two graduates this weekend-Stacey (Seitz)Draper graduated from her Masters program as a Nurse Practitioner. Our nephew, Clayton Bozyk graduated from Texas A&M and will be working as a Civil Engineer in Dallas. Way to go Graduates!
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