Christmas at the compound

This Christmas Cindy’s family came down from Tacoma to spend Christmas with me. There were Cindy, Mick, Pat (grandson), Nick (grandson) and April (Bull Mastiff). I hadn’t seen my grandsons in a long time, and they had changed so much. They were taller, slimmer and better looking! April was just as big and lumbering as she was the last time I saw her. It was so good to have family around me at Christmas.

I cooked dinner for us and that was interesting. I had a rib roast and I wanted it rare, but I had to cook other dishes also. Cindy helped and we managed to get everything on the table. I have a small table that seats four people. We had five people and a huge dog sitting at the table! April didn’t have a chair, but her head was at the table as you can see from the picture. Somehow everyone managed to eat a meal – even April. April is a real sweetheart. She adores Cindy and follows her everywhere – even the bathroom. While I was cooking dinner, April would be in the kitchen with Cindy and me, and she’d sniff my butt! Cindy would say, “April’s sniffing your butt,” and she’d shoo her away. But she always came back. It didn’t bother me. I think that’s a sign that someone likes you. For dessert, I think they were expecting pie, but there was no pie. I had made Christmas cookies that were covered with icing with floofies on top. But they found chocolate chip cookies in the freezer which I had for them also. Chocolate chip cookies are best eaten right out of the freezer when they are sort of chewy as they start to thaw. The guys went crazy over them. Cindy also loved them and managed to find a sack of them I had hidden way back in the freezer for my hair dresser, Steve, who likes them also. They cleaned out the sack and then they were all gone. So I had to make more of them for my hair appointment last Saturday.

That evening we watched “Wall Street, Money Never Sleeps” with Michael Douglas. Cindy and I didn’t think it was that good. I don’t understand all the money talk, probably because I don’t have any money. And watching a couple of hours about money being hidden, misspent, lost, earned or swindled really doesn’t interest me. And all those people with their hedge funds? I hope they all go down the toilet sometime soon – their hedge funds, that is.

Christmas night we slept all over the place. Pat ended up on the floor by me where I sleep on the couch. He had his alarm set for 5am at he was going fishing! So he got up and took off – no breakfast for him. I made breakfast for the rest of us and pretty soon I was all alone again. I just wish Teri and her family could have been here, but I think we’ll all be together next Christmas. I had a wonderful time and hope my family did too.

In the top picture is Cindy, April and Pat at dinner. In the bottom picture is Nick and Cindy showing off the white, fluffy sweater Teri sent her.