Just in case anyone was left in suspense after my post on the 25th…<\/p>\n
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On the 25th, my sister Jill and her family finally arrived just before 9:00pm–a delay of about four and half hours! We never did get a real answer as to why. Jill thought it had something to do with a protest by the United crews about working too much overtime, or the pilots were protesting and the crew was “supporting” them–or something. In any event, I had dinner all ready for them, because dad and I ate earlier and I kept everything warm in the oven. I’d made a pork roast rubbed with roasted garlic, brown rice pilaf with vegetables, and fresh broccoli, and I’d gotten my sister’s favorite wine. (On one of their “progress report” calls, I told Jill, “I’ve got a bottle of shiraz waiting for you,” and she said, “Oh, I am SO there.” Poor Jill…!)<\/p>\n
After dinner, we opened presents–which was the second presents session for Jill & Co! They’d had their own Christmas morning before they left for the airport. We ended up having a nice ending to the day. I’d surprised dad with a stocking (“The Holly King dropped this off at my house for you”) containing some socks he asked for, sugar-free candy and lots of mixed nuts in the shell. I also renewed dad’s Patriots newsletter subscription and gave him The Bourne Ultimatum<\/i> on DVD and a Patriots “tailgating rug” (and what a story there is behind that<\/u>). I gave my brother-in-law two silk thermal undershirts. I gave Jill some Bath and Body Works products in her favorite scent and some household hints books (she asked for these, from a specific catalog). I gave my niece a box of expensive clarinet reeds her clarinet teacher likes her to use (and I gave Jill the catalog for the company where I bought them, for $10 less per box than they’re paying at home), and a box full of crocheting supplies, because my niece is into crocheting. I gave my nephew The Bartimaeus Trilogy by Jonathan Stroud and a lyre for his trumpet. It took me a whole evening to wrap all the gifts I had for everyone! \ud83d\ude42<\/p>\n
I got some nice things. My dad had been making mysterious allusions for weeks about “your ‘big’ present” and I was somewhat nervous about it. It turned out to be this reversible red\/black velvet cape<\/a> from the Pyramid Collection. I get the Pyramid Collection catalogs, but I’ve never bought anything from them, for two reasons: one, I can make anything in the catalog for far less money, and two, everything in the catalog is too long for me, because I’m only five feet tall. So, the cape is about six inches too long and I’ll have to hem it–nothing I can’t do, but it will take a while because of the lining and the fact that there is about seventeen acres of fabric. It certainly is dramatic!<\/p>\n