Christmas Eve Mommy went with us to church. Meg was singing with the choir and was the cantor. Mommy was a little apprehensive about knowing what to do, but our order of mass is the same as used in the green hymnal at St. Paul's, so most of it sounded familiar, and she was glad to sing many of the Christmas hymns she knows (following the words seemed a little difficult, like going back to the next verse- I don't know if it was because she forgot how to go back up to the top, or if she just couldn't remember the verse we had just sung-probably a combination of the two. I just pointed on the page to where we were at the time.), and it was good to sit next to her and hear her sing in her beautiful voice.
The Christmas pageant was done in lieu of the gospel reading, and brought back so many memories of past pageants...the major production that started at Adam and Eve (Mel was Adam); the one where Mary was played by Marty (was that the one where I was one of the 3 kings?) where Kelly McClellan, as an angel, went up to we 3 kings (of orient are..) and to the shepherds in turn, asking each, "Are you my brother?"; the one where Carl had practiced "Away in a Manger" so diligently, but ended up asleep in a corner, with his bottle dangling from his tired little angel mouth; or a later one where his voice was recorded and he sounded just like Linus in the "Charlie Brown Christmas"... good times... good times.
On Christmas Day, Mommy joined us for opening presents and lunch. Then on Saturday, the 27th we were joined by Linda, Melissa and Todd, Chris and Jill, Paul and Thomas and Grace, for our family celebration. Mommy came in for that (she can't realize that her apartment is only through the door in the sun room-it's too abstract an idea). She did fine for a while, but then toward afternoon she started asking who was giving her a ride home? or where was she spending the night? Anyway she will really enjoy the pictures in the digital frame. They are a good representation of our family.
We enjoyed getting to know Jill (Mikey said, " It seems like she's been in our family for a long time.") and we are delighted that Chris has a job with a Shreveport computer company. He starts on January 5. We were excited to learn that he hopes to lease (with option to purchase) Mommy's house, so it will remain in the family! It's wonderful, and he did a lot of work with John and Linda to fix it up, so he really knows it inside-out now. Mommy seemed to like the idea as well.
Sunday we went to IHOP for supper. So, now she's pretty exhausted with all of her outings and visiting. This morning she told me that she woke up and thought, "Where am I?" and later in the day she is still confused. Shadow gave her a little bit of a vacation by going to the groomer's, but then we had to plant notes on the doors and her phone that Shadow was at the groomer's, but she still asked about him.
She told us the other day, I just wish I still got mail here. We've explained that she gets all of her mail here- she got a bunch of Christmas cards (Yes, there's one from Chris Davis with his usual flair for exaggeration and sarcasm, e.g., his daughter "pupped " again, the baby has only eight fingers... the other two are thumbs!) and the packages y'all sent her, magazines,etc. We take care of her bills...she just forgets what she's gotten. She also got a call from Lenora and said she had a nice visit with her (Lenora just had a birthday and turned 65!). On Christmas Day she was looking in the Shreveport phone book for "Irene's number, to wish her a Merry Christmas." We had to remind her that Irene died, and Bennie Hiller, too.
It's a mix of emotions, but mainly we are grateful for the time we have with her, and the love and support of family. God bless you all.
The Christmas pageant was done in lieu of the gospel reading, and brought back so many memories of past pageants...the major production that started at Adam and Eve (Mel was Adam); the one where Mary was played by Marty (was that the one where I was one of the 3 kings?) where Kelly McClellan, as an angel, went up to we 3 kings (of orient are..) and to the shepherds in turn, asking each, "Are you my brother?"; the one where Carl had practiced "Away in a Manger" so diligently, but ended up asleep in a corner, with his bottle dangling from his tired little angel mouth; or a later one where his voice was recorded and he sounded just like Linus in the "Charlie Brown Christmas"... good times... good times.
On Christmas Day, Mommy joined us for opening presents and lunch. Then on Saturday, the 27th we were joined by Linda, Melissa and Todd, Chris and Jill, Paul and Thomas and Grace, for our family celebration. Mommy came in for that (she can't realize that her apartment is only through the door in the sun room-it's too abstract an idea). She did fine for a while, but then toward afternoon she started asking who was giving her a ride home? or where was she spending the night? Anyway she will really enjoy the pictures in the digital frame. They are a good representation of our family.
We enjoyed getting to know Jill (Mikey said, " It seems like she's been in our family for a long time.") and we are delighted that Chris has a job with a Shreveport computer company. He starts on January 5. We were excited to learn that he hopes to lease (with option to purchase) Mommy's house, so it will remain in the family! It's wonderful, and he did a lot of work with John and Linda to fix it up, so he really knows it inside-out now. Mommy seemed to like the idea as well.
Sunday we went to IHOP for supper. So, now she's pretty exhausted with all of her outings and visiting. This morning she told me that she woke up and thought, "Where am I?" and later in the day she is still confused. Shadow gave her a little bit of a vacation by going to the groomer's, but then we had to plant notes on the doors and her phone that Shadow was at the groomer's, but she still asked about him.
She told us the other day, I just wish I still got mail here. We've explained that she gets all of her mail here- she got a bunch of Christmas cards (Yes, there's one from Chris Davis with his usual flair for exaggeration and sarcasm, e.g., his daughter "pupped " again, the baby has only eight fingers... the other two are thumbs!) and the packages y'all sent her, magazines,etc. We take care of her bills...she just forgets what she's gotten. She also got a call from Lenora and said she had a nice visit with her (Lenora just had a birthday and turned 65!). On Christmas Day she was looking in the Shreveport phone book for "Irene's number, to wish her a Merry Christmas." We had to remind her that Irene died, and Bennie Hiller, too.
It's a mix of emotions, but mainly we are grateful for the time we have with her, and the love and support of family. God bless you all.
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