Christmas Day

12/26/2013

Our family has not officially "done" Christmas yet as we are waiting for Daddy to arrive (along with Granddaddy). So...instead, we are doing the "12 Days of Christmas" with Grandma and Grandpa--one little something each day up to January 6th (Epiphany) when we will rejoice and scatter brightly colored paper all over the living room, laughing and eagerly waiting to see what everyone got. It sure can be just as much fun seeing what other people got as to what you yourself received. If Daddy isn't here by the 6th, I reckon we'll push it off a little further. ;)

Anyway, we had our mid-day meal with Grandma and Grandpa yesterday and talked and laughed and of course, ate. Food is such an intergal part of our family...Mama made turkey legs for my grandparents and one for cousin Helen (later on Mama and I took it over to the nursing home to her; poor dear old lady was sitting there by herself and her kids "didn't offer to take me with them" for Christmas supper.) We had lamb shank ourselves (I love lamb!) The rest of the food was something along these lines: green beans, brussels sprouts, salad (for some folks; I'm still not eating raw veggies yet), sweet potatoes (technically, I wasn't supposed to eat one, but I did and enjoyed every bite--afterall, it was Christmas, so I got to splurge), olives (black, green, and kalamati [I only like the black ones]), and Grandma made the traditional osyter dressing and corn pudding. I had completely forgotten about corn pudding (I used to love the stuff) until I smelled/saw it yesterday. I didn't eat any because it's most definitely not GAPS approved, but it evoked some fond memories all the same. :)

Grandpa's plate was the only one with food left on it when I got around to taking food pictures....

For dessert, Grandma had made some pumpkin pie (which I didn't eat--Mama and I took a slice of that to Helen) and some very tasty chocolate pudding pie concocted by Savannah:

After dinner Mama and I went and visited with Helen for a while. She looks much more ill than the last time I saw her (over two years I ago, I reckon). I am glad I went instead of opting not too. That nursing home looks just about like it did when I was spending hours over there when Grandpa was in after his shoulder replacement four years ago. It was there, in that therapy room that I learned what I know about physical therapy and actually considered going into that field.

But anyway, Helen had had visitors earlier in the day--everyone bringing her licky-chewy's that she isn't going to eat because she shouldn't (or can't) due to her health. She gave us a bag full of them to take home to give to Grandma or toss--whichever we preferred. :) She is a lonely little old lady and I don't think much of her kids--one of whom litterally lives right around the corner. They could have checked her out for the day and had her with them for their Christmas celebrations. But...I don't suppose that is really my business.

After we came home from seeing Helen, we gave Grandma and Grandpa their first day's gifts: Grandma got an unique skillet thing that you just flip upside down to turn your pancakes or eggs or whatever you happen to be frying. Grandpa was given (it really was a "family" gift, so to speak) a bamboo silverware/napkin holder for the table. It'll cut down on some of the space taken up by Grandma's plastic silverware basket sprawled in the middle of the table.