Christmas lights

One of the best places to see Christmas lights around here is the Lady Lake Visitor Center. It's a small space but they certainly make the most of it - they string lights over every bush, hedge and tree. 

Our Jeep eats motors

We stopped by Hutson Auto today to visit our Jeep. It's sitting in one of the bays with the hood sitting on top of the body and a big, empty area where the motor used to be. 

The worst part is that this is the second time in a month that it's looked like this. On 11/27 on the way home from shopping, the Jeep motor acted very bad. Randy barely made it to Hutson's, where they discovered the engine was shot - a valve dropped, hit the piston, and the piston drove the valve through the valve cover. Randy and I discussed buying a new car, buying a used car, or repairing the Jeep. Hutson talked about the merits of putting a Jasper engine in, and eventually we decided to do that. It comes with a 3 year/100,000 mile warranty, which is a lot more than we could get on a used car. Gary and Erin from our Life Group offered to let us use their car while ours was being fixed, which was a huge blessing. 

We picked the Jeep up on Friday. Tuesday while we were out, the engine started running rough. We took another trip to Hutson's, where they ran some tests which showed the #3 cylinder wouldn't hold compression; they called Jasper. The next morning we dropped it off for more tests and more calls to Jasper.

The upshot of all that was a new motor shipped in, and today they started fitting it for our Jeep. This isn't fun anymore.

Friends over for dinner

Finally got our Jeep fixed, so we could return the Juke to Gary and Eric. They joined us for dinner - Randy's chicken strips and sides. It was a lovely visit; we sat around talking for 3 hours.

The Grand Floridian

We went to Epcot on December 15th and were glad to see that, in this age of total political correctness, singers still sing Christmas songs. Not just "Jingle Bells" kinds of songs, but "The First Noel" kinds of songs.

We went to the Grand Floridian Hotel, one of the best Disney hotels, to see how they decorated for Christmas. Their lobby Christmas tree is 2 stories tall!

Just lovely. And at the end of the lobby is an amazing, almost life-size gingerbread house. 

The attention to detail on this is just wonderful!

The windows are are decorated with sugar flowers and sugar pictures.

And what do they do with all this after Christmas? They take it out to a farm, tear it apart, and feed it to the bees.

In another area are some wonderful sugar creations by the Grand Floridian chefs. 

After we enjoyed looking around the hotel, we went to the Wedding Pavilion, which is on the same property. One of the selling points for having your wedding there is the picturesque view of Cinderella's Castle, over in the Magic Kingdom, through the center window. It may show up in wedding photos but it's so far off I don't see how. Nevertheless, it's a beautiful chapel.

Next we checked out the Christmas tree in the Polynesian hotel, then headed home, stopping at Giordano's pizza in Kissemmee on the way. They make it to order, which takes 45 minutes, but honestly it seemed about as good as the one we had in Chicago. 

A couple of days later we took the boat out. This is one of the things we love about Florida - Christmas is still a great time for a boat ride!

And even though it's warm enough to enjoy the outside, there is an occasional tree that, in sympathy for it's northern neighbors, turns a gorgeous shade of red. The best of everything!

Ladies' Refresh

Today was the Ladies' Refresh, which is what they call the Christmas party for the ladies of the church. Tables were decorated by individual hostesses, resulting in some really gorgeous table settings. Many life-groups reserved tables for their members, and Donna asked me to join her.  

For this meal, the men served the ladies. I guess for some women here this is unusual; it's quite normal at my house! The church kitchen provided quiche and side dishes, but some table hostesses made their own quiche. After the meal was over, the entertainment started. Kathy Broccoli has won a bunch of awards, and I found out why - it's because she's awesome! She has a lovely, strong voice and I love her rat-pack, bossa nova style. I love her.

Fun in Washington

Another trip to see my family! Saturday I arrived late in the afternoon, so it was a good time to just relax and talk (or in my case, listen).

Sunday, though, we got busy. First I put up Mom's Christmas tree and decorated it. Mom has a 3 foot tree now, with no lights or tinsel but lots of little size-appropriate decorations. Then I drove her to the Goodwill in Washington, and Kroger, and Walmart. And after we came home, I colored Kathy’s hair for her. It's our regular Sunday thing. 

Monday we were up early for an appointment to draw Mom's blood. The phlebotomist had a hard time of it and Mom was ready to quit, but the nurse came in and managed to do it. We stopped by the bank on the way home, then recuperated/relaxed at home for the rest of the day. 

Tuesday I took Mom to get her hearing aids adjusted, then we came home and had a wonderful family lunch. Kathy, Ruth, Mary and Becky all made it over for some of Mom's great hamburgers. We played cards awhile, then Becky brought out some of the old games we used to play as children - dominos and Chinese checkers. It's been a long, long time since we saw these!  

Eventually Ruth, Kathy and Mary left to go home, but Becky came along with Mom and me to see Christmas lights. The first stop was the East Peoria Festival of lights, with lots of big floats are parked in the field but turned on for viewing. Later they will be on parade.

Then Becky used the GPS on her phone to direct me, from the back seat, to a special light show in the Farmington area. I say “area” because the GPS took us through so many turns through back roads that I have no idea where we ended up!  But Mom is used to being lost when I’m driving, so it was not a big deal. And when we finally got there, it was amazing. We must have sat there for 40 minutes or more, watching the beautiful light show that was synchronized to several different Christmas songs.

After we sat through the whole show we drove back to Washington and randomly turned down a street that looked like it had some lights up.  Good choice - it was filled with decorated houses. A couple of houses across the street from each other were in fun competition with each other to get the most votes for “best” lights. 

Wednesday we went to the dentist, and Mom got the happy news that she probably wouldn’t lose her two front teeth, which were damaged in the fall she took earlier in the year. We celebrated by going to Etcetera in Eureka.

Thursday I drove Mom to the library so she could give her friends there some of her excellent goodies. They were all so impressed with how much she had recovered from her fall. And everyone was eager to assure her that whenever she is ready, her position will be waiting for her. They are such good people!  I took Mom home, then spent the rest of the day with Ruth and Kathy.  We visited for hours at Ruth’s house, then I went with Kathy to her Bible study class. 

Friday we went to another doctor.  Afterwards we found time to flip Mom's mattress before going to East Peoria Goodwill, then to Target. Mom doesn't usually go to Target but she was looking for a dish drainer and we couldn't find one. Didn't find one at Target, either, so she probably won't go back. Since we were already out, we drove to Peoria to go thrift shopping at The Church Mouse.  And on the way back we went to the Restoration store in Metamora.

Saturday I finally found time to fix Mom's eyebrows before playing cards again with Kathy.  And then it was time to leave. It was just one week, but we did a pretty good job of filling it up with fun!