Last week

Since I last wrote, a week before Christmas, Mama and I have been busy. Friday the 17^th we had our Sunday School Christmas party at the church. We sat with Sam and Erin Echeveria, Paul O’Conner and Elizabeth Miller. Sam has a very quick wit and an extremely dry sense of humor. Mama and I enjoyed ourselves immensely. Saturday evening, we had a double date with the Cantrell’s. That was a very relaxed, comfortable evening out. We ate at Texas Roadhouse, had a good long visit while our food was being prepared, just enjoying each other’s company. Mama presented her Color Street nails to the waitress when the receipts were being paid and we looked over the area we were in at Christmas lights. Sunday morning, we had breakfast at the church. I was hurting badly so I did not eat anything, but Aubrey and Cheyenne loved the fare. They concentrated on the donuts and biscuits. Services afterward were great and that morning, the choir sounded amazing.

For Sunday night, pastor led a testimony service. We sang a couple hymns and then set up a mike in the front of the church to allow anyone who would to give their testimony to the congregation. All in all, fifteen or so people gave an account of their salvation experience or some other aspect of their walk with the Lord. It was a very intimate moment for the church, and it will be remembered for a long time to come. Mama even got up and shared her testimony as did I. What was most interesting was that some of the persons who chose to share were not among those I would have expected to do so. A few very timid folks let us into some of the most precious moments of their lives. I have a feeling we will repeat that order of service again.

Since Mama and I had been rescheduled for our meeting with the title company Monday, we went to Bowie and had lunch with Victoria. I had never been to the pizzeria they both talked so much about, so they were anxious to show me just how great it was. They were not wrong. It was good and Mama and I did not have to hurry through the lunch hour Victoria was sharing with us. However, we got a call from the notary shortly after lunch – about the time we were originally scheduled to meet - to see why we were not at the appointment. Fortunately, he remembered calling me Sunday afternoon to move me to a later time slot. He admitted that he had gotten confused on the many appointments he had scheduled for that day. We were able to keep our appointment at the new time so it all worked out eventually.

Tuesday, I took my chain saw to be repaired. It was leaking fuel past the point that I could even think about using it. While I was in town, I took the car to Auto Zone to have a code read to let me know why our Check Engine light was on. It was a code dealing with a catalytic converter efficiency issue. Not surprising since the catalytic converted installed were not genuine Toyota parts. Those are currently unavailable. The error was reset but came back after a few miles of driving. Fortunately, it is something we can live with long-term. I got my repaired chainsaw back later that morning and worked on cutting up a lot of fallen branches as well as felling a dead tree behind the chicken coop. Later that evening, Mama and I packed for our overnight visit to Amarillo.

We left for Amarillo after feeding Wednesday morning. It is an easy 5-hour drive and seems to pass very quickly.  Mama and I were looking forward to our visit with Chase, Makaila, Owen and Gailyn. Any uncertainty that the grandchildren would remember or welcome us was eliminated as soon as we sat down and Gailyn crawled onto my lap to be hugged and snuggled.
Owen did the same for Mama fairly soon after we arrived. We had a wonderful, comfortable, relaxed visit over the course of Wednesday and until naptime Thursday. Mama and I were even permitted to take Owen with us to Academy Thursday morning to return some items. It was sad to say goodbye. We got home just after dark Thursday night.

Friday, Christmas eve, Mama and I went suit shopping at the outlet mall in Ft Worth. I got two sport coats versus getting any suits. The suits were too plain and drab for my tastes. Mama and I shopped around a bit before leaving the outlet malls and headed to Sam’s for some last-minute dinner items for Christmas day. On the way to Sam’s, we stopped at Rooms to Go to look for a sofa or sectional to replace the broken down one Mama is currently using and were surprised to find something both of us like very much. I had not been in favor of a chaise per se, but Chase and Makaila have a sectional with two chaises, and it was a nice arrangement. It changed my mind, much to Mama’s delight, on the efficacy of including a chaise in our shopping requirements. We may look seriously into getting the sectional we were most interested in.

Saturday, Christmas Day, was unpleasant for me as far as my gut was concerned, but we had a great Christmas morning with Victoria at the farm and virtually celebrated Christmas with several of the children and grandchildren. About noon, Mama picked up Aubrey and Cheyenne to spend the day with us since the restaurant was opening from noon to 6 pm Christmas Day. They made a couple different types of cookies; they opened the presents Mama and I had gotten for them and they helped us feed before we took them back to the restaurant a little before 6 pm. The restaurant was packed. It and Jack in the Box were the only eateries opened. Yesterday we had great services at church.

It was a fun few days.