It's Christmas Time...
We slept late again -- days off are a great time to catch up on our sleep. We never seem to get enough, as a rule. Marilyn wants that to be a New Year Resolution, to work to get more sleep. Sounds good to me! Hard to believe I used to be a person who needed at least eight hours of sleep. That's been long, long ago...
Met sister Sue at Starbucks briefly. Marilyn and I wanted to give Sue her Christmas gift (some $$$). Yes, her tablet is also a Christmas present, but she hasn't taken it home, yet. So now she can buy herself something she really wants.
Then we decided to spend time focusing on our friend Shari. Her birthday is tomorrow. We had several things, but decided to go and buy a bunch more -- and to pick up both a birthday and Christmas card for her. We spent more than a hundred dollars for some things we really thought she might enjoy, like a fuzzy blankie and warming slippers -- and many holiday-themed items, like a decoration that show Santa in a window working on toys (he moves and music plays), a Christmas mug, a tiny sheep that sings (baa) a Christmas song and so on.
We called her from the store to be sure it would be okay for us to come by just long enough to drop things off (so we could get home before dark, if possible). Shari was heading out to a movie and at first didn't want us to come, but when I called her back she said it would be okay to drop things off with one of the workers there while she was gone. Good thing, as we're leaving town tomorrow, so she wouldn't have had this stuff until we got back home again -- which would have been after Christmas. We really wanted her to have this stuff in time for her birthday.
We were careful shopping for her. No food or candy at all (as in the past), because of her diabetes, which has been very bad. And she doesn't go out much, so we didn't want to get her things like purses or other stuff she'd only use if going out. Our goal was to give her things we know she likes (like Christmas decorations) and comfort items (like the slippers and blanket). Hopefully we did okay. One of the items was a cool lion music box. The lion was like a merry-go-round animal all painted with bright colors and gold. And it goes around in circles while playing a song. Very cool!
We did get her a night light that also plays soothing sounds (like the ocean), to help her sleep. It seemed very special to me. And she likes stickers and window clings, so we got those, too. And both cards played music and were very fun!
It wasn't actually hard to find her, thanks to the worker who spoke to us by phone. But the map we'd looked up in advance was TOTALLY wrong! We'd never been to this new place before -- she was in a different spot previously when we were there.
She'd left a bunch of stuff for us -- which I reasoned out were my birthday gifts. She spends the entire year gathering gifts for both of us -- and she's very careful to pick things she knows we like and/or things we need. Just small things, but so nice of her! Colored paper clips and binder clips and notebooks and whiteout and glue and pens and on and on.
I called to thank her -- just had just gotten home from the movie. At first she said she didn't like it, then she said it was 'cute.' The worker told me she doesn't like long movies anymore. I'm sure it's hard for her to concentrate. When I talked to her she said the gifts were for Marilyn's birthday, which is in April. She already gave Marilyn gifts for this year. I calmly explained to her that I just had my birthday, then she seemed to remember (maybe).
The problems with her health are the out-of-control diabetes and several small strokes. My friend Phyllis had her diabetes get really bad and she basically went insane, so this is no surprise. And we all know how strokes can mess up your mind. It's hard to tell on the phone how bad she really is. Sometimes she seems really bad -- other times she seems fine...
The worker told me that Shari really loves Marilyn and me -- and it was nice to hear that. Because of Shari's Asperger's, she rarely has either said or written (signing a card, for example) that she loves us.
So that was our day (for the most part) today. We decided to hold off on neighbor gifts until after Christmas. People won't mind -- often various neighbors won't get to it until after Christmas Day. Our gifts are tinned cookies with candy, so this year it doesn't matter if it's late. Last year one of the gifts was an ornament, so that's a different story. (Or as Marilyn says, there's always another Christmas coming next year...)
I forgot to mention that we went out for dinner. We hadn't eaten all day, so we were both starved by then! Marilyn has been giving generous tips, as she often does during the holidays. She did that for the woman who worked our Staff Christmas Party and for our waitress tonight. I love things like this about Marilyn! She's so thoughtful about others.
Wellm, that's it for today. Tomorrow we head to the beach house! Can't wait! Sister Sue will NOT be coming down this time around (confirmed today). We're still planning on June and Jim for Christmas Day, though.