We got up around 9:00, and I had a bagel with a hard-boiled egg. I wrapped Christmas gifts until 11:00. Robert helped me by tearing off little pieces of tape and having them ready. I discovered two things about myself (after all these years, go figure) in this process. I’ve always said, I hate wrapping. What I now know is that I hate wrapping alone, and I hate having to put the package down to get the tape. Having someone to talk to and help while doing it, made all the difference in the world.
I received a response back (by e-mail) from Irene that Maria wasn’t spending Christmas with them this year. So, I printed off a Christmas letter for her to mail on the way to seeing Donna.
I stopped by the post office and dropped her letter in the mail. The line was out the door.
I got to Donna’s at about 11:15, had fun with her three little dogs, and we opened each other’s presents. She got me a half Cashmere, half Lamb’s wool scarf, a leather-bound journal, and a Monet calendar. All great gifts!
I was worried that she wouldn’t want the Pampered Chef Cookie Press that I got her, but as it turned out she said she was just looking at cookie presses last week as the one she has is a real old set, and it’s the old twist-the-bag type. So, she loved it. Perfect. While I was there Carolyn called, and we talked about me and Donna riding up to Charlotte to visit her some time in the next week or so. We’ve penciled in Sunday, the 27th.
I followed her there, and in the parking lot, she made a real quick stop. When we parked and got out of our cars, I said, “Did you just remember that time I rear-ended you when we were together?” “YES!” she screamed, and then, “I was hoping you were paying attention this time!”
We had a great lunch, and great discussion, at Milton’s Pizza. Of course neither one of us needed all-you-can-eat, but, oh well, it’s done.
I stopped at Hallmark on the way home, and bought a Christmas card for Robert. I called him on the way home, and he was at Crabtree. We agreed to meet at home, and then go to Cameron Village together.
We went to the Sam Bass/Ritz Camera place to pick up my 8×6 free enlargement I had made of that Tijuana picture of me and Steve M. I bought a nice frame for it there, and will mail it to Steve S. for his Christmas present.
We stopped at Third Place on the way home. I got a hot chocolate. Robert got coffee and a white cheddar scone. Then he got a delicious-looking slice of pepperoni pizza from Lily’s.
Returning home, we took a quick nap. Oh yeah, MMMMMMMM first. 🙂 I set the alarm for 7:00AM instead of 7:00PM, but luckily Robert woke up at about 7:10. We got dressed for Chris and Tim’s party going back and forth about what to wear. I started off in jeans and ended up in Khakis. He started off in a button-down shirt and ended up in one of my sweaters. Great thing about guys dating; you can double your wardrobe (in this case: as long as one of them has five different sizes of clothes in his closet).
Chris and Tim’s party was very nice. They had a “silver” theme going this year. Chris does the tree in a different theme each year. He had one of those old-fashioned silver trees (from e-Bay), with a big silver-mirrored disco ball on the top, and ornaments that were small disco balls. There was a color wheel shining on it, of course, and a spotlight shining on the big disco ball on the top. All of the presents under the tree were wrapped in the same silver paper.
The folks we met there were quite nice. After a while, Mark came in, who I hadn’t seen in ages. I can’t remember his last name, but he’s the guy who brought Rob to meet me playing volleyball, and he’s a good friend of his and Doug’s. He looked cute as ever, and it was good catching up with him. He’s dating one of Chris & Tim’s neighbors, a guy also named Tim.
We left the party right around 11, stopped by home to change clothes, and met Steve at Flex. He was caught up in Darrin and his bear friend (James? Jim? I can’t remember.) After they left, Steve started talking with us. 🙂
It was “Talent Search Night” there or some such nonsense that never got addressed. Sort of how no one but the bartenders where underwear on underwear night.
Steve left after a while, and then Robert and I played a game of pool. It was great fun. The eight-ball sunk on his break, which I had never seen before. We continued to play renumbering the 6 ball the eight ball. It was fun!
We got home at about 1:30 I guess, and we MMMMMMMMMMMMMed until 3:40 in the morning. Gracious!