Eve of the Day

A neat Christmas Eve day. I did wash in the morning, then went to Target--jammed to the rafters, of course--for one or two things I had overlooked. Went home to call Ellen, shower and dress, and got to her place about 1:30. She was up to her elbows in making a great turkey dinner with all the homemade fixings. While she worked, I chatted with her, had half a sandwich and a Blue Moon for lunch, then Mike, Paula, and the girls Skyped us--they were having LOTS of snow in Lake Tahoe--and we enjoyed seeing them. Immediately after, the Tokyo Trio finally appeared--we had had a hard time catching up with each other--and little Sweetie Boy wished me happy birthday several times. So good to see them all.
Then--I should be ashamed, but I can guarantee I'm not--I lay on the couch and watched North by Northwest while El continued working and made the entire dinner. Well, darn, I offered to help--maybe not with great enthusiasm--and I did tear up half a loaf of bread for the stuffing, but that was my entire contribution. Then it was just Cary, Eva Marie, and me at Mount Rushmore. I had forgotten just how badly Cary played love scenes--"wooden" barely describes it--but the movie itself was great good fun. For those days (1959) it was remarkably sexy, too.
Greg got in from work about 6:30 and we sat down to eat a half hour later. Gee, was it good! To go with the bird, Ellen had roasted root vegetables (a much better choice than mashed taters, seems to me), and served fresh string beans, cranberry sauce and gravy she made from scratch, plus fancy olives and pickles. We had a good pinot grigio with it, then pumpkin pie (well, that was bought) for dessert.
Full of good food and good talk, we said goodnight and I drove home happy. I'll go over again today about 11:00, we'll open presents, then go to Ojai. Greg said he'd make soup--he bought ingredients, all of which, I know, are organic and bursting with freshness and good taste.
This is my first Christmas here since I made California my home. Aside from the people in my life, that's the best gift of all.