Here it is Christmas Eve and I am not ready for Christmas yet - Please Santa can I have another week?

I have been out of commission pretty much for 3 weeks and haven't really been able to do anything. I had food poisoning one week, then I hurt my back on a massage chair in a store of all things then arthritis hit with a vengance and me without any ibuprofin in the house. Funny how your body knows when a storm is coming. My body sure knew and it let me know!

Things are better now but I am still not ready. I have been in the process of decorating my tree for a week now and have spent many sleepless nights putting the monster together and then last night finally getting all the lights on. I don't know what happened but I ended up putting all the lights on that I had in the house and I still ran out. I had more than enough lights too but when I got to the top I needed more. I can imagine my electric bill after this is over. Can you say Chevy Chase's Christmas Vacation except all the lights are on my tree instead of my house. LOL

I will somehow manage to get the rest of the house decorated and the mantle put up sometime during the wee hours. I still have baking to do but that can wait until Boxing Day - I will make some Rice Krispie squares tomorrow and a pumpkin pie for dessert.

My brother and his daughter are coming over for Christmas dinner but first he is driving 4 hours to Toronto to visit his daughter Meagen then he and Laura will drive back and pick up my sister Marjorie and they will come over for dinner. Hopefully they will make it. My sister has a bad case of gout right now and I have a feeling she may not make it tomorrow. She said she will be here but her track record of showing up is not so good. LOL

I don't have to have many treats on hand because my brother Paul is diabetic and my sister is a newly diagnosed diabetic and has to follow a strict diet for that and cholesterol. She was in the hospital for a week last week.

Believe it or not I have the turkey cooking in the oven right now. Long story but my sister went shopping and after I told her not to buy a turkey she did and she didn't buy what I wanted. She left the frozen stuffed turkey with my brother who left it in his van and it partially thawed. He dropped it off last night, my freezer is full so I put the bird in a bag, then into a banana box and covered it with snow and put it outside the back door hoping an animal wasn't going to run off with it. LOL During the night our temps rose above freezing so I had no choice but to cook the bird. Smells pretty good. I added some chicken stock to the pan along with some wine so the gravy should be good.

With all this snow melt and we had tons of snow this past week I am getting water in the house. I had an ice dam in the eavestrough and with the snow melt the water is pouring in from the window sash. I have every juice container and tall Tupperware containers that I have sitting on the window sill hopefully catching all the drips. I have to keep emptying them because the water splashes on the hardwood floor which I now have covered with green garbage bags and a towel. It's going to be a long night. LOL Then my friend Donna called and told me to check my basement. Her finished basement flooded and the city can't come out until tomorrow to eel it out. My foundation is leaking where the water is dripping from the ice in the eavestrough and I am keeping an eye on the sewer for any backup. I don't want to experience another flood that is for sure. At least everything but the litter boxes are off the basement floor now after the summer flood. Windsor and the Riverside area where I live is notorious for having terrible storm sewers and there has always been flooding around here.

Other than that everything is hunky dory. My oldest brother David called me (a rare occurance LOL) the other day and asked me if I would like a cooked chicken. I of course said yes so he brought me one and a pointsettia. Then he handed me $100! I asked him what that was for and he said one of the sales reps asked to borrow his van to do some errands and gave him $100. David said if he gave it to his wife she would just put it in the bank and he thought I could probably use it more. I was really touched. I don't know what is happening to my 4 brothers these days but they are surprising me and being really nice to me. LOLOL One made me lunch when I was working and has been pleasant when I talk to him, Paul got me the internet, I talked to my brother Donald after 6 years and he said he missed me and then David. David called again the other day and invited me to do my Christmas grocery shopping at his store. I went yesterday and got everything I needed including another turkey which I put in my brother Ray's freezer for future use. My nephew James took everything to the back of the store and he packed everything in 6 big banana boxes. He brought the trolley out front and when we left the store the buzzer went off and he said "it's just me" and out we went with the groceries. My sweet baby James gave his old Auntie Anne a kiss and a hug when he saw me. I love that he still does that in public at 25 years of age.

Well I have a lot to still get done so I better get it done! I want to wish you all a wonderful Christmas or whatever holiday you are celebrating. My turkey smells wonderful and I just may make myself a turkey sandwich for dinner. LOL Hmmmm that means I get to eat the crispy skin without fighting everyone else for a piece. No crispy skin for them! Ha!

Happy Holidays my friends.

Anne