Tea for Two

Christmas is all but here. The house is still a mess but we are ON IT. There is still a lot to do, but this is the crunch. It all gets done, or not, but it stops being important. This morning I’ve done three loads of laundry, made tonight’s dessert (apple crisp), made the sauce for the Christmas Eve Ravioli, talked to the doctor , made French toast for the boys, cleaned the kitchen and taken care of Maggie. It helped that I woke up at five coughing and could not go back to sleep. I should crash around noon.

Maggie is sick AGAIN but we are on that too. I left a message for the nurse at 6AM knowing I would hear back this morning. I was crossing my fingers that they would not want me to bring Maggie in today. Lady luck was with me. They are ordering two more antibiotics with instructions for me to bring her into the hospital if it gets worse. It won’t. The pattern for the past two months is that she’s symptom free as long as she is on antibiotics. The last one stopped yesterday and today she's sick again. It has been a long time though, and this bug is stubborn. I told them to make sure to give me enough juice to keep her home until Friday. You really do not want to be in the hospital at Christmas. Especially if seniority is a factor in determining who gets to take the holiday. The last thing I want is a 12-year-old intern telling me what to look for. Why thank you Dr. (Doogie) Howser, but we know.

One of the million things I am doing today is going to High Tea at the Garden Court in the Palace Hotel. Two of my sisters, one niece, my mom and I are going. It was sort of a last minute idea so we could not coordinate with everyone. (There are two other sisters and many more nieces). If this is fun, we will try to plan it earlier next year so more folks can join us. We invited the boys too, but surprise surprise, none of them wanted to come. I also decided Maggie is not coming. The hassle of getting her there coupled with the exposure to all the germs, especially in light of her overall health issues made that decision easy. Besides, I’m not sure what they would all do when the suction machine started whirring. Ha! I like the image of that in my head.

We are not high tea type of folk. But what the heck, it’s Christmas. I can stick my pinky out with the best of them.

We are going to have to lay off the scones, though, because tonight, after the tea, my brother, one sister and my mom are going to join us for dinner. I have a beautiful pork roast ready to make. My brother has Tuesday off work and his wife and daughter are away until tomorrow. He has to work on Christmas Eve, so this is our chance to see him in a smaller group. My sister Mary is leaving right after dinner, retrieving her daughter and they are heading back home to her husband and son. This will be a mini Christmas.

That is one of the (many) good things about being in such a huge family. The combinations of people make it a different party every time.

And so it begins…..