Wednesday, December 23, 2020

Wednesday, December 23, 2020

Tonight's picture was taken in December of 2006. Mattie was four years old and as you can see was posing by our tree with his Christmas train. Mattie LOVED this train. Santa was the conductor and the engine puffed out marshmallow fragrant smoke from its stack! The train around our tree was a family tradition. 

Quote of the day: Today's coronavirus update from Johns Hopkins.

• Number of people diagnosed with the virus: 18,409,666
• Number of people who died from the virus: 325,539

Peter has been getting up at 4am since Monday in order to participate in work related calls. Though it was in the 60s today, it started quite foggy. I love seeing the foggy just sitting over the golf course. 

Meanwhile at 7:30am, I started making a caramelized onion sauce for pasta. I have to get a jump on cooking early because when my dad's caregiver comes at 8am, it is hard to focus on anything other than managing her and my dad's needs. 

I absolutely miss going out for daily lunches with my parents. It is the one incentive to get them out of the house and connecting with the outside world. Without this, I feel like I am living in the kitchen. With constant meal preparations, cleaning, and grocery shopping. 

I am trying to make my parent's house festive. It certainly brightens up our long days. This is one of my floral arrangements I put together. 

Their dining room table is ready for Christmas. In addition to cooking and cleaning, my day involved brain exercises with my dad, walking up the block with my dad (as we are trying to get him to walk greater amounts than just on the patio), interfacing with their car dealership who returned my parent's car from being serviced, chatting with the wound care specialist who came to assess my dad's back pressure sore, and follow up calls with insurance companies and other issues. It is like juggling twenty balls in the air at one time and I am definitely grateful Peter is here to also help me with Christmas dinner. I have concluded that having an extra pair of competent hands makes a huge difference with our preparations.