What a Turkey!
Christmas Eve morning the twenty pound turkey was delivered to Mom's apartment, stuffed with three pounds of bread, onions, celery, and eggs.

Mom lives on the third floor. My original plan was to carry the turkey up in the roasting pan in a laundry basket. The roasting pan wouldn't fit in the basket.

Plan B was to wrap the turkey in foil and towels and put it in the laundry basket without the pan. That did work.

Bob came along to do the heavy lifting. That means he carried the basket with the turkey in it.

Once the turkey was in the oven, I stopped to shoot this picture of Mom's cute little live Christmas tree. The painting in the background is one of her oils titled "Circus Music".

Late in the afternoon when the family gathered for turkey dinner, it was Bob's job to get the turkey out of the oven and then onto a platter. We all left him alone in the kitchen and he successfully accomplished his mission. We didn't ask him how he did it. We just expressed admiration for a job well done and let him wander off while Mom made gravy, Heather set the table, and I carved.

The turkey was excellent. Heather took turkey home, Mom kept a big container full of turkey, and Bob and I brought home the carcass. It has enough meat left on it to feed us until we're tired of turkey.


Anticipation
Granddaughter Kimmy played with Great-Grandma's tiles while waiting for dinner to be ready.

Her maturity was evident in her patience. She's nine years old now and so grown up in so many ways.

I was impressed by the gifts she picked out for family members. She matched the gift to the recipient and was so concerned that everyone liked what she gave them.

Kimmy received many CDs and DVDs. They were on her Christmas list and she was excited to get them. She did receive some toys with small pieces and immediately saw the wisdom in her mother's suggestion to leave them in the box until she got home.

She opened one gift to play with and was very careful to keep track of the pieces instead of tossing them all over the floor as in previous years. This restraint was welcome but sad in that it's just one more sign she's growing up.


Aftermath
It's bone chilling cold outside and snowing very lightly. Bob and I are sitting in our warm, peaceful, quiet little house with our happy Christmas memories and enough left over food to feed an army.

Every few hours we dress up as warm as possible and take the dogs out for a short walk/run. They don't want to be out very long in this weather, but they do need some exercise and so do we.