Christmas Eve

I heard my phone alarm ring and did not know if it was 7:30 central or eastern time. But it didn't matter, I stayed in bed. When I realized I was not going back to sleep, I got up. I drank some water, and brushed my teeth and hair. I swished while starting the binding on the larger quilt. The house was quiet because no one else was up. Either Dad was sleeping in, or he was … I hoped he was getting some good sleep. I wrote my blog post for yesterday. I had to carry the laptop into the computer room to upload the pic. Then I posted it. I heard Dad come out of his bedroom, but he did not appear. I guess he went back in.
Later he came out dressed. He took a long time deciding what to put in the dishwasher. Chris took a bath before he was done. I made and ate breakfast. Finally Dad ran the dishwasher.
I made a batch of fat bombs and put them in the freezer to harden. When Dad was ready, Chris drove us to the bank. I thought it looked suspicious that Dad walked into his bank with two strangers who were helping him make a withdrawal. But nobody batted an eyelash. Dad introduced us to the manager, who just fawned over him.
Then Chris drove us to Wegmans with Dad pointing out every turn and traffic light. Chris let us off, then parked the car. He called my phone to find out where we were. As I helped Dad get what he wanted, I also sent Chris for Christmas dinner stuff. It was slow, not just because of all the people there. But it was faster than I expected after last night.
Finally Chris pulled the car up while Dad checked out. Then we walked to the car and put the groceries in the trunk. Chris drove us home. He unloaded the bags and I washed the cans and put the food away.
I got Dad to take his pants off so I could wash them, along with some shirts and some of Chris' stuff. While I was doing laundry, Chris took Dad to the back and gave him a shower.
I took the fat bombs out of their papers and put them in a ziplock bag. Then I mixed the rest of the coconut oil with raw cacao powder and poured it into the empty papers. I slid that into the freezer to harden.
I took some things out of the dryer, but the phone rang. Kurt said he would arrive earlier than expected. I listened to more videos while clearing e-mail. Then I stopped to help Dad do something and Kurt appeared. We talked about this and that.
Faye texted me that she was leaving for church. That reminded me that my watch was still on central time. I insisted we quickly get ready. I changed my clothes and Chris changed his. Dad was already dressed in his black pants and red shirt, so I put his shoes on. Then we all piled in Chris' car and went to Christmas Eve service.
We arrived too late to hear the brass quartet. But we got bulletins and candles and sat down in time to hear a flute player, and then the organist. Finally the service began. Lessons were read from the new testament telling the Christmas story. Between lessons we sang carols. The words were posted on the large TV screen at the front. It was very convenient. I listened to Dad sing and sometimes he was singing the tenor part, even though the music was not posted with the words. At the end, we were all holding lit candles and listening to the Christmas bell ring 12 times.
Kurt and Dad went home with Faye while I met the new pastor and caught up with people I knew from years ago. Chris and I went home later, discussing Dad's decline. When we got there, Faye was carrying in presents from her car. Patrick was there, too, going through the recyclables.
Faye and Kurt put presents out by the tree. Dad needed help finding his subs. I found three in the fridge and put them on the table as his request. In a few minutes there were only two and we searched for the third one. Faye found one in the fridge, but was it the same one?
I left Dad in Chris' care. Kurt, Patrick and I got in Faye's car and went looking for Christmas lights. She took us to a place near where she lives that had a display of skeletons. But we also saw colorful displays and elegant white displays.
We dropped Patrick off at his house and came back to Dad's house. Kurt and I got out, and Faye went home. Dad was eating in the kitchen. I encouraged him to drink lots of water to go with the magnesium and vitamin C that I had given him. Kurt reminded me to post to my blog. But my computer had rebooted and was locked up. I had to turn it off and back on to get it running again. After typing my blog post, I sifted through all the pics I took and deleted most of them because they were blurry. I chose one, and posted it and then went to bed.