Thursday, December 27, 2007



Christmas Eve afternoon my wife and I started to receive the first of many Christmas presents. My Hospice health care aid and nurse gave me a 12-pack of Red Stripe Jamaican beer so I could reminisce about our last cruise. They gave Kathy lottery tickets and a Wades Gift Certificate. Kathy is constantly telling Kim and I what she is going to do when she wins the lottery, but she never plays. The Gift Certificate is for a trip to a casino (so she can win big bucks!). Our Godson stopped over as did my Goddaughter and her boyfriend. I gave the traditional wine and Cuban Cigars. My brother-in-law John and his wife, Mary stopped and brought over 2 trays of homemade Christmas cookies. Later that evening, Kim stopped back with her husband Frank to give me smelt and homemade stuffed calamari. My son, daughter-in-law, and granddaughter arrived about 2:00 p.m. with our daugher. They had spent Saturday and Sunday night at a cabin on northern Lake George. All in all, it was a busy but nice day and evening.
All of the aforementioned are family and closest friends. On Christmas Eve my immediate family dined on a gifted meal. We had cheese and crackers and drank some wine, ate a lasagna that had to be six inches thick, and apple pie a la mode for dessert. Our grandduagher, Belle, was in rare form and chattered and danced while we all laughed.
This holiday meal was given to us by Kathy's friends at Home Funding Finders.
Christmas morning we got up with an excited 17 month old and our daughter Kate who gets very excited on Christmas morning. We opened presents most of the day since Belle would open a few, become distracted and then we would go back to open a few more later. My brother-in-law, Fred and my wife's sister, Carol stopped over mid-day. One of the highlights for me was when one of my oldest friends, Nick, stopped over for a quick drink. As kids, we used to watch the Bugs Bunny Road Runner Hour, every Saturday at noon. He actually found a Warner Brothers DVD with two of our favorite cartoons on it. We sat here, a 60 year old and 58 year old man, drinking single malt scotch, mine thru a straw, watching a dancing frog on my big screen TV and laughing like hell. When he left to visit his Dad, I was a little worried about his driving abilities. I got phone calls throughout the day, one from Ricki Lewis who was on her way with her family to Martha's Vineyard for a quick vacation.
Anyone that knows me well would assume that the best gifts that I received this year were the bottles of each different color of Johnnie Walker that I received from Kate's boyfirend, Sean or the 16 year old single malt scotch that I got from Kathy. surprisingly the best gift was watching my granddaughter ride the little electric 4 wheel motorcycle that Sean had given her. It didn't take her very long at all to figure out how to use it, she showed no fear at all riding it around the house. She still has to master turning because she will go straight until she hits something and then just sits there and spins her wheels. When I first taught Kathy to drive she had the same problem.
That evening we had a delicious spiral ham dinner, again with apple pie for dessert. This meal was also a gift from Kathy's friends at HFF. Kathy and I had a wonderful day and only got testy with each other once. She lit into me when I asked for thirds on the ham! I even left room for some of the cookies that were sent; I'm still eating them today.
Holidays, especially holiday meals, are meant to be special times to be remembered. As you can tell from above, this Christmas was a good one for the Nichols family. My family and I want to thank each and every one of the people that volunteered their time, effort and thoughts for us in this Holiday Season and I want to thank each of you for being so supportive and such a good friend to my wife. It is important to me that you know how deeply appreciative I am and how many different ways you have helped her and us as a family.
Thank you for the wonderful Christmas and I hope you have a great New Year.
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