1. I think getting Mom's house ready for Christmas might be at least a five day project, maybe three or four. Today was Day #2: we found a string of lights that worked to replace the ones that didn't, we strung golden garland around the tree, and we unwrapped and hung the ornaments. Mom knows where every ornament came from, including as gifts from students she had, whom she can identify. The ornaments often moved her to giggle with delight. Mom loves decorating the Christmas tree -- more than anyone I know.
By the way, Day #2 also included putting gift bags under the tree and putting the living room furniture back in place.
2. Mom and I headed east to Wallace where Carol and Paul and the rest of the 6th Street Melodrama cast put on their Christmas program. It was a series of favorite Christmas songs built around Paul playing against type as a Grinchy, Scroogy middle-aged husband/father who wanted all the hubbub of Christmas to vanish and was a first-class crab as his wife, Carol, decorated the tree and as family friends arrived to go caroling. But, Paul's character had a conversion experience while his wife and friends were out caroling when he sang "Somewhere in My Memory" and gazed upon the family stockings hung over the fireplace and at pictures of his daughters. I nearly stood up and cried out, "Good to have you back, Paul", but I restrained myself.
3. Mom treated Carol, Paul, and me to dinner at the 1313 Club in downtown Wallace where we basked in the afterglow of Carol and Paul's success on the stage and enjoyed some solid food. I ordered a Wallace Brewing Winter Warmer (8.0 ABV). I drank a few sips when it first arrived, but it was in a frosted glass and I could tell it would taste better at a warmer temperature. So, I ate my cheeseburger and fries, left the beer alone, and finished after I'd eaten and after it warmed a bit. I was right. The complex of malt and wintry flavors were much more enjoyable as the beer lost its iciness.
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