Christmas 2022 (December 22 through December 28th) including the BOMB CYCLONE of 2022
WEDNESDAY December 21st: I think it was on December 21st (which was Wednesday, that Peggy called and suggested that I stay with her and David during the predicted storm. High winds, frigid cold and snow was predicted. She said they could pick me up Thursday after picking David's grandson Luis up at the Amtrak station in Buffalo and dropping him off at his father's (David's son, Scott) apartment in Cheektowaga. I started getting my stuff together to take.
THURSDAY the 22nd: I made the raisin sauce for the Christmas ham and gathered together the ingredients for the macaroni and cheese. Peggy and David picked me up around eight thirty p.m. They were really concerned about the possibility of the power going out here at my place. We started faucets both upstairs and downstairs to a slow steady drip in order to help prevent frozen pipes. David suggested leaving one of the burners on my stove with an open flame, for the same purpose. We got back to their house, and I got settled in the downstairs bedroom.
FRIDAY: David prepared soft boiled eggs and toast for breakfast. I spent a few minutes in their upstairs bedroom and picked out a few books to read. Peggy went to work, but her boss sent her home after a couple of hours. While she was at work, I decorated their Christmas tree. Peggy had not found the time to do this and David hates tree decorating. The wind was very strong, and it had continued to snow. Both the Christmas Eve service at Freedom South and the Christmas morning service at Freedom North were cancelled. I was just finishing up the tree when Peggy got home. I don't recall what we did that day besides watch the storm outside and on the local news. David prepared a delicious COD dinner, which we had with butternut squash and a carrot raisin salad that I made.
SATURDAY December 24th. David prepared waffles for breakfast, which were very good. For the first time, I used the "data" on my smart phone. I was able to access facebook since I had written down the new password I made a few days ago, but I couldn't get into any of my other favorite places since I did not have password information with me. We decided to have the macaroni and cheese tonight instead of saving it for Christmas day, so I put that together. We had that along with burnt pork ends and carrot raisin salad. I called Megan in the evening to wish her and her family a nice Christmas. They were planning on having steak for Christmas dinner.
CHRISTMAS SUNDAY, December 25th. I prepared the new recipe for a sweet potato casserole, while the ham was in the oven. Peggy did some shoveling, mostly their back deck, so that she could get a can of gas out of their small storage barn. At one point I looked out and she was sitting in the snow on the deck, so I called out to her and she said she slipped and was figuring out how to get up.
David did some snow blowing in order to open up their driveway for company. It became clear that David was not going to be able to go to Cheektowaga to pick up Scott and Luis, since the storm had deposited a lot more snow there. Scott neglected to call his ex-wife to tell her that he would not be in Lockport for the planned visit, so she brought the girls, who arrived a bit early, before we were ready. A short while after they arrived, David's daughter Katherine arrived. We all had Christmas dinner (ham with raisin sauce), sweet potato casserole, carrot raisin salad, and mashed potatoes. The pies Peggy ordered could not be delivered, so we put together a tray of cookies for dessert.
Scott's granddaughters are MacKenzie and Mikaylin, ages 14 and 12 were dropped off by their mother, Tanya. MacKenzie is full of energy and very talkative. Mikaylin has some developmental delays, and her sister said she is autistic. She is very quiet. The girls were disappointed to not see their Dad and to not have the opportunity to meet their half-brother, Luis. Also, they had been looking forward to meeting their cousins Joshua and Noah (Kelly's sons). Christa called in the evening and she and Peggy talked for a while and then I talked with her.
We watched the movie RENDITION in the evening. It was pretty good, but not excellent in my opinion.
MONDAY, December 26th. First thing this morning, Peggy wanted to do some after Christmas markdown shopping and David had forgotten to get the Polish sausage for his annual holiday brunch, so we headed out. We found WalMart to be closed, so we decided to go to TOPS, which we found open but most of the parking lot was not plowed out and we could not find a parking spot, so we drove north on Transit to see which places were open. Many were clearly closed. This was the day David chose to have his annual brunch for his family. The weather was still quite bad, so Scott and Luis could not come. Peggy messaged MacKenzie and suggested that they NOT come for that reason as well as the poor weather which probably made the roads between Niagara Falls and Lockport. So, basically Katherine came as well as her sister Kelly and her family, husband Mark, sons Joshua and Noah and Josh's girlfriend Madison. Brunch was creamed chipped beef over biscuits or toast, bagels with cream cheese and/or jelly and smoked salmon, sweet rolls, scrambled eggs and a casserole of sausage, hash browns and cheese that Mark brought.
The meal and gift exchange went well, it was a bit noisy. In the evening, Peggy, David and I watched a movie with Michael Douglas BEYOND A REASONABLE DOUBT, which had a very surprise ending and was very good.
TUESDAY: We decided to try for some post Christmas bargains again. WalMart was open and Peggy found several items. I found one Christmas decoration. We decided to continue south on 78 to the next WalMart, but found it to be closed. We went to WEGMANS where we each purchased a few items. We were happy to find several kinds of EGGNOG. I purchased LACTAID Eggnog and some regular eggnog. Then we decided to head north back to Lockport, but we did stop at a Rite Aid in Amherst. Our plans were to go to Burger King for lunch, but as we drove by Johnny T's, I suggested a change of plans and both Peggy and David liked that idea, so we turned around. Each of us purchased a sandwich. I had an Italian Sub (half), and Peggy had a CUBANO, one of her favorite sandwiches. I can't recall the name of David's sandwich but it had Italian sausage on it. We were all happy with our choices. Before going back to Peggy and David's house we went to my place on Phelps Street to see if the drive way was plowed out. We found that it was NOT. I was really disappointed. We went in and I turned the heat up to sixty degrees, and they turned the faucets and the burner off. I grabbed an extra pair of sweat pants and a couple of other items and went back to their house with them. We stopped at the Summit Street Rite-Aid so I could see if my prescriptions were ready. First, I was told that they were being prepared, but then I was told they were on order and had not arrived yet. Shortly after we got back to Peg's house, she had a text or phone message from Bob Pagan saying that he had cleared my driveway and I can now get my car out. Peg offered to take me home, but we were both tired and I decided to spend one more night. For supper we had leftovers and then we watched the movie UNTHINKABLE, which was certainly a thriller, and very dark. David suggested that I stay overnight with them on New Years Eve, and I agreed. I left a few items in the room I use, stuff I will use again.
WEDNESDAY: Peggy and David drove me home in the morning, and I was able to get my car out of the garage. We shoveled the steps a little bit and I brought the garbage can out of the garage. I was a little bit too late, since it appears that Modern had already come through and taken my neighbors garbage. Just as Peg and David were leaving, David got a call from his son, Scott. It sounded like they were making arrangements to go to Cheektowaga. I reminded Peggy to take the presents for Scott and Luis that I had left at their house.
I unpacked my stuff and put it away and started a load of laundry and prepared some egg salad for sandwiches for my lunch. I was feeling really tired, so I took a nap starting at three thirty p.m. I fell right asleep. When I got up, I found the movie GLASS ONION: A KNIVES OUT MYSTERY. I had split pea soup and garlic toast for supper. I ran the dishwasher.
Luis messaged me on FB to thank me for the present (a throw blanket with a Christmas design on it) so apparently David and Peggy made it to Cheektowaga.
I found the CALL THE MIDWIFE CHRISTMAS SPECIAL 2022 on PBS.
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