A Gift of Days

     Every day is a gift and the last ten days have been Christmas. Gracie and I went to Julie’s Monday evening to do laundry and watch Dancing With the Stars. I tried a new recipe for chili (not that good), but it was fun to experiment. Tuesday Julie picked up pizza and breadsticks and we watched the elimination. The dogs are all adjusting, and Gracie seems to enjoy visiting her new friends. She must feel like Gulliver in the land of Lilliputians, with five little dogs who together do not equal half her weight..
     Thursday I joined my nephew Bruce and his boys for spaghetti-o-rama, a Thursday night tradition. The spaghetti was good, and getting to know my grand nephews and Bruce as an adult is wonderful. They live in a very neat apartment only a mile from the campground. Friday Gracie and I walked to downtown Lebanon to explore and buy some postcards. I found the Golden Turtle Chocolate Factory and did some damage to my normally good eating habits with chocolate walnut fudge. It was so tantalizingly good. As a bonus, we ran into a couple from the park, also walking, who advised us of a shortcut through the cemetery back to the park.
     Saturday Julie and I took Mackenzie, Julie’s granddaughter and my grand niece, on the historic train in downtown Lebanon that chugs out to a farm where we petted animals and trekked through a corn maze. Mackenzie will be ten on Tuesday, and she is a lovely, well-mannered, wise-beyond-her-years child. It was a glorious fall day, the apple cider was fragrant, and the fresh winesap apples I bought are incredible.
     Sunday Julie, Mackenzie and I went to see Disney on Ice at the Nutter Center. The performance, in true Disney fashion, was lavish and fantastic, and the skating breath-taking. We stopped at a Logan RoadHouse to eat on the way home, and introduced a delighted Mackenzie to the tradition of eating peanuts and tossing the shells on the floor.  
     I have had bouts of being overcome by happy tears when I realize how close I came to never getting to enjoy the pure fun, good times, beauty, companionship, and family.