Greetings to all. I hope you all had a lovely Christmas. Ours was nice, though of course not without its ups and downs. Knew we were having people over for the holidays, and I was accused by some of having an advanced case of HPS... "Holiday Perfection Syndrome" Wanted the house as nice as it can be until we get the repairs etc done. Needed to get the shopping done.. which was far more challenging than I had even planned on: not only did all the shopping fall to Kevin and myself, but one of us had to be home with Glen, so we couldn't go out and "double team" ... kinda weird. We did sneak out together once or twice briefly when Glen was napping (he knew where we were and had our cell numbers.)

Couldn't find the holiday decorations under the archeological striations of Kevin apartment, Mom & Dad house, Glen office, Mom apartment that make up my garage. Yikes! Those of you who knew my Mom know that Christmas was HUGE at our house.. lights, decorations, etc in every corner inside and out. Christmas without any kind of decor would be unheard of! So... thanks to some extra money from mom's estate, Kev, Glen, Rushi and I went to Target and I told the three of them to pick out whatever they wanted... we ended up with items ranging from Glen's "Jimmy Buffet" tree ornament (a shark wearing sunglasses and a hula skirt) to the baby moose and the tutu-wearing hippo on my front porch! Fun stuff, and when we DO find the other stuff, the new ones will fit right in!

Of course, there were the sad moments... at one point it dawned on me that not only had Glen not talked to Kevin about helping get me a gift... the mere concept of getting me a gift was lost on him. And while we'd talked about getting him a new computer and setting it up for him, there was no reaction when he did get it and it sits untouched thus far. That's the hardest part of this.. the physical losses are scary and all, but it's much harder missing the sweet thoughtful husband and father that used to be here and rarely shows up any more.

Christmas eve morning my family came over... we had a great time, if we overlook the little incident with the bagel that somebody snuck into the living room to eat so I wouldn't grumble.. and ended up choking on. That afternoon, we went up to visit Glen's mom. Christmas morning was Mass and then coffee at Starbucks (that was exciting.. first time someone's actually offered to help with a heimlich.. thanks ma'am, but you gotta do that MUCH more strongly!!), then dinner with Sharon, Rushi and her brother Akshay. We opened gifts right before dinner, and Glen went to bed right after. Sadly, Kev & I paid for all the activity with a very cranky, agitated Glen for a couple of days after. But we know that's a pattern and know to expect it.

As far as medical updates: Glen is sleeping a lot... usually 12 hours a night plus a 2 or more hour nap in the afternoon. His gait is off, he coughs frequently and he's less responsive to us. It's hard to tell at times if he's not feeling well and doesn't want to tell us, or if he's simply not present with us.

So we'll leave the new laptop on his table and maybe sometime he'll decide he wants to use it. And we'll take him on outings and hope he enjoys them, knowing he'll be agitated afterword but also knowing he needs the mental stimulation. Oh, he LOVED Avatar... now, he was up at 4 am the next morning checking the front porch for imagined injured people, but oh well, he had the time during the movie where he was enjoying it.

And I shall continue to find time to take care of Glen, miss him, miss my Mom and maybe once in a while take care of me. Hopefully in a few days I'll be able to start filling you in on some upgrades around here! Till then, hugs to you all!