Christmas Eve all over again

Wednesday December 29, 2010 Day 182

Today is like Christmas Eve for a kid. I remember the anticipation I felt as a child, knowing that Santa was going to come during the night and I would wake up on Christmas day to unknown, but anticipated, delights. Tonight about the time I go to bed, my daughter will have a Caesarean section and when I wake up in the morning, or indeed, in the middle of the night even, I will have one of the greatest gifts ever - a grandchild! Good luck, Shelli

I made the mistake of fixing iced tea for supper last night, and the icy liquid in my chest coupled with my cold brought on a cough which reared its ugly head when I went to bed. I got up and heated my warmie in the microwave, returned to bed and put it on my chest and slept very soundly with no cough all night. My loving husband put my warmie in the microwave when he got up this morning to reheat it, then brought it to me nice and hot. He is so great!

We ventured out this afternoon to go to the grocery store and the English Corner Shop. The owner of the latter is an AWG member and a friend so we visited with her for a while before returning home. Roger usually plays chess in the afternoons, but he decided today’s temperature of 7 degrees Celsius is below his tolerance level. He plays with several other guys - whoever shows up - and play is on tables out in the open under the trees at the Esplanade Charles de Gaulle. It can get pretty uncomfortable to play chess for very long, sitting still on cold chairs in the waning afternoon light.

Anne called to invite us to her place on Saturday evening to celebrate the new year, stating that she would provide the champagne and hors d’oeuvres if we would bring a main dish. We agreed, and Roger and I began to discuss what we would bring. We decided to do a pork loin again - perhaps the third time will be charm. The first two times here in France I seem to have overcooked a pork loin.

Tonight is even fuller of anticipation. Shelli was a scheduled for her C-section at 4:00 p.m., which is 11:00 p.m. our time. At midnight we still had not heard anything.