going for her driving test and Christmas

My  greatest fear happened when Nastia and I went back to the DMV in Haverstraw. We had all of the required paper work and it had been accepted by the clerk. The next step was the eye test, the simple eye test. She scrunched up her eyes and leaned in and started to read the letters. The Clerk stopped her and said "No, please read the last line." She started again, got them all wrong. L was further back and they were all crystal clear to me. She failed her eye test. She failed it so completely, she got no letters right. I feel real bad for her. We knew her eyes were bad when we bought them home in 2009. The Eye Doctor said the best she could do was 20/60 then. I didn't realize how bad that was until the eye test. We are going to look into options after the New Year.

   It's Christmas Eve. The presents are under the tree and Teri and I are just getting to bed at midnight. I know it sounds like I did a lot of work, well I didn't. Teri did 99% of it. I wish I could say that I wanted to, but I don't. I find the Holidays difficult. The forced consumerism of the season really bothers me. I used to love Christmas and could never sleep the night before. I used to swipe Christmas lights from the stock pile we had and would put them up in my room. I would string a short line of the big old style lights around my door, on the inside. I would put up the decorations on the outside of the house every year by myself. I quit believing in Santa some where around thirteen.
  I got a big thrill and a little worried when my daughter's wanted to put cookies out for Santa this year. I thought they were a little too old to believe. I guess it is OK. I just worry. Nastia is dating a seventeen year old and she wants to be treated like an Adult. And Elena is this angry young women with attention issues, and they believe in Santa. I guess it's OK, maybe even sweet.

This afternoon, I went up stairs into the attic to wrap presents. Teri comes up a few minutes after I did. Then Mesha comes up and Bandi and finally even Athena. Mesha was bouncing around like a nut case. We find out later the reason was most likely she had to go out. That was after she left a new mountain range in the storage room. The dogs were causing all kinds of problems and made it difficult to do anything. When We finished, Mesha went down the stairs. Athena followed with a little encouragement. Bandi, he was a different story. The last time he came up stairs I had to pick him up and carry him down. Since then he's bitten me at least twice. So I got Oven mitts and still didn't want to pick him up. Teri put his leash on and that didn't help. Finally She picked him up by the leash , yes leash and put him in a milk case on the third attempt. Yes she was picking him up by the leash three times and on the third attempt he made it and was happy to be there. I carried him down and he was pleased to be down and if it wasn't for the leash pick up Bandi would still be up there, even if you are reading this thirty years in the future.
 CHRISTMAS MORNING
  WE went to visit Aunt Sue last night at the Adult Care Facility in Central Nyack where she is staying. Aunt Sue is 96 and has slowed some in the twenty years Iv'e known her but She is doing really well for someone her age. Above Nastia and Elena are choking/hugging her in the Dinning Hall. We went up into her room and she kept saying how terrible it was that she had nothing to give us and We kept saying it was no big deal and We are going out to dinner after. When We used to go to her house Christmas or Christmas Eve everyone would be there and She would be putting out all this food, chips and dips and everyone would sit around and talk. I think if I was Teri, I'd really miss that. Most of those people are gone now.
  After Aunt Sue, about 7;30, We went to dinner at Cinco de Mayo in Valley Cottage.They were preparing to close for their Christmas party, but they decided to serve Us.  We left about an hour later, after a fine meal.
   Christmas morning Teri and I are up by 7:30, She's in the kitchen doing stuff (Yeah, I have no idea what she was doing, it could of been important, doubt it (LOOK, tongue in cheek!!)). I was writing on the computer. It was a nice quiet morning, strange for Christmas, but OK.
  For some reason around this time of year I remember the time Mike and I went to the pizza parlor down the street. We were about fifteen I guess, and Bill Vines was there. Now the only reason anyone should know the name is he could of been a great man, He was then. He was my father's friend and helped Us many times with our business. Some where along the way he got lost and this vain, self serving, creature was created. He is the only Supervisor, who's picture is not on the wall in the Town Hall. Even Paul Mundt, who stole untold millions when sewers were put in got his picture up on the wall. Any way Mike and I go into the Pizza Parlor around Christmas, it's cold out and it must be later after dinner, but we order a slice each and a soda. As We get up to pay Bill Vines says he'll take care of it for Us.It always reminds me of the man he was before he changed and got lost.

Back to Christmas 2014, there was noise coming from upstairs around 10;30 or so.The girls ambled down soon after. The went over to the tree and looked at the presents very calmly like they were old pros at this. I waited for someone to do what   Ralphie's brother in a Christmas Story did "Oh,that one's mine and that one's mine and that one's mine!!!" No they were real cool about it and they waited for Us all to gather around and open presents together.
  We went over Karl and Madeline's for about an hour around 1pm while dinner cooked. The potatoes were done at 2, dinnertime. The Rib roast took it's time and was not done until about 3:30. We sat down around Joe Muller 2pm dinner time, which was 4pm. Regular Muller dinner time would of been 3:30.
   We ate, then at 6:30 went over to Lynn and Eric's to have desert and play a game that over the last several years, more then five (it predates Nastia and Elena) called, I don't know what it is called. But the way it is played is everyone brings a small dollar amount gift to play. Everyone picks and number and the first one goes and picks a gift. The second one can pick a gift or take the gift that someone has already opened. The fun of the game is to get a large group of people together (We had nineteen) and to steal a gift from someone else, just for the fun of it. It has become the high point of Christmas for me.
 

At Aunt Sue's Assisted Living 

 We left shortly after the game ended, everyone was tired and everyone was in bed early. Nancy had to go to work today, Friday. I stayed home from Crystal Spoon, Teri is looking for a job. I soon will be looking for something that pays more.