Alice's Christmas

Believe it or not, blog readers, Alice's Christmas pictures are actually being posted one day after Christmas! (Can you tell the blog editor finally has some time off?)

The girls came over around 9 a.m. with a wake-up call and Starbucks for everyone. Then it was time to open presents!

This was one of the family's favorite moments. Alice was opening a brand new old-fashioned grease strainer/container. Shorti said,"Mom, when's the last time you saw one of those?" And Alice wryly answered,"At my house, before I left." (The family jokes that everyone seems to be quickly replacing everything that Alice left behind at her old house, the same stuff they didn't think she'd have room for in South Carolina.)


Alice and a beautiful necklace, which she so beautifully models! Is she Santa or Saddam?


This is an eggplant velour suit, which she loved and quickly tried on for everyone.



This is a new remote, since Alice's sometimes gets lost. Bet she won't lose this one!


Pretty new pink gloves, even though it hasn't been below 60 degrees in South Carolina since early November.


Alice looking at pictures in her new hot pink brag book.


Alice with her new stocking that the girls gave her.


Throughout the morning, Alice was the recycler of the family, quickly grabbing ribbons from the packages and neatly rolling it around a box to use for next year. (She was finally convinced to throw away the wrapping paper, though!)


After opening gifts and a long nap, Alice, Rick and the girls started a new puzzle. You can't see it, but it's a puzzle of dogs playing poker.


The day was, as Alice demonstrates, MERRY!

Alice's Second Gift Exchange

The Saturday before Christmas, it was a North meets South gift exchange for Alice as the family from North Carolina came to visit South Carolina for an early Christmas.

The house was decorated, ready for guests.

As usual, Alice put out a great spread - she can do that in any state!


Alice unwrapping gifts.


Alice and her daughter, Pat, exchanging a look. There must be a story behind that look, but no one knows it but them, and they aren't talking!


Alice and her great-granddaughter, Rachel. They share a birthday, which is quite cool.

Alice's Thanksgiving Gift Exchange

Now that Christmas has come and gone, it's time to finish blogging Thanksgiving!

As you know from earlier posts, Alice and her family spent Thanksgiving at Lake Norman. During the family Thanksgiving, there was an "It's All Relative" gift exchange. Some of you may know it as a "Chinese Gift Exchange," but it was determined that was not a politically correct name for the event! Everyone brought a $10 wrapped gift, and drew numbers to determine the "gift picking" order. Folks could either chose and open a gift or "steal" one from someone else. The last person got their pick of all gifts.

Here are some sights and sounds of the 2009 "It's All Relative" gift exchange.

Alice's great-grandson, Jay, with lottery tickets, which granddaughter Mary Pat ended up with. (She won $5.)


Alice's granddaughter, Patti, with a recycled-content Starbucks mug, which Shorti eventually stole. Notice granddaughter Beth preparing for the gift exchange with a big sip of wine!


Alice's son-in-law, Rick, with some kind of huge tool set, which he got to keep.


Alice's grandson, Jimmy, with an undetermined gift.


Alice's great-granddaughter, Rachel, grabbing her gift.


Alice unwrapping her gift...


...which she was obviously surprised to see stolen.

She had her hands on lottery tickets and candy, but ended up with a Bath and Body Works gift set.

Alice Holds Court

It seems as if breaking Thanksgiving into small bites is going to be the best way to blog Thanksgiving.

After the turkey was ready - thanks to Alice - everyone sat down for dinner! Alice, Rick (son-in-law), Beth (granddaugher), Ruth (grandson's wife - what is that called?), Pat (daughter) enjoy food and fun! (Great-grandson Jay is in the background!)

Alice and her great-grandchildren, Rachel and Jay.

Alice and her grandchildren, Patty and Jimmy.

Coming next - "It's All Relative" gift exchange.

Alice and the Turkey

Because I promised some Thanksgiving pictures by today, here is one of Alice lovingly preparing the turkey! Stay tuned for the Thanksgiving story via Blog.

Alice's Saturday Shopping Trip, aka Alice Wears Out Her Granddaughters!

Yesterday, Alice and the girls went out Christmas shopping! This is around 10 a.m., when everyone was fresh and energized. (Alice stayed that way all day, but the girls, especially Mary Pat, were EXHAUSTED by the end of the seven hour shopping extravaganza!)


It's hard to tell from this picture, but Alice was whisked away in the "Rudolph Mobile." You can see the red nose, but you can't see the antlers on the back windows. PRECIOUS, and Rudolph can really maneuver through the traffic!


They started out at If It's Paper, a neat local store in downtown Columbia. They carry neat stationery, party products and seasonal goodies. The girls stocked up on some goodies, while Alice got some Christmas tissues and GREAT cards.


While they were in there, Mary Pat spotted SANTA! He was on his way to an event at a local school, but didn't get away before posing for a picture with Alice.


Alice also tried to get Santa and the girls, but missed a bit. But since this was her first time using a digital camera, they were actually pretty impressed!


The next stop on the shopping adventure was Hamrick's. No pictures here - Mary Pat and Beth were too busy trying to keep up with Alice.

Just when the girls were about to starve, they spotted a Cracker Barrel right outside of the Hamrick's shopping center. There was a short wait, even at 1:30 p.m., but it was worth it! Plus, they got to shop in their cute store while they waited.

Alice and Beth after ordering.


Alice shooting her straw at Mary Pat. She did this AFTER the camera was off, so Mary Pat made her do it with Beth's straw to capture her playfulness, something the girls were short on after Hamrick's.


After filling up at Cracker Barrel, the three visited one of the area's largest Hallmark stores, as well as Big K, aka K-Mart. Again, the girls were too busy trying to keep up with Alice to take pictures. (Sorry, folks, but she has more spunk shopping than the Energizer Bunny!)

After our visit to the St. Andrews area, they headed back toward town, but not before stopping at Wal-Mart. (Yes, Wal-Mart, two Saturdays before Christmas, around 4 p.m.) This is Beth wondering what was up with the Clemson Santa hat in Wal-Mart's "USC" store.


Wal-Mart was Mary Pat's Waterloo; she had to head home after that experience. But they all had a great day, made some great purchases and enjoyed spending the day together.

Happy Shopping from Alice and the Girls!

Alice's Bloggers Are Seriously Slack!

More apologies from the Blog editor!

Between Thanksgiving, a new job, Shorti's surgery and holiday events, I've fallen behind! Please don't give up on Alice's Blog!

We have GREAT Thanksgiving photos and stories, which I promise to have up by Sunday!

Despite her absence on the Blog, Alice is doing great!

Stay tuned!

Alice and the Girls Spend Saturday Together

Alice spent the afternoon with the girls on Saturday!

They started at Stevi B's pizza, where the speciality is a baked potato pizza. Sounds nasty, but it is yummy! After they ate, they got a baked potato pizza to go for Shorti and Rick.

Then the girls took Alice to the Hobby Lobby!

The Fall artificial flowers were 90% off, which made them about 10 cents a bunch. Alice and the girls picked out some beautiful flowers to take to the cemetary. The funny thing is that the flowers had just gone on sale when they got there...

but when the girls went back later that night, there was only a pile of petals!

Alice looked at decorations...

... and ornaments.

And played a little bit, too.

After Hobby Lobby, the three girls went to Wal-Mart. This is Beth and Alice at the Wal-Mart tree.

Wal-Mart on a Saturday afternoon wore everyone out! That was the last stop of the day!

Afterwards, they all went home and put together a puzzle with Rick, while Shorti watched from the sofa. FYI, Shorti is home and feeling better, but she is still resting and can't yet drive or go back to work.

Beth and Mary Pat then went to buy a new roaster pan for Alice to coook the turkey for Thanksgiving! Everyone is meeting at a big house on Lake Norman for Thanksgiving - it should be lots of fun and produce lots of great Blog material.

Stories Around the Caregiving House

While we are sorry that Shorti had shoulder surgery and is in pain, we "hens" are having some fun spending some time together. (I do have a picture of Shorti recouping, but I'm smart enough not to post it and to hold all details close, right now, anyway!)

The best story told round ailing Shorti was the snakebite her sister, Pat, got when she was a child. We - the girls - had heard this story secondhand from Shorti for years, but Pat got to tell it this time. Oh, and we also got to see the snakebite scars, but I was too unsettled to get a picture for the Blog, darn it!

So here's the story: They were playing coed softball when Pat ran after a long drive into the wood. She felt something sting her, so she rode her bike three blocks home.

Alice had gone out, and Grandpa was in the tub, but he got out quickly when Pat came home with the sting/bite. He took her to the fire station, but no one knew what it was, so he went to the hospital, where the doctor determined it was the bite of a poisonous snake. He said that of they'd been just a little longer, Pat wouldn't have made it.

After Pat was nursed back to health, Grandpa and two other men set out to the park to find the snake. They found a water moccasin and killed it, assuming it was the one that bit Pat. I thought that was so very Southern, to go hunt and kill what hurt you. Hopefully it WAS the right snake, or that snake was wondering what in the world he'd done to extract that kind of beating!

Alice's Saturday

Alice had a full day on Saturday! The girls decided she needed a break from caregiving for Shorti, so they took her out and about. Beth, aka Little Alice, and Alice preparing to leave the house.


For those of you who've commented that you never see Alice smile - look at this one! It was right before we set out for the day!

The first stop was the "Alternative Gift Fair" at St. Timothy's Episcopal Church. It was an opportunity to buy "non-gift" items for Christmas, like donations to local service organizations in someone's honor.

Alice bought a flock of chicks from Heifer International.

Alice visited a cat from a local animal shelter as Beth bought a "non-gift" from All 4 Paws, an animal charity led by a ninth grader.

We also bought some goodies from a mini-bazaar they had, stuff like Russian Tea, baked goods, etc.


Afterwards, we stopped at Swiftwater Beads so Mary Pat could get some earring supplies, and on the way home, stopped to see Ernest "Chicken Man" Lee, a local artist who sells his work on the street corner. Alice was a little hestitant to get out of the car for this stop, but the girls had a ball talking to Ernest Lee, who is truly a one-of-a-kind character. The girls have several of his pieces in their house and offices.

When we got home, Beth stayed with Mom, s0 Alice and her daughter, Pat, and Mary Pat could go to the Fort Jackson Commissary. It was like a Kroger, except the prices were lower. Alice lost Pat and Mary Pat several times, but she always knew where she was!

Alice has been a big help with Shorti's recovery. Shorti is doing well, thanks to the meds, but isn't the world's best patient. Tomorrow she starts physical therapy, which may be rough, and she sees the doctor on Tuesday.