The Gauntlet - Part IV - Ms. M's Visit...

Ms. M, my dearest childhood friend, came to visit for Thanksgiving. We kept our activities fairly quiet so we would have plenty of time to visit. The kids seemed to dominate most of our awake times and our evenings we were hooked into watching Downton Abbey. Still, we were able to catch up and just enjoy each others' company.

Ironically, in the past year, completely unknowingly, we both went straight with our hair - this after decades of curly hair for both us of. When we met at the airport, we both exclaimed to each other about it!

One request I had was for her to play Christmas music on the piano. She is an K-8th music teacher. She even helped me put together the music for the program I was going to have the kids do on Christmas Eve eve. Sadly, we were not able to get the kids from both the N family and our N family together to do the program due to illness. My heart was pretty sad about that. But, it was still fun collaborating with my dear friend to incorporate music. The kids loved her tunes and danced most of the time. She and I used to both be piano accompanist at our high school.

We also did a visit to the Winter Garden and made a gingerbread house. I learned from my sister last year - hot glue holds gingerbread together far better than frosting. Worked like a charm! We made soap. Every year I like to make soap. It's kind of my new tradition instead of baking. It certainly is labor intensive and always helpful to have an extra adult helper. My past and present met up while we were making soap - Iron Woman stopped by to meet Ms. M - that was a special moment for me.

We are already scheming Ms. M's next visit. I hope I don't have to wait another year but if I do, it is always worth it!

Last photo is our Christmas gift to her - a special book for her to create memories with her family. Remember, I am all about creating memories together. I am sensing this as a theme for 2015.