A Foggy Christmas Morning In Kansas City

Merry Christmas From Marlena

It’s 7:35, and I’ve been up for an hour. Evie just walked in and made her coffee, so for the moment, we’re the only two awake on a gray, foggy 49° morning. We may see some sun if the fog burns off, but clouds are expected to move in this afternoon. We will be spending Christmas Day with Nick, Audraya, and the boys. 

8:23

Christmas Eve was quiet and uneventful, mostly because the boys spent the day with Audraya’s parents. Rats! That left just the five of us, with nothing in particular to do—sort of. Like today, I was up at 6:00 and was eventually joined by Mary and Tom around 8:00, Evie at 8:30, and Marlena at 10:00, the lucky gal. After coffee, the blog, and breakfast, Tommy got busy making Mary’s famous meatballs and tomato sauce for our Christmas Day dinner. We love that sauce and those meatballs and always look forward to them when we visit. The meatballs were fried, and the sauce was finished by noon.

Walk Along A Creek

Tommy And Marlena

Around midday, Tom, Marlena, and I went for a walk in the woods directly behind their house. They’re fortunate to have numerous nearby trails, some of which connect to the Katy Trail. We were out for about forty-five minutes and ran into a couple of families also enjoying a walk on such a warm day. It felt good to get some exercise. While we were gone, Mary not only baked a carrot cake but also squeezed in a workout in their gym.

New Bridge

Christmas Eve Hiking

We returned around 1:00, and Tom suggested we use his sauna. I put on my bathing suit, headed downstairs, and sat in the sauna for twenty-five minutes, listening to oldies-but-goodies on Tom’s phone. We both worked up a good sweat, so I took a shower to cool off. After that, I was ready for lunch—easy and tasty. I heated up a leftover hot dog and bun in the microwave and ate it with chips. I tried to nap but couldn’t quite fall asleep, so I spent most of the hour reading instead.

At Smoke In Lee's Summit

Around 3:00, we decided to drive into downtown Lee’s Summit. We walked around a bit before finding a table at a local bar and restaurant called Smoke. It was busy for Christmas Eve and stopped serving food at 4:00, so we quickly ordered beers and an appetizer. We also played around with a new app called Grok, which lets you edit any photo in a creative way.  It’s hilarious, and Evie and Marlena had a great time creating funny photos of us sitting at the bar. We left around 4:15, and the place was still crowded.

Baba With His Granddaughter

Back at the house, we relaxed on Tom’s screened-in porch overlooking the pool and woods. It was warm enough to sit out with a fleece, and Tom had a fire going, which made it especially pleasant. Around 6:30, Tom and I got busy in the kitchen—prepping the filets, boiling potatoes, and cleaning the asparagus. We ate around 7:00. Dinner was excellent: nicely grilled filets by Tom, mashed potatoes, and asparagus.

Gals Relaxing While The Guys Make Dinner

After dinner, we sat in the living room, enjoyed a piece of carrot cake, and watched the third episode of the Taylor Swift documentary. What an amazing performer. We were all tired by then and went to bed just after 9:00. We are definitely getting old! 

An example of what I created this morning using the app Grok:

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