We are so lucky to have Katie, Clayton and their children here in Ekalaka. Gage, their older son helped stir the gravy, he dug the dressing from the turkey and carried food to the table. Without a dishwasher, Clayton and Katie washed all the dirty dishes brought up. They were back before supper for some left-over stuffing; we could have given them gravy that will be boiled and added to turkey broth that boils out of the bird bones. Maybe Brice can make home-made noodles. Those make the soup wonderful.

They were back for Shirley Melum’s apple pie. We gave them all that was left; we’d already eaten. Now it’s a meal or two of turkey noodle soup.

Even without pumpkin cheesecake or pie, the holiday went off without a hitch. Now we get ready for Katie to prepare Christmas Eve supper. Brice will start Grandma Huff cookies, we can mail to family members in Missouri and another batch for family members in North Dakota and Ekalaka. They are many people’s favorite.

We still make a smaller batch of bourbon balls. Some of the people who loved them have died. And we hope the trigeminal nerve pain still stays quiet, quiet enough that Grandma can still smile. My high school aide will wrap presents; I need to hurry up and get them all. I have my aid to shop for, Katie and Clayton, and Grady.

Bristol and Gage are taken care of. What would my son-in-law want? And Grady?

I promised them we’d go to Baker and get a dishwasher. That might be all they want. But Grady needs a present to open Christmas Eve.

I need to compose a Christmas letter and start addressing Christmas cards. We might see Reed and the kids on Face-Time. That’s almost as good as in person. It takes four days for them to travel from Ohio, and he just doesn’t have time to make it to Ekalaka. Maybe on another trip they will drive the 300 mile round trip from Dickinson, North Dakota.

These Stieg kids miss their Ohio cousins and they need to spend some time with Grandad and Grambert. That’s what they call me to distinguish me from their Grandma Reyman.

Brice put up our outdoor Christmas lights on Tuesday but we might wait until December 1 to turn them on. And then Christmas will quickly arrive.