The week leading up to Christmas has been happily puttery. Mer’s parents came into town on Monday. I had to work this week Monday through Wednesday, and on those days the pattern for me was work, come home and meet up with Mer, head to Aunt Mary’s where the Kings are staying, visit, eat, watch Jeopardy, go home, sleep, and repeat. The foods have been excellent, with take-out pizza on Monday, Chipotle on Tuesday, and a variation on Wednesday – on Wednesday we swung by to see our out-of-town friend Julie and her husband Jeff and their new baby daughter. They held an open-house drop-in for friends at Julie’s parents’ house, so we got to visit with them for about an hour. They are all doing well, and Julie is still funny and great to be around. Jeff and I got to chat about running – Jeff is another marathon and half-marathon nut. They had great finger food around, and so we ate well, and that was before we headed to Canton to meet up with the family at Taggart’s Ice Cream.

Taggart’s is an old ice cream parlor in Canton that we are all big fans of. They have been around since at least the 1930s, and they serve burgers and hotdogs and such in addition to ice cream. Mer and I ate well there also before heading back to Aunt Mary’s for a short visit.

On Thursday, I had the day off and stayed home and wrapped gifts for Mer while she met her family and a number of old CVCA teachers at Olive Garden. In the evening, Mer and I went back to Canton to go to “Aunt” Zovie’s house. Aunt Zovie is the widow of “Uncle” Bob, who used to work with Dale. As such, Mer has known the Lairs all of her life, and Uncle Bob and Aunt Zovie are like family. We had a great time catching up with Aunt Zovie and her family – it had been about two years since I had seen them. There was yet more excellent food, and good conversation.

So, work was good and quiet, and I got a lot done, and the evenings were full of food and fellowship – a pretty great way to lead up to Christmas weekend.