So my brother Mark sent a toy to Chris for a Christmas present: a remote control helicopter. After opening the package, Chris opened it right away and was impressed that Mark had also included the batteries for the helicopter. It was put to use right away.

The presents from my family get opened on Christmas Eve, since that has been our tradition as long as I can remember. So the helicopter had star billing for that night.

As you can read in a previous post, I got a video recorder from Chris. Since I’ve been sick and Chris has been busy, we didn’t get to put these two delightful toys together until today.

General Chris said that the controls were difficult to manage, but he seemed to improve with practice.

Perhaps the next exercise will include the cat.

UPDATE: Lucy Dog recognizes herself in the video, and will bark at her recorded barkings. Maybe it will take a while for her to get used to being a movie star.

I consider the greeting of the new year an obligation to practice living the exciting life I want to have. I -always- try to do -something-.

Not this year. I went to bed at eight. And woke up every hour thereafter. Except for midnight. Chris came and shook me awake to say “Happy Birthday!” and hand me a present.

I smiled and said “Happy New Year!” I wouldn’t open the present because it’s nice to have a pretty wrapped present to contemplate opening for a while.

Of course, I couldn’t fall back asleep after that. I woke up and went to sit in the living room. I had my book, and Chris was reading a reference book about ships. It was very quiet.

Not much later he asked me if I felt older. He squeezed my arm to see if I felt older to him. I said, “I’m mostly glad it’s January.”

“That’s right! By the end of this month, you will definitely not be pregnant anymore!”

“I know! I’m looking forward to it.”

So, I’m up and having a midnight snack of Chicken Ramen noodles, my mainstay against sore throaty colds. The salt cauterized the wound of my throat and the hot water is always nice. Maybe I’ll be able to sleep again after I finish it.

Looking forward to this new month, and to the new year. It will be great.