I have a bad cold which I caught from John. He started feeling rotten Sunday, by Tuesday night I had all the symptoms.

We have tickets for a New Year’s Eve party tomorrow. John’s feeling pretty good today, hopefully I’ll show improvement tomorrow.

At least the weather is going to be nice for the next week or so (in the mid-70’s). That’ll help!

John and I were concerned because every time we passed the heavily decorated sign announcing “Lancaster,” one of the condo associations within Kings Point, the blow-up Santa and Frosty were deflated. They were just heaps of unrecognizable (dead) vinyl. We couldn’t figure why that association didn’t remove the defective/damaged Christmas decorations.

But the other day, we finally learned how how these lawn decorations work. (We’re probably the last to know.) We had been under the impression Santa and Frosty were balloons which were inflated and should stay inflated. Now we understand that the new, higher tech lawn ornaments are kept upright by an air pump which has to be running to keep the characters standing. It all makes sense. The Lancaster lights were on a timer and they were also out.

Although we haven’t seen them “come to life” somehow the mental image is of Christmas zombies.

We enjoyed a pleasant holiday.

Christmas Eve we’d joined a houseful of friends at Rachael and Jerry’s for a fun (rather rowdy) house party. At 11:00 we went to church for a candlelight service. It was nice to see everyone on the “night before.”

Christmas morning we opened our gifts. (We’d agreed that the new refrigerator and kitchen renovation were our gifts to each other, but we did have a few things under the tree.)

John played a little pickleball. I’m amazed that he’s using his damaged lungs so efficiently. (As a brand new player, he feels badly that he can’t keep up with the best of the players, but he’s more than holding his own with those who are average.)

Dinner was a feast of baked ham, sweet potatoes with brown sugar, American fried potatoes, apple/waldorf salad, corn pudding, home made bread, lots of relishes and two desserts (chocolate mousse and pumpkin pecan pie).

We vegged the rest of the day. Nice and quiet. Life is good.

We spent the day at Busch Gardens. The Christmas shows were wonderful. Costumes and talent awesome! The ice show was especially breath-taking. The Russian couple scare me because every year I expect she’ll hit the ice when he holds her ankles and spins her face inches from the ice. This year the little girl was very young but charming!

Of course we enjoyed the animals in the Gardens too.

It was a tad chilly but with no wind and bright sunshine, we were comfortable.

We’re looking forward to the music series at Busch which will start in mid-January.

Last night we went to “Country Night” at the South Club.

It seems that for quite a few years, the rest of the world has enjoyed group (line) dances but we’ve never tried. It seemed the longer we postponed learning those dances, the harder it was to jump in. Everyone else learned how to “grape vine” and “stomp” while we were sitting on the side lines.

Our Wednesday lessons are exposing us to country “couples’ dances,” and we’re finding that line dancing is creeping in.

Last night we got out there and tried most of the dances. We had fun! Lots of fun.

So I’m no longer avoiding line dances but I still won’t do the “Chicken Dance” or the “Hokey Pokey.” I find them absurd.

The weather here in Florida has been dern chilly. Tonight we went to Rockin’ Rendevous (by golf cart). It was a pleasant time.

The Rendezvous is still much quieter with smaller crowds than previous years, but the cool weather and absence of folks who have left for the north to be with family for the holidays explained many of the absences.

At least today wasn’t as bitter cold as it has been the past couple of days. (It actually spent most of the day in the 60’s.)

At Rockin’ Rendezvous, we sat with Don and Jan, who are friends of Brenda and John. They may stop over Christmas afternoon. We’ll open our door to anyone who wants to stop in that day. We can open some wine, and make a few tasty munchies.

I told John I wanted to go to shopping tomorrow because I needed to buy a warm jacket.

I had every intention to bring a short black winter jacket with us from Michigan. But after I got down here, I had looked for that jacket and I hadn’t been able to find it. I figured I’d left it in the dining room in our up-north home. (I use the dining room as a “staging area” when we are packing.)

Tonight, when I mentioned shopping for a jacket, John said he’d found my black one a week or so ago and had put it in the truck. I checked. It was there! Yeah! I won’t freeze. I now have my warm gloves (which were in the pocket) and a warm jacket. Wish I’d brought the removeable lining but the nylon shell will sure help.

This time I wanted to put the jacket where I could find it, so I decided the best place to store the jacket was the back of the walk-in master closet. When I went to hang it way in the back, I found my long trench coat. (It’s black with a velvet collar.) I must have brought down with me last year. I remember looking for that coat after we’d gone back to Michigan last April or May. I didn’t remember that I’d brought it south. Now I know why I couldn’t find it in our up-north home. It never dawned on me that the trench coat was down here, I was under the mistaken impression that it was in Michigan.

I’m so glad I have them. It’s been cold and I could have used the trench coat Monday night. We were sort of dressed up but it was cold. I have a mink jacket, but that’s only for rare occasions like balls and truly dressy events. Monday wasn’t that dressy, but a casual fleecy jacket would have looked tacky so I didn’t wear any jacket at all and I froze!!

TWO houses make life entirely too confusing. Is it here? Or is it there? At least now I’m all set for jackets/coats.

Last night we attended the Nantucket V Christmas party. It was a very nice evening!

We were the entertainment with our friends, the Conklins. The four of us had practiced several times. We had a nice selection of holiday tunes and a few that were just fun!

Many in our audience had never heard a hammered dulcimer. John and Wayne produced a nice sound with John taking the melody and Wayne making nice harmonies. Linda and I played chords and provided a rhythm on our autoharps to lay foundation.

I was the emcee and “talked” to the audience. I tried to keep it light-hearted and it worked. When you “make a connection” you can feel it, and last night felt good!

We felt they really loved the music and appreciated us. It was FUN!

The positive comments were plentiful.

One friend came up afterward and said, “You guys are so ‘professional’.”

For a first music experience with our neighborhood, we were pleased with the way it turned out.

It’s funny but since we’ve been coming down her to Florida, Thursday’s have been the most popular night of the week. The South Clubhouse is always packed with dancers, those who enjoyed adult beverages and folks in search of fun. We’ve always loved it!!

But this year it’s been different (although we had no true comparison because we’ve never spent November/December down here).

Previously we would plan to arrive before the starting time of 4:00 p.m. but we had few seating options that “late.” We would dance, partake of adult beverages and have a grand time socializing.

But this year there have been very few in the clubhouse for the Thursday Rockin’ Rendezvous party.

Tonight we got to there about 5:15 and had our choice of seat locations. It’s obvious that the “crowd volume” is still down. By about 6:00 the place was comfortably crowded and it became a fun gathering.

We left about 7:00 when we’d “had our fill” but it was a nice time with lots of friends and great music.

I’m wondering why folks are hesitating to come to the Thursday night’s Rockin Rondezous party. The music couldn’t have been better. John and I danced to a lot of good tunes. We couldn’t have asked for anything we’d have enjoyed more. It was definitely a good time.

I hope those who are hesitating for whatever reason decide to come and join the fun. The Kings Point Clubhouse is a rockin’ place on Thursday nights!!! We notice there’s an absence of lots of folks we’d like to see attend. Too bad. We’re all having fun but it would be even better if they’d join us.