Star Wars, Christmas Program, & Friends

The title of this post was our weekend. Busy and fun. We met friends for lunch on Saturday, finally getting together in over a year. I can’t believe it’s been so long. The good/bad aspect of retirement is we have time. Time to travel, to play with/visit grandchildren, to write, to do all kinds of things. We would agree that “we have to get together” then not set a date. I’m ashamed that I didn’t. My vow for 2018 is not to neglect my friends.

Our granddaughter (10-year-old) is a dancer. Saying she loves to dance is an understatement. Her enthusiasm is evidenced by her big smiles as she dances on stage. This weekend was the holiday program by her dance studio. In years past, they performed “The Nutcracker.” This year they combined dance numbers with little skits. We saw another side of our g’daughter. An actress. In one scene, she scolded some children. She explained later that she was channeling her mother scolding her brother. Very effective. Proud grandmother here.

Yesterday, we saw Star Wars VIII: The Last Jedi. Nothing is more fun than watching a movie with fans—daughter, son-in-law, g’daughter, and grandson (almost 8). Did you know that fan is a shortened word for fanatic? Oh, yeah. We are a family of Star Wars fans. I’d heard raves about this episode. Even if it had met with disgruntled reviews like Episode VII, I still would have gone and enjoyed. Without spoilers, I'll say this movie had several surprises, cliffhanging scenes, and great lightsaber fights interspersed with humorous one-liners. The most poignant, though, was seeing Carrie Fisher (Princess Leia) and knowing she was gone.

After the movie, we went to dinner and talked and talked about the movie. G’son, who never sits still unless he’s playing with Legos, didn’t move during the movie. He barely ate any popcorn, and then only before the movie began. He sat next to me, transfixed by the action. During dinner, he bounced on the bench in his excitement to talk. I knew he’d read several Star Wars books and watched the TV shows. I didn’t realize how knowledgeable he’d become. Wow. Not sure I want to play Star Wars Trivial Pursuit against him. SIL is very observant. He mentioned things I totally missed. Not unusual for me. I focus so intently on the main action that I often miss what’s happening (or is shown) off to the sides. I’m sure I’ve mentioned before that I have to watch a movie a couple of times before I catch everything. (side note: I had to watch Inception five times before I got it all. I think.)

I love discussing movies. Books, too. One of the reasons I belong to a book group is to get others’ take on what we’ve read. It’s so much fun to delve into the reason behind a scene or subtle hints with others.

The holidays are upon us. No surprise there. Our grandkids had a snow day last week, the day we were babysitting Toddler Girl. The three cousins helped decorate. (With releasing Romance Rekindled, I’m still so behind.) The older two had fun standing on the kitchen counters to put my nutcracker collection on top of the cabinets. TG helped by handing them up to the older ones. She was fascinated by the stackers I only put out at Christmas time. (She’s played with the plastic Star Wars set that I keep out all year.) Between the three, our house is about half decorated. TG is coming over today. Maybe she can help put ornaments on the tree. LOL Thank goodness, the tree has lights or it would look very bare. Where does the time go?

My New Release Alert (newsletter) went out last week. Did you get your copy? Be sure to sign up so you don’t miss getting it. You get a free short story when you sign up. Use the signup in the top right corner above.

Here’s the link to read the latest. http://mailchi.mp/97b6c4bfa19c/a-new-release

I hope you and your family enjoy the holidays.