My cousin Betsy is coming over for Christmas dinner, so tomorrow we need to tidy up the house and polish the silverware. Betsy goes to adult daycare three times a week, and when she calls me once a week to tell me she is doing fine, she always points out that she stands back to the let the people in the wheel chairs go ahead of her "because I'm a nice person."
I wasn't here for Thanksgiving so Mr. Troutbend took her to the buffet at one of the local casinos. He had told me she wished several people "Happy Thanksgiving" but today I got more details. He said when she wished people Happy Thanksgiving she felt the need to point out how nice it was of her to greet them. "See how nice I am? I told them Happy Thanksgiving. That's what I do because I'm a nice person." Right in front of those same people, everyone standing in the elevator. Up until that, they probably thought she was a friendly older woman, but ended up thinking she's a couple sandwiches short of a picnic and how soon is that door going to open and let us out of here.
We'll have ham and broccoli rice casserole, roasted brussels sprouts, with cake and ice cream for dessert. And cranberry sauce. After Betsy opens her Christmas gifts, we'll go back to her apartment and do some maintenance on her furniture: tighten up the dining room chairs, see if it's possible to fix the recliner. I have to try to think of something besides a gift card to give her, and go buy it tomorrow, unless I can find some extra thing lying around the house to wrap up.
She's hard to buy for. One of her favorite things was an old 1980s electronic game that finally gave out. She kept telling us how she needs an iPod or iPad or similar device to replace it because that's what her friends have. We know she wouldn't be able to figure out how to use it, and the staff people who come in to help her cook dinner would not help her with it. For Easter I sent her a Nintendo DS game with Wheel of Fortune cartridge. I found a used one for about $80, played it to make sure it was easy to use, and sent it to her. Mr. TroutBend showed her how to use it, and they played several rounds on it. But she later told me it's stored under her bed because she can't remember how to use it, so we'll have another tutorial. If that doesn't work, I'll take the game back because it's no use under the bed.