i'm still here

I guess my last promise to post more often wasn't worth the cyberspace it occupies. It's been so long I've almost forgotten how to blog.

I wish I could say I had been off doing fun creative things, but no such luck. At first I was just working hard to get my early obligation Christmas presents ready. My SSCS got off on schedule and my advent swap with April got delivered on the first. I had just started shopping for my own family and working on things for our adopted family at work when my dad had a stroke. I spent 5 hours one night getting him checked into the hospital. He really seemed to make a miraculous recovery with treatment, but still needed to move to a rehabilitation facility for therapy. We moved him into a facility and he started deteriorating almost immediately. He started hallucinating and having paranoid delusions. He would see people with us when we went to visit and one time my aunt went to visit and he didn't even talk to her. Even though she was talking to him he didn't know she was there. He also didn't seem to be getting more mobile or any stronger. My sister went to see him last Friday and he was trying to call the police to tell them that he was being held prisoner on a train. Luckily, he couldn't figure out how to dial the phone. On Sunday I got a call from one of the nurses asking if I could talk to him. He was agitated and told me that he was kidnapped and that the place was probably run by the mob. I explained to him that he was fine and we knew where he was. He then told me he never thought I was that gullible. He then decided I must be in on it with them. I did manage to get him calmed down by telling him he was going back to his place the next day. We had already decided he had to leave there so my sister had set it up with his assisted living place to take him back as he was. This past Monday he moved back and by evening he was walking by himself with one of his caregivers spotting. I am not sure exactly what the problem was, but he has improved so much since leaving. I just hope he continues going in the right direction.

This was not one of my better Christmas's. DD didn't come home and with my dad's problems there really just wasn't much Christmas spirit here. There were a few bright spots however. I got a beautiful SSCS gift from Fiona. A covered journal, a couch caddy and my ornament. I can keep my ornament out all year because it's not strictly Christmas at all. She does such beautiful stitchery and the colors go great with my couch. I love them. Aren't they gorgeous?

My advent swap with April was great too. It's so much fun to get and give gifts to someone you know so well. We would meet every day online and open our gifts together. I had made a list so I knew what she was opening each day. She had tied a Godiva or Dove chocolate to the outside of each of mine so I knew I was getting a chocolate treat every day. (I wish I had thought of that.) We both enjoyed it so much we're already planning to do it again next year. I have a number of new ideas running around in my head that I think she will like.

I'm going go get Christmas things done early this year. What do you think? Is that pledge worth the cyberspace it is occupying?