Christmas/Holiday Plans
 

I believe in celebrating Jesus's Birth on Christmas Day, even though
He was, probably, not actually born on that day, with song, joy
and prayer.:sing: :smileypray:.

But I also like to celebrate Christmas the Holiday,:Excited: with the tree,
the presents, the food, the Family, the fun and all that makes all
people jolly & gay and all that fahdahrah!!!:D....which has nothing
at all, really, to do with Jesus.:wink:

Our Christmas eve/day, in the last 10 years, since DH passed away,
has been easy & simple, but always fun and full of love and giving.:grouphug:

What are your plans? Quiet, pleasant and simple or a full out
Family/Friend Bash, like ours used to be, before everybody up
and died on us?:eek:

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Since the kids have grown up and moved out it's pretty quiet around here.

We do all get together during the holidays but it's much lower-key now.

I can't cook like I used to so there's alot of pot-luck dinners and store bought goodies.

But, that's okay. Anything I don't have to make tastes better to me! :rolleyes:

There's no out of town company so it's pretty quiet around here. Kind of like it is the other 364 days of the year. :)

Love the kitty in the tree...and the comment :D.

I view Christmas as two things, as you do Sally. One, the celebration of a great birth and mankind's awakening to that which is the foundation of our true nature; and two, a year-end festival of giving and sharing of love and joy.

Typically on the days before Christmas, if I will be going to my Dad's & Stepmom's, or on Christmas Eve day, if I will be staying home, I prepare things for a nice dinner for the 25th...including a treat for Willy, and this year for Ziggy as well.
Then from around 6:00 PM until the wee hours of morning, I spend in meditation and prayer, where ever I am.

Christmas day is quiet if I am at home; and if the weather & the body are OK, Willy and I go for a walk in the snowy woods and leave seed bell treats hanging in the trees for the birds and squirrels. Sometimes, I'll just sit under a tree and meditate again while Willy goes off on a toot, or lays beside me.

Or, if I am at my Dad's & Stepmom's place, I celebrate Christmas with them. We usually have a nice dinner, and they will often invite people from their church who would otherwise be alone, to join us.

It is still up in the air if I will join them this year or not, but this is the time of year for hope, prayer and faith, isn't it?

With love, Erika

Each year, things seem to change some. We always had Christmas Eve at my house - my girls and my then bf - and Christmas day at my parents house. Since 2010, it's been a little different each year. Last year, we had Christmas morning at DD23's house. DD22 and I drove over to her house and had coffee, breakfast, and giving as well as some good laughs and lots of fun. Later in the day we went to my Mom's house for dinner with family. This year, since my girls now live together, they decided they are going to come get me on Christmas Eve and bring me over to spend the night. I'm not sure what our plans are for Christmas dinner, either my brother's house or my Mom's, but I'm sure someone will let me know as it gets closer to Christmas.

As I have said before Thanksgiving is at our home but Christmas is for the married folks to go to inlaws homes. Then we gather for Christmas o a day that we all can be together here. There are 4 families that do live here though so we always get together, well just to be together. I think last year we had sandwiches!!! But Jan 4th is our big time together. Can not wait. My brothers who live out of town are short on money and can only stay one night in a hotel so the one in Georgia comes the night before and then leaves in the evening and has a loong drive home. The one in Kentucky comes in the morning and spends the night in a hotel. It is so different now that Mom is gone. I do't think they ever missed a Christmas no matter what when she was alive. Now if things don't work out, they don't come. We have a big dinner, then the men clean up. while they are doing that the married women go into a closed room and do stockings. We are 'the royal order of the stocking stuffers'. We have had to change the rules the last couple of years because our nephews have been living with a girl, not the same one, and both of them have 2 children by them. So the live in girlfriends are in our group. When we are done with the stockings, we all gather in my family room, all 25, and open presents. One of the younger ones put the Santa hats on and pass out stockings and then pass out the presents. My brothers never lived here but consider this home because Mom lived here.

I will be traveling back to Ohio sometime next week. I am just hoping the weather cooperates. Christmas eve - we go to mass and then to my sister's house.I love going to the children's mass and seeing all of the kids in their Christmas finery. It is also my birthday, but I am lucky anymore if people even remember to tell me Happy Birthday:rolleyes:. My mom and sisters do remember at some point during the day. We rarely have all of the family together at one time anymore so it not as noisy as it used to be.

Then my mom still insists on doing Christmas day even though she lives in a two bedroom apartment. I end up doing a lot of the prep work for that.

Like Sally, I find that most of the significant people in my life have gone. I spent my husband's last Christmas in the hospital where he had gone, where he died 12 days later, on Epiphany.
I sometimes am invited to my son's house for Christmas dinner, usually at the last moment. Last Christmas they didn't invite me, but went to a friend's house for dinner without even telling me. This Christmas they may feel they need to invite me as I baby sit a lot for them. They exclude Christ from Christmas, so it is never exactly as I would like it to be.
I will probably go to church on Christmas eve or morning. It will be a new church as I had to leave the old one due to them poisoning the rugs with carpet cleaner, and refusing to use steam cleaning. The newer church will have a floor without a rug. I don't know anyone there except the Lord. It is the way life is for a person with Porphyria, always chemically sensitive. But at least I still can drive there, and for that I'm grateful.

I will have Christmas Eve off work for the first time in four years so I am really looking forward to dinner at my sister's house, (she is about an hour west of us). She lost two beloved pets last week within two days of each other so I am anxious to see her and give her a hug.

Christmas day we will go to mass, and I have not been going regularly since I work most Sundays and I am exhausted just from work. I never thought I would be one to miss church but now that I am chronically exhausted it happens all the time. :o

DH got me a new garage opener for Christmas, something I needed I suppose. :rolleyes: :D I buy things for myself if I need something so I don't need anyone to get me anything, but I really enjoy being with family for the holidays. :)

Mariel :hug: to you. This time of the year must be hard on you now. Your son should be more sensitive to your needs, especially this year. I hope your new church just envelopes you with love. Is there a small group there for widows, women living by themselves etc. You all have unique needs. I hope you have confided in your pastor.

We may have one more this year. My oldest GD has a best friend that has a lot of family trouble. Her Mom has been living with this guy for quite a while. So he was a surrogate Dad to this young lady. Well they have broken up. her Mom works 12 hour shifts and frequently works extra shifts as needed so Haley many times is just at home with her dogs. That's no life or an overweight 12 year old. That age has enough insecurities as it is. So she spends a lot of time with my daughter and her family. She would like to be adopted by them:hug: Her Mom is working on Christmas and Haley is kind of asking if she can come along.I don't mind at all. We have the very dark African american disabled man with spina bifida that my brother and his family have adopted. He have my SIL Mom now that her Dd has died and Mom has early dementia and can't be left alone. We have my youngest daughter's room mate who is a 5'3 little Vietnamese guy, so funny by the way. So might as well bring a really nice 12 year old overweight, insecure young lady. I really don't know what we are going to do with the family room furniture this year with this many people coming. But you just learn to set another plate. Heck, they are paper plates, so who cares.

Mariel,

This would be the time when I wish we were all close so we could surround you with love for Christmas. :hug: I hope your son invites you this year. :hug: If I were you I would just show up anyway. I wonder if they just expect you to know you are welcome without an invite? You are his mom after all! :hug:

My sister is inviting Keith, our late dad's caretaker for Christmas Eve dinner. Last time he didn't show up. He is a strange fellow, but has a good heart, and he was a blessing to our dad in his last two years of life, because nobody else could have put up with dear old dad and his cantankerous ways. :rolleyes: We were lucky to find an equally cantankerous but lovable caretaker for him. :D

Doydie,

I love that you are including less fortunate people for your holiday celebrations. :hug:

We will be in Boston for Christmas. We take almost-MIL to Christmas Eve mass at the church she was married in. Then we will have supper - not too much- here.

Christmas morning is just the 2 of us.:) Then Christmas Day we pick up MIL and go to friends across town for a re-do of the Thanksgiving spread but w more desserts. That last for hours. We are supposed to give to charity in lieu of gifts but someone(s) always breaks this rule.

Meanwhile my brother and his family will be at my Mom's. Then DH2B and I fly in to spend a week w Mom that includes NYEve. We do Chinese food NYE and Christmas on NYDay morning- all of us in the living room in PJ's. There is no way we could ever be in MIL's LR in PJ's- ever!

Heads up- the moon is almost full- gorgeous.
ANN

Wiz, sometimes I would like to disinvite my husband and brother in law. They were not brought up in the same environment we were and see no purpose in doing this.

Now here is the way to decorate a white Christmas tree.

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays To All.:D
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That is such a cute idea, Sally!! :D

Doydie, it sounds wonderful! If I didn't live so far away.....and I could drive......and I could handle sitting for more than 15 minutes......and I didn't need an afternoon nap.....well, you get the picture:rolleyes:......I would show up at your house!! :D

I'm working but it will be with the kiddos so that makes it more palatable and I should be done fairly early.

I'm going to use the extra $$ for vacation! :cool:

I wish I had plans...I like plans! My days of playing it by ear are WAY over. However, real life happens, and we have no plan. I don't mean "we plan to do nothing". I mean, "we have no plan".

My granddaughter is out of state and working Christmas Eve, my daughter only has Christmas Day off work and lives a couple of hours away (assuming bare roads, a foolish assumption), and my daughter-in-law is having health problems--so my son has an uncertain schedule.

We hope it works out that my son and daughter can at least be here on the same day for a while, but it may be before Christmas or long after. Therefore, I can't plan food or anything else.

I'm not feeling humbuggish about it, I'm just frustrated and trying not to have an attitude. It isn't any of the kids' fault that things just aren't coming together this year. I just told them to try to give me a couple days' notice if they can.

Kitty I wish we could invite a needy family over. I know my Mom would try to do it if she could. But there is no way my husband would do that. For one reason he wouldn't want a stranger in his house. And he would think that the family would expect something from us all year long. I hate to think what he will think of what all I want to do if he should die first and I have this big house all to myself.

Love the Christmas tree Sally :).

Well, I'm 90% decided on not trying to make it to my Dad and Stepmom's for Christmas and staying home instead.

Between the 2-3 feet of snow that is supposed to fall before I would leave on the 24th, the ups and downs of this body lately, probably another new medication starting on Thursday and Willy having to go to a regular kennel (his trainer is dealing with the recent passing of her mother)...it just seems that now is not a good time for me to go anywhere.

Even if all of that weren't going on, there is another big snow storm coming in on the 27th, and I would prefer not to drive in it; so would then probably try to come home on the 26th to beat it, if I did go down. That would mean a lot of driving (10+ hours each way), to just spend the whole of the 25th to be with them; and I haven't been driving much lately.
So Christmas Day would likely be one that the body would be needing to rest from the drive down and for the drive back anyway. I certainly wouldn't be up for cooking a full Christmas dinner, which is what I usually do when I go there for Christmas.

Staying home is looking far more beneficial for everyone, including Willy & Ziggy.
I don't like the idea of Willy being in a kennel, although the one that he has been in here before, is a very good one. They have play and activities for the residents throughout the day, and provide treats as well.
Similarly, Ziggy is used to me being home and I'd worry about him being here alone for 3 days, even though my friend would come to feed him and clean his litter box. I don't want him to feel like he has been abandoned, because he certainly missed me when I was in the hospital for two days.

Then there is the issue of my truck and snow plow not being here for the time that I am away. That's especially an issue if the snow plowing doesn't get done from the storm that is now on our doorstep, before I go. I'd hate to leave people snowed in over Christmas...and have already had a couple of calls from folks who are worried about whether they'll get plowed out or not. My friend's husband, who has been doing the plowing, has had a call from someone that he plowed out for the Lions as well.

If the body is up for it, I'd rather spend the days leading up to Christmas and the days after, going around and plowing out those who are in need. If my body isn't able to do it, my friend's husband said that he would be happy to do it again. Who ever does the the driving, Willy will enjoy that because those are the "best days ever" for him, and so for me too :).

I'm also thinking that I don't want my Dad to see this body in the shape that it is in now. It doesn't doesn't look that great and has certainly deteriorated since the last time that he laid eyes on it. Seeing it now would probably only cause needless concern, so I'd rather get a little weight back on before visiting with him.
I've been pretty careful about what I say and how I say it when I talk to my Dad on the phone, so he doesn't worry. Better that he enjoy Christmas knowing that I am home safe and sound, and doing well.
I think that will be a nicer Christmas present than having me show up there at this point :winky:.

Perhaps early in the new year, I'll be able to go for a visit when things are more conducive all round.
So I'll be home for Christmas...and here to keep everyone company :hug:.

I'm going to cook up a nice Christmas meal that can be shared with some of the shut-ins that we plow out, who would otherwise go without. It will be easy to do that because it doesn't all have to be cooked at once, so it can be done in stages over the span of a couple of days.

I have some free range organic turkeys in the freezer that I gift to others, so I'll cook the largest of those (28 lbs) on one day and get it carved up; maybe with the help of my friends. Then the next day I can prepare some vegetables from the garden that I have in storage, and get them cooked at my leisure.
From that, some nice 'ready to heat up' meals can be made up with the help of my friends, so that they can be delivered on the 24th by who ever is doing the plow runs.

On Christmas Day, Willy, Ziggy and my pet wild crows will get the turkey trimmings and I'll have a meal from the veggies, before making a large pot of turkey soup that can again be shared during the plowing runs on the 26th & 27th.

Ah yes, Christmas at home is looking better and better :winky:.

With love, Erika

I vote for Christmas home. It sounds lovely. You have everything you need there.
ANN

The next Hump Day will be Christmas..:D

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Erika, sounds like you will have a very rewarding Christmas there in your own home. And that's what the holiday is all about, celebrating God's love and that's exactly what you will be doing. I think Ziggy would be better this year with her Mommy staying with her and providing that security she has grown to understand and love.

I'm so proud of my non tech type person that I am. I ordered some Amazon gift cards and I used the ones you can just print off yourself. My son in law is self employed and doesn't make a lot of money in it but has several side things he does to bring in extra money. One of them is that he gets a certain percentage from everything bought on Amazon that uses his companies web site. Right now he gets 6% but as orders increase the % can go up. Plus when I went to order them I found out you can order them and the card is sent to your own email and you just print it off. It comes in a card format and you just fold it like a card!!!! 2 stocking gifts done!!! Now I have to get one from Kohls, wrap all the ornaments I have for stocking gifts for all the women, wrap the last present which weighs 50 pounds and it's done. Well I still have to clean house, clean the refrigerator and get candy for stockings and then somehow find a way to leave it alone.

Last year I bought candy, ate most of it and had to go back and find the exact same bags because my husband was with me when I bought it and knew what I had. Bad girl.

What a great idea Doydie. Its also nice that your son gets a benefit through Amazon :).
Ah yes, staying out of the Christmas treats must be a real challenge, especially for those with a sweet tooth. You've done so well Doydie, so if you deserve to indulge a bit. After all, its only once a year.

I'm lucky in that regard as I don't actually like sweet stuff generally, but as I said in another post, once in a while I do try some. There's a nasty negative re-enforcement reaction thing built into this body of mine that promptly discourages further indulgences :winky:

I had to go in to the office yesterday to catch up on mail and other office management stuff, and one my long term patients dropped off a huge tin of home made Christmas baking, as she always does. She's a dear soul with a large family of adult children and several grandchildren, who all live here in town.

Her and the adult children do a baking exchange and always have lots to share with others. Each one of them bakes a lot of only a few items, then they get together and exchange them so that everyone has a wide variety of traditional baking for the holidays and to give as gifts. I think that is so smart because it is easier to bake only a few recipes, than to a whole lot of different ones and I must say that these ladies have perfected the recipes that they do bake.

My goodness! The tin must weigh 5 pounds and in it there are shortbread, gingerbread, rum balls, home made chocolates, macaroons, sugar cookies, date squares, Christmas cake cookies, mini tarts, nut clusters and a few others that I don't know the names of. Some of the cookies have clearly been decorated by their children, which is such a nice touch :).

After leaving some for the clinic associates to enjoy, the remainder of these cookies have been set aside in gratitude; as they will be such a nice addition to the Turkey dinners that we'll be taking to shut-ins on the 24th. My friends and I were a bit stumped as to what we could include as a desert and now we have the solution :).
I'm sure that the patient that gifted them to me would give her full approval to us for passing most of them on; as she and her family also bake for their church's Christmas Dinner that is served to the less fortunate of our community on the 24th.

I let my folks know that I won't be coming for Christmas and they were actually happy that I would not be driving down in potentially poor weather. They will be going out for a brunch that is being put on by some people from their church on the 24th. Later they'll go to midnight mass as they usually do and then are looking forward to a quiet Christmas at home, with a few of their friends dropping over in the afternoon during their "open house" between 1:00 & 4:00.

Meanwhile, the turkey here has been moved from the freezer to the fridge so that it will be thawed out by Sunday and ready for the oven.

With love, Erika

Well we bought our stocking candy tonight and I told my husband to hide it. He came in and put it on the kitchen table and I figured he just left it there but when I went in later to wrap my stocking gifts they were gone. So I think I am safe but Jan 4th is a long way and I know there are two large bags of chocolate somewhere in this house.

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Our plans are down to this.... Christmas gift wrapping, wine guzzling party,
with DD and me, is Monday. Christmas Eve's honey baked ham dinner,
eggnog gulping and the formal (ha ha) unwraping of gifts, by the Grands
(All 5 with SO's and GGD.) is Tuesday.

Christmas Day, DD will take the Kids to their Pop's Mother's, for another
unwrapping and I shall have a quiet Day at home, gorging on left over
ham and xmas frosted cookies. With, perhaps a visit from DSSon.:D
Ta Da!

And may you all have a peaceful day.


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Hey Sally,

I'll be here to keep you company on Christams Day. I'll pass on the ham and cookies. Would you care for some of my festively colored kale green & beet red Christmas smoothie? :D

With love, Erika

Sure I love kale & beets.:D

Sounds like a wonderful couple of days Sally. Will give a lot of memories

ma
 

Finished wrapping and DD & I also finished a bottle of Asti Spumanti.
...woohoo!! Nap time..:Zzzz:.. I was up late trying to clean my Mac,
to speed up my slowing Macbook Air.

That used to be an easy job with Windows and IE, but Apple is a whole
other animal and makes everything hard to do.:mad:

:grouphug:

Sally my SIL is an Apple geek freak. Won't buy anything but. He does help me with my non Apple things but he also says that if I had an Apple I wouldn't have nay trouble. For what it's worth he has had his current laptop since his senior year in seminary which was probably 13 years ago.

From top left to right.....
AJ by my tree - Levi dog - Johnny - Olivia -TCM old movie - Myah - Titus cat in M's Arms.

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Good looking family there Sally. I'm sure you had a good time and glad you got some fur babies in your house for the day

Sally., Thank the photographer! That is an excellent picture!

Love & Chocolate,
ANN ;)

That certainly is a wonderful photo of a wonderful family :)
Hope that you are having a great day Sally :hug:

With love, Erika

OK last pic. I just thought you would like to see how old and decrepid
I have become in the last 8 years. I can't believe it. I look like my
Grandmother. Oh that's DD Julie and her GD and my GGD Eliana.
I can't believe that my baby is a Grandmother.:eek:

EEK chicken neck.!!! Maybe a face lift for my birthday?:eek:

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You're beautiful Sally! No wonder the hunks still do your bidding! :) Your family is beautiful too, they get their looks from you, obviously! ;)

Sally, your daughter is beautiful. She must have got it from you! Aren't grandchildren wonderful.