Christmas Countdown - 2015

[Holiday]

Special Post Day 3

Christmas is a time for miracles.

It is a time of giving and receiving.

The greatest miracle and gift came in the form of a tiny baby wrapped in a blanket, born in a barn, a dirty smelly barn.
His birth announcement came in the form of a group of angels telling shepherds who were just doing their job looking after the sheep.
These shepherds left their sheep sleeping on the hill and ran into Bethlehem, looking in every stable and barn to see if what they heard was really ture. I am sure they also wondered what they were doing, they left their sheep unprotected, babies aren't born in barns and maybe they were just plain seeing things, too much wine before bed maybe. But they felt compelled to look and soon they found Him just as the angel said !! There really was a baby born in this barn !

Today we still look into a barn to see the baby Jesus and marvel that he came down to earth this way.

This Christmas story has been a part of my life since I was very little. Every Christmas morning Dad would read it to us. I can still hear his deep voice telling it. He had a way of telling a story that left you feeling like you were there too.

So never stop marvelling at miracles or stop giving to others. You will be more blessed than the one who receives.

May the miracle of Christmas, past and present live in your heart forever.

Beautiful special post Star!! Sorry I missed it yesterday but I enjoyed reading it today!!!

 

[HomemakinGirl]

Happy Veterans Day everyone! Merry Pines Day too! Hope you are all off to a good start today!! You all were chatty while I was away yesterday!

We had such a good time shopping. I did a lot of "me" shopping & very little Christmas shopping. We were with 12 neighbor ladies ~ such fun! The lady checking me out at Hobby Lobby was just shaking her head laughing - they had to call up ALL their cashiers when we went to check out (there were other customers too) & she says "I don't know where you all came from!!" LOL! The manager asked if it was Friday after Thanksgiving! Ha ha! I was in awe of all the beautiful Christmas at Hobby Lobby! I need a fatter wallet & a mansion to decorate...I want it all! HA! I came home with probably a dozen bags & I set them all down in front of the couch. Miss Gracie went straight to the bag I had a toy in for her...dug her nose through it & went tearing through the house with her new toy! Merry Christmas Grace!

Back to the grind today!!

Have a Wonderful Wednesday MMC!

I'm glad you enjoyed the shopping, sounds like a super fun day!
Hope you have a Happy Wednesday!

Special Post Day 4

I stumbled upon MMC a few years back by accident. I had wondered if there were others like me, who looked forward to Christmas all year, who listened to the occasional holiday song in July, and who even went “hunting” for seasonal merchandise once Autumn rolled around. I figured there weren’t many. One day I happened to search for “Countdown to Christmas” and came across this special place, Crown’s daily updates, and all of you. I simply “lurked” for a while, checking the countdown several times a week for an update of how long I had to wait for that magical day, and browsing some of the articles Jeff and the others posted. But then something happened: I started to care for people I didn’t know…people I hadn’t even introduced myself to. I started to pray for people who needed prayers and rejoice with people who shared good news. So, I finally decided it was time to introduce myself and I’m glad I did. I’ve made some wonderful friends here who are now part of my daily life and I can’t imagine a year without you all! When my dad was fighting his life-ending battle, you all were there. When the May 2013 tornado devastated my hometown, you all were there. When I celebrated a new job, you all were there for that, too. You’ve been there through good times and bad, because that’s what family does. And it’s been noted before by others, far more eloquently, but it bears stating again: we’re a family.

The Mighty Jay Isherwood once made a comment that in recent years he’s felt that old Christmas Spirit in July more than he has in December. I have to say I agree with that. When the rest of the world has moved on to other things, MMC keeps the spirit alive, putting forth those values associated with Christmas such as love, peace, and goodwill. So, please accept my heartfelt thanks. Crown, your service to us means so much as you provide joy each day with your countdown. Thank you for what you do! Christmas Crew, MerryCarey, Brent, and so many others who give of their time and efforts to make this happen, Thank you! And of course, thank you to the one and only Made who I have relied on so many times for technical support, as well as friendship. And thank you to you all for being here and being a family. There’s not another bunch in the whole world I’d rather share Christmas, or Christmas in March, July, or September with, than you all. Merry Christmas.

Beautiful post Ryan! Merry Christmas and best wishes to your family this season and always!

Have fun running your errands and visiting with your parents, HMG!!!

Thank you so much Made!
Sending hugs & prayers ~
Hope you have a nice day!

 

[MsRose]

Beautiful and heartfelt. You eloquently put our feelings into words.
Thank you for your friendship. MERRY CHRISTMAS!!

Thank you to Ryan what a beautiful special post!!
For some reason I couldn't find the original post, so I just hijacked snowflakes comment to you. LOL

 

[MerryCarey]

Sorry to hear that Merry! I hope there is an affordable way you can keep your dentist!

Thank you!
I talked to a dental office yesterday that is VERY highly recommended by a friend of ours. They at least take the new insurance on an out-of-network basis, which is more than our current office does. And they treated me with the consideration they would give an established patient, asking me to get back in touch when we get our new insurance cards so they can estimate what our pending dental work would cost. So I'm feeling better about that. It'll still be expensive, but at least we'll have SOME coverage. And it's not far from our current dentist, so that's another plus.

 

[Christmasstar]

Today is remembrance day in Canada (same as your Veterans day)
We remember what those before us sacrificed so that we could live the life we have today.
For those past and present who gave so much just saying thank you does not seem like enough.
But we do thank you with all our heart!

 

[snowflake22]

Thank you!
I talked to a dental office yesterday that is VERY highly recommended by a friend of ours. They at least take the new insurance on an out-of-network basis, which is more than our current office does. And they treated me with the consideration they would give an established patient, asking me to get back in touch when we get our new insurance cards so they can estimate what our pending dental work would cost. So I'm feeling better about that. It'll still be expensive, but at least we'll have SOME coverage. And it's not far from our current dentist, so that's another plus.

That is great news, Merry. Praying it all works out well for you and Mr.

 

[Holiday]

Good Tuesday morning MMC! It's currently 52 degrees under cloudy skies. We are expecting a forecast high temperature of 59 degrees with some showers. No amount of rain showers can dampen my spirits though with the Christmas season coming this Friday.
I won my football pool at work for a 2nd time this year. I won $52 (that's the weekly payout) so $104 for the year. There's 30 people in it and only 17 weeks so odds are basically only 50/50 you win even once. Pretty cool that I won twice. Maybe I'll bring in something on Thanksgiving Eve for the office like some donuts or goodies. I think that my mom is going to pick out the turkey today for Thanksgiving. That just gets me excited.
I hope you all have a great Tuesday as we approach D-Day. Talk to you guys later!

Congrats on the win!!
Hope your mom found a yummy turkey! Exciting!!!!

 

[Holiday]

Congrats on the office football wins!

Picking out the turkey is exciting!
I'm sure you're extra excited to have your brother here for an extended time.

I've been menu planning, and talking to my family about Thanksgiving day.
It will be the last time I see my parents for about 5 months-I will miss them!

Have a great day!

Awe ~ You won't get to see them over Christmas?? (((Hugs)))

 

[Holiday]

Good morning MMC!
Merry Tuesday!
I hope everyone has a wonderful day ♥

View attachment 15731

CUTE picture!

 

[MerryCarey]

That is great news, Merry. Praying it all works out well for you and Mr.

Thank you!

 

[Holiday]

Good Morning, MMC!!! It's a chilly morning here but we should reach the mid 50's this afternoon. I have a few errands to run this morning and then it will be back home to do some work around the apartment. I had said about a month ago that they were going to try and take my niece off of her infusions for the arthritis. Well they cut her dose way back this month to try and work down to stopping them in January. It didn't work out so well. She flaired immediately and can barely walk. So she goes back in today for another small infusion to get her back to the dose she was at. They aren't sure if they will try again or not yet. My nephew also broke his finger and gets to get his cast off today. So he is happy. Well I think that's the latest here. I hope everyone has a GREAT DAY!!!!!!

So nice to see you made! I wish your niece would have had better results! Continued prayers for her. Poor girl!

Thanks, Festive!! It is hard. They were really hoping they could give her body a break from the meds. They are pretty harsh. One of the things she takes weekly is a low dose chemotherapy pill that destroys her immune system and makes her get sick at the drop of a hat. The other meds have some pretty nasty side effects too.

Mom is holding on okay. She has way more bad days then good days but we haven't had a real bad episode in awhile now. We just had a check up with her neurologist yesterday and he said he just doesn't know what else to do for her.

Hope you have a wonderful day too!!

Continued prayers for your Mom as well! Wishing her more GOOD days!!! (((Hugs))) to you!

 

[Christmasstar]

Good Wednesday morning, my Christmas friends!

And thanks to Ryan for a wonderful Special Post!

The sun is trying to peek out, so I'm feeling better. We had vendors at the plant yesterday who brought along management from their parent company in Italy. We had a lot of fun talking about the food they are used to vs. the American-ized Italian food available here. LOL

Snowflake, I hope you get good news from Harlowe's tests!

I hope y'all have a great day!

I like giving tours to others, have not been working in a place for years where I can do that, but it was great to meet others and talk about important stuff like food ! LOL

 

[Holiday]

quiet morning here, doing some cleaning. Started a batch of French onion soup, a very tear filled job but so worth it when done! Right now the whole house is starting to smell like onion dip.
Getting rain this afternoon and I still have to do some shopping. Waiting till after lunch to go.
Also doing my exercises for my arm which is finally starting to feel better.

Now I'm hungry! Glad your arm is starting to feel better!!! Continued prayers!

 

[Holiday]

K.G. - enjoy the time with your sweet baby!!

 

[snowflake22]

Awe ~ You won't get to see them over Christmas?? (((Hugs)))

Thank You for the hugs!

Nope, they will be in AZ this year. Their condo was only available if they would swing 4 months, and December being the first one.
They are excited, so I'm happy for them. I will definitely miss them, though.
We are celebrating Christmas over Thanksgiving, too

 

[Christmasstar]

Happy Pines Day, MMC!!! It was great to be able to reply to so many posts this morning. I miss being able to do that everyday. I'm heading back inside now though because it's a little chilly out here on this bench. Lol!! I hope everyone is having a GREAT DAY!!!!!

do you have a library ? Ours has free wifi and you can bring your own laptop or other device in and hook up during open hours. When we did not have it here wee would head down there often to use it. It might be warmer.

 

[Christmasstar]

Thanks to our veterans!

 

[snowflake22]

I just received EXCELLENT NEWS about my sweet girl!
Her lab work came back clean and all normal values. I am so relieved!! God is good!
Thank you all for your thoughts and prayers for Harlowe. They have meant a lot to us.

So, we will continue with the antibiotics until they are gone, and go from there.
I guess there was a small amount of bacteria that could have hinted at the beginning of an infection on her Urinalysis test.

If it isn't that, it could be a physical issue that some female dogs have when they hit middle age. In that case, her vet would prescribe a medication to help her.

Thank you again~God bless!

 

[Christmasstar]

I just received EXCELLENT NEWS about my sweet girl!
Her lab work came back clean and all normal values. I am so relieved!! God is good!
Thank you all for your thoughts and prayers for Harlowe. They have meant a lot to us.

So, we will continue with the antibiotics until they are gone, and go from there.
I guess there was a small amount of bacteria that could have hinted at the beginning of an infection on her Urinalysis test.

If it isn't that, it could be a physical issue that some female dogs have when they hit middle age. In that case, her vet would prescribe a medication to help her.

Thank you again~God bless!

awesome !!!!

 

[Bradmac]

I just received EXCELLENT NEWS about my sweet girl!
Her lab work came back clean and all normal values. I am so relieved!! God is good!
Thank you all for your thoughts and prayers for Harlowe. They have meant a lot to us.

So, we will continue with the antibiotics until they are gone, and go from there.
I guess there was a small amount of bacteria that could have hinted at the beginning of an infection on her Urinalysis test.

If it isn't that, it could be a physical issue that some female dogs have when they hit middle age. In that case, her vet would prescribe a medication to help her.

Thank you again~God bless!

I'm so happy for you!!

God is good!

All the time!