Christmas Countdown - 2018

[AuntieMistletoeDear]

View attachment 41937 It's snowing in Bellville!

Around these parts; that's consider a bit of a spit. Hope it's not too slippery.

 

[Meceka]

Bradmac, MerryCarey, HmG, Snowflakemom, and everyone else in the path of the storms, be safe!

Merry Wednesday and Happy Pines Day!

It is warmer out at the moment, but the wind chill will be back tonight. The weather forecast for today called for light snow, no accumulation. There is over an inch out there already and it is still coming down. The last time the forecast called for occasional snow flurries, we ended up with over 4 inches. It is pretty as it is falling and coating the trees and shrubs. We really haven't had all that much snow so far this winter season, so it's all good.

Enjoyed all the posts about visiting relatives. In one of the last dreams I can remember, my dad was looking like his much younger self and he gave me a hug and told me not to worry. It was so nice to see him!

I have to get back to my paperwork.

Be safe and merry!

 

[sugarmuffin25]

I'm so glad you were able to spend New Year's Eve with your parents and was able to celebrate with your dad! Your father and you and your family will be in my prayers for a happy and healthier 2018, sugarmuffin.
Stay warm, too!

Thank you so much!!

 

[Solice]

Happy New Year friends!
Hope to see more of you this year ♡

 

[Holiday]

Good morning MMC ~
Happy Tuesday!
It’s going to be sunny with a high of 24, we’re currently at 14 degrees. Not too much going on here, my husband heads back to work today after being off for a week. I am still fighting this cold, hopefully I’ll find some time to relax now that we’re back to our regular routines.
I hope everyone is well and has a wonderful day!
xx

I hope you are feeling better today!! xx

 

[Holiday]

Greetings all. The holidays are over and 2018 really kicks into gear. There may be quite a few changes in my household over the next few months, but I will take them one at a time if and when they occur. For now, it is time to relax and look towards all the positive happenings that can be found if I just take the time to really look. And since God and I (as well as the Lord and anyone else) constitute a majority, I'll be just fine.
Have a great first week of January...
View attachment 41911

I hope the changes bring much happiness to all! Happy New Year GCY!

 

[Holiday]

Greetings my merry friends

Well, I'm off to get my haircut and pick up a fancy donation basket/well (for the Serenity Hospice) that will be provided for any family and friends who join my family and I as we celebrate the life of my Christmas Spark.

My mom passed away last Wednesday at 3 p.m. with my father and I present.

I shared with you in the previous countdown thread that I had a strong feeling she was celebrating her last Christmas with us. And she did.

I've been experiencing a mixture of emotions since then, but managed to get through my New Year's Day chat with my dad without any choked up words; he accomplished the same.

My brothers return this Thursday so we can finish our preparations for her memorial gathering on Friday evening.

I am thankful that we shared one last Christmas together and face the New Year with a loss of life, yet a positive attitude and so glad I was there when she exited knowing she was loved and that she doesn't have to suffer anymore.

If it wasn't for her and my father instilling a love and merry fellowship in me as a child and young adult, I may never have become a Christmas Wacko.

I'm thankful for those memories because that trail of believing in celebrating the joys of Christmas year round brought me here to my merry haven.

Festive Regards,
Auntie M.

Awe AMD, I am so sorry for your loss! I'll keep you & your family in my prayers. I hope you have a nice visit with your brothers. (((HUGS)))

 

[Holiday]

Well there are (a minimum of) 2 good things that have happened today.
#1 - It's snowing!

#2 - I just put my name on the calendar to be off between the holidays again!

 

[Holiday]

Hello everyone! I haven't had a chance to pop in and wish everyone a Happy New Year! My husband and I spent new years eve with my parents. There is no place I would have rather been! We have done that the past three years or so. We order good food and sit at the table and play cards. This year was very special because my father is very ill so I wanted to make sure we were there. He wasn't able to make it out of bed to play cards, but he knew we were there and when the clock struck midnight we went into his room and celebrated with him. I'm very nervous about what this year will bring with him so I am so grateful we made it to see them. I want to wish everyone a happy and healthy 2018! It is about 5 degrees here and just absolutely painful to be outside. Hope everyone stays warm!!

Sending (((HUGS))) & prayers to you & your family! It's tough to watch a parent struggle.

 

[Holiday]

I managed to score me 6 qts of Eggnog at the store..thats all there is until fall now. Gotta ration em out to 1 per month...at least I can freeze a stash now.its a sad sight when the Nog dries up folks. This is going to be a long year....very long....

You might have to make some homemade for Christmas in July!!!

 

[Holiday]

Well, I guess yesterday was the last of the official holidays. Now begins that weird couple of weeks where I actually try harder to do more Christmassy things than I did during December in an effort to keep the spirit going as long as I can. I typically consider the "official" season to continue through the first Sunday of January anyway, even when New Years Day falls early in the week like it did this year. But regardless, I'm definitely at that point now where it's tough to fend off those Post Christmas Blues. I was doing pretty good up until this morning. Even after Christmas Day I didn't get too depressed and just took comfort in the post-Christmas/pre-New Years week. Had a fun nostalgic holiday centric New Years Eve/Day. Went to bed last night figuring I'd keep the momentum going and just move on. Then woke up this morning and it suddenly hit me, and I thought, oh my god, it's over. Panicked a little. And then figured no way, it's too soon. So here I am back in my little holiday corner. At the moment I'm watching Elf and drinking some eggnog with my decorations still on display. Everything is in full holiday mode here! I'll definitely be posting some of my post holiday thoughts in the coming days.

Happy New Year Everyone!

I try to do something Christmassy every day all through the really cold months!! I have a lot of Christmas DVD's I didn't get to watch this year. I may start on them tonight! My Christmas decs will stay up for sure until Jan 8th & they may stay up all of January!
Merry on...

 

[Holiday]

You're a gem, Auntie. You have such vision.

It'll be three years this Easter that I lost my Mom. But I tell you, I've never been closer to her. I have had MANY experiences the past couple of years -- including one this past week I want to tell you about.

Usually I can make connections when these things happen. The first time it happened was about six months after Mom passed. I was working on genealogy and I found a mistake she made some 20+ years ago. I discovered that baby Francis born in 1864 was not a girl but was actually a boy. He resurfaced years later as Frank.

I think I have more records available to me now than Mom did then, so it was an innocent enough of a mistake. But I'm the keeper of the family records and I not only cherish the great work my Mother did I guard it for the sacred thing that it is. So I felt a little funny changing something she had done.

I sat there for a few moments, contemplating all that, thinking to myself, "Mom, I swear I'll explain to this you..." when I felt a wave of comfort flow through me and a warmth that is hard to explain. Then right there at my desk I had a sense that Mom was standing right behind me. It was as real as could be and having never experienced anything like that before it startled me.

Months later I had a friend over at the house and we were in my living room having a discussion. At one point he stopped talking and seemed to be obsessed at something going on outside a window on the far side of the room. He said, "I'm sorry and don't freak out, but you have a spirit visitor".

I am not gifted spiritually in these ways. I saw and sensed absolutely nothing and this friend of mine knew that I could not see what he saw. He said, "Don't worry, this is a good spirit. This is someone who knows you, in fact, this is someone who loves you deeply."

Without hesitation I said, "That would be my mother." He looked at me a minute and he said, "I'm not sure." He was sitting right under her picture and I pointed up over his head and told him, "That's her. That is what she looks like." As he was turning around he said, "I can't see details, just kind of vague shapes..." but just then he gasped and he said, "It's your Mom."

I think of Mom, of course, all the time. Especially on big days like Christmas. Last week when I was working so hard and getting just a few hours of sleep here or there my wife chided me one night that I was killing myself. I was dozing off when she said this to me and I had a dream and talked with my Mother. She looked wonderful. I had no idea where we were but she told me basically the same thing Sandy did, only in a little different way. But I couldn't get over how great she looked and how happy she seemed.

I woke up after just two hours and sleep but before I came back into my office here I told Sandy about it. She laughed and joked that she made a pact with Mom to gang up on me.

Three days later my daughter told us about being pregnant and I finally got a chance to talk to her alone about it. After being on the phone for more than an hour Aubree said to me, "Dad, did I tell you about my dream? Nana came to me and told me she loved me and was proud of me for all that I had been through. But Dad --- I could NOT believe how good Nana looked! She was healthy, so was so very happy." Then she went on to describe where the dream was set, and it was identical to my dream earlier in the week.

I don't know how these things all work, Auntie. But I tell you this with all sincerity. Your Mama is still your Mama...and she will continue to be close to you. You, of the golden heart, are too full of love for a mother to resist, even when she has gone to the other side.

Bless you both! And your family too. Make it a GRAND celebration!

What a great story! Thanks for sharing! ♥

 

[Holiday]

I believe in you Jeff about all of this. When my grandmother passed away, (she was a mom to me), I loved her deeply, I was the last one to see and talk to her, before she passed away. A few nights after she had passed, I was in this place where I was resting, not fully asleep, but like sort of in between, being awake and asleep. And in that moment, my grandmother came to me. She was very beautiful, happy, healthy and glowing like a very beautiful person! She spoke to me and said to me, “David, if you believe in Jesus, you will surely go to heaven”! That was about 20 years ago. Then last month, I was dreaming again, this time, in my dream, I was in my grandparents house once more, I turned and I saw the back of my grandmother leaving the room that I was standing in and I called out to her and followed her. As I got in the adjacent room, she turned around, looked at me, smiling. I walked over to her and her to me, and I hugged her tightly and told her I loved her and missed her so much. She said to me, “David, I am here because you only have 5 more years left. You need to make the best out of those five years, before it is too late! I awoke, and thought oh man, that really stinks.

Soooooo, I will hope for the best and yet prepare for the worst. Why, because I believe in Jesus, his word and I believe in my grandmother, and her word. Neither one has ever lied to me.....

Yes, it may sound a little freaky, and some may think this is weird, but it is true. Maybe, it was just a dream, the mind has a way about it, creating things as we sleep and dream. But, was it really, just a dream or a loving message????

That makes me want to say - I hope it was a dream!! xx

 

[Holiday]

6 trees and 50 Santa's packed away. Its so dark and bare looking now.....

 

[Holiday]

Well, I didn't get all caught up, but only a few more pages.

Everyone, have a great evening. See you at the Pines.

BRRRRR, It's cold out there!!!

 

[noodlenoggin]

It's always such a trip to me how differently a day or week feels during the season versus right after it. A few weeks ago, on any given day, just waking up, walking about your home, interacting with family or friends, going out to do things, cooking basic average meals, even watching a non-Christmassy movie or TV show like you would normally...when those things happen on any given day during the season it just has a totally different feel to it and holds such a greater significance than it would if you did those things any other time of year. Even the weather has its own distinct quality during the season that you can pick up on, even when the weather might be the same at a different time of the year. It's really almost like there's a physical element added to the day when the season is upon us. Where you wouldn't have to have any other indication that it's the holidays, but for some reason, you can just feel it. You can feel that it's these certain set of days that are set apart from all the rest. Now, that time frame can vary from person to person. Some might consider that set of days to be just that, a set of days and no more. While others, like many here on MMC, can genuinely embrace it for several months out of the year. But regardless of how long you consider the official season to be, there's no denying that each day actually feels different when it's here. And getting back to my original point, it just never ceases to amaze me, that even just going about my day to day mundane tasks today, I'm simply reminded and remembering having done the exact same things for equally unimportant reasons just a few weeks ago. Why doing those very same things a few weeks ago means so much more to me than having done it today (or any other time of year) I think really just illustrates how important the holidays are each and every moment we experience them. Am I making any sense?

It's still so close to just having been the last official holiday of the season a couple of days ago, heck, for that matter, Christmas Day being barely a little over a week ago, that I'm just going to hold onto that sense of it still being the holiday season for a little bit longer.

 

[noodlenoggin]

I try to do something Christmassy every day all through the really cold months!! I have a lot of Christmas DVD's I didn't get to watch this year. I may start on them tonight! My Christmas decs will stay up for sure until Jan 8th & they may stay up all of January!
Merry on...

Definitely. Decorations always stay up at least through the first week of January, sometimes longer depending on different factors each year. And I usually try to do something Christmassy every day through at least all of January. Even when it gets towards the end of the month I'll at least put a DVR recording from December on as background while I do something else. January is definitely good for an entire post holiday season month.

 

[MerryCarey]

We’re all battened down for the big snow/wind/cold event tomorrow... we’ll both be working from home, thank goodness. Hope we won’t lose power, as temps are to drop into the single digits following the storm. They’re expecting temps to break records this weekend. Mr. stopped at the store for a few things, but the bread and milk shelves were practically empty. At least folks are taking it seriously and preparing just in case.

 

[Christmasstar]

Schools were supposed to start back tomorrow. First, we got the call that they would be on a two hour delay because of the wind chills. Then, on my lunch hour, we got the call that school is cancelled for tomorrow & Friday because of wind chill & "possible snow". They get nine "snow days" & now they've burned two of them. I understand because of the poor kids standing in the dark & cold to catch the buses. DD likes school, but she did a little happy dance when I told her no school until Monday!

Back to work for me today. DH went back tomorrow & had to work late for an emergency. He said if yesterday is an indication of the year to come, "just shoot me now"...;

Everything at home is back to normal. Now I'm ready to make camping reservations for Easter weekend & look forward to our summer Walt Disney World vacation!

Our schools don’t start till Monday that’s just part of their schedule.
Sounds like you have a great summer coming !

 

[Kristian Jennings]

** OFFICIAL THREAD - CHRISTMAS COUNTDOWN 2018 **


Greetings, Folks!
For the 12th consecutive year here at My Merry Christmas (and the 15th year overall) it is time once again to begin another Countdown!

Here are the statistics since we began the Season Countdown idea 14 years ago:
2004 = 1,217 posts (Christmas.com) = 3.3 posts per day.
2005 = Over 2,700 posts (Christmas.com) = over 7.4 posts per day.
2006 = 3,756 posts (The Christmas Place) = 10.3 posts per day.
2007 = 1,957 posts (My Merry Christmas, where the thread was not launched until July) = 12.1 posts per day.
2008 = 5,103 posts = 13.9 posts per day.
2009 = 8,231 posts = 22.6 posts per day.
2010 = 16,226 posts = 44.5 posts per day.
2011 = 31,091 posts = 85.2 posts per day.
2012 = 39,183 posts = 107.1 posts per day.
2013 = 59,747 posts = 163.7 posts per day.
2014 = 63,096 posts = 172.9 posts per day.
2015 = 56,859 posts = 155.8 posts per day.
2016 = 58,288 posts = 159.3 posts per day.
2017 = 18,081 posts = 49.5 posts per day.
Interestingly, we had a huge drop off in 2017. Not sure why, but the quality of our posts is still quite high. And that's more important than volume any day!

So, here we are ready to go again, at the start of 2018.


A word of explanation. We are running a dual countdown in this thread - one for Christmas Day and one for the start of the Christmas Season (November 13).
There seems to be general agreement that we look forward to the entire Christmas Season rather than just to Christmas Day itself.
But why November 13?
Well, it just seems about the right time to regard the season as arriving. That date is exactly 6 weeks before Christmas Day and is around the time the public at large is beginning to really get into the holiday spirit. Many of the malls and stores have decorated. And starting the season then gives us exactly 50 days (Nov 13 through Jan 1) to enjoy being "within" the season, giving it a depth that is lacking with just the Christmas Day count by itself.

We also enjoy noting special "Milestones" along the way (see the chart below).

And there is one date you CERTAINLY do not want to miss! Many of us gather here on the evening of November 12 for our annual hour by hour and then minute by minute countdown to the start of the Season at midnight Eastern Time. It's something we really look forward to and is truly great fun!

OK then, Everybody.
Climb aboard once again to enjoy reading the posts and following the count, which begins today at 316 to the Season and 358 to Christmas Day.

Here is a list of our Christmas Season and Christmas Day countdown milestone markers:

CHRISTMAS SEASON MILESTONE MARKER CHART
January 17 = Day 300
February 12 = 1/4 mark
March 15 = 1/3 mark
April 27 = Day 200
May 15 = 1/2 mark
July 14 = 2/3 mark
August 05 = Day 100
August 14 = 3/4 mark
October 07 = 90 percent (The Home Stretch begins)
November 13 = THE CHRISTMAS SEASON ARRIVES!

CHRISTMAS DAY MILESTONE MARKER CHART
February 28 = Day 300
March 26 = 1/4 mark
April 26 = 1/3 mark
June 8 = Day 200
June 26 = 1/2 mark
August 25 = 2/3 mark
Sept 16 = Day 100
Sept 25 = 3/4 mark
Nov 18 = 90 percent
December 25 = MERRY CHRISTMAS!


- CROWN

** OFFICIAL THREAD - CHRISTMAS COUNTDOWN 2018 **


Greetings, Folks!
For the 12th consecutive year here at My Merry Christmas (and the 15th year overall) it is time once again to begin another Countdown!

Here are the statistics since we began the Season Countdown idea 14 years ago:
2004 = 1,217 posts (Christmas.com) = 3.3 posts per day.
2005 = Over 2,700 posts (Christmas.com) = over 7.4 posts per day.
2006 = 3,756 posts (The Christmas Place) = 10.3 posts per day.
2007 = 1,957 posts (My Merry Christmas, where the thread was not launched until July) = 12.1 posts per day.
2008 = 5,103 posts = 13.9 posts per day.
2009 = 8,231 posts = 22.6 posts per day.
2010 = 16,226 posts = 44.5 posts per day.
2011 = 31,091 posts = 85.2 posts per day.
2012 = 39,183 posts = 107.1 posts per day.
2013 = 59,747 posts = 163.7 posts per day.
2014 = 63,096 posts = 172.9 posts per day.
2015 = 56,859 posts = 155.8 posts per day.
2016 = 58,288 posts = 159.3 posts per day.
2017 = 18,081 posts = 49.5 posts per day.
Interestingly, we had a huge drop off in 2017. Not sure why, but the quality of our posts is still quite high. And that's more important than volume any day!

So, here we are ready to go again, at the start of 2018.


A word of explanation. We are running a dual countdown in this thread - one for Christmas Day and one for the start of the Christmas Season (November 13).
There seems to be general agreement that we look forward to the entire Christmas Season rather than just to Christmas Day itself.
But why November 13?
Well, it just seems about the right time to regard the season as arriving. That date is exactly 6 weeks before Christmas Day and is around the time the public at large is beginning to really get into the holiday spirit. Many of the malls and stores have decorated. And starting the season then gives us exactly 50 days (Nov 13 through Jan 1) to enjoy being "within" the season, giving it a depth that is lacking with just the Christmas Day count by itself.

We also enjoy noting special "Milestones" along the way (see the chart below).

And there is one date you CERTAINLY do not want to miss! Many of us gather here on the evening of November 12 for our annual hour by hour and then minute by minute countdown to the start of the Season at midnight Eastern Time. It's something we really look forward to and is truly great fun!

OK then, Everybody.
Climb aboard once again to enjoy reading the posts and following the count, which begins today at 316 to the Season and 358 to Christmas Day.

Here is a list of our Christmas Season and Christmas Day countdown milestone markers:

CHRISTMAS SEASON MILESTONE MARKER CHART
January 17 = Day 300
February 12 = 1/4 mark
March 15 = 1/3 mark
April 27 = Day 200
May 15 = 1/2 mark
July 14 = 2/3 mark
August 05 = Day 100
August 14 = 3/4 mark
October 07 = 90 percent (The Home Stretch begins)
November 13 = THE CHRISTMAS SEASON ARRIVES!

CHRISTMAS DAY MILESTONE MARKER CHART
February 28 = Day 300
March 26 = 1/4 mark
April 26 = 1/3 mark
June 8 = Day 200
June 26 = 1/2 mark
August 25 = 2/3 mark
Sept 16 = Day 100
Sept 25 = 3/4 mark
Nov 18 = 90 percent
December 25 = MERRY CHRISTMAS!


- CROWN

YAY! 355 more days to go!