Christmas Countdown - 2013

[made582]

TGIF, my Christmas friends!

What a great post from Made, and what a wonderful way to start our march to the beginning of the most wonderful season of all!

It's pretty chilly here in south GA. It was in the low 40's at daylight, but then the wind started blowing...whew! I have another pecan limb down; it obviously fell last night, and barely missed the house. Great. Gotta fire-up the chainsaw again.

I hope to do some hunting this weekend. It sure is nice weather for that!

Y'all have a great day! cheesy

Thanks, friend!!

Glad the limb missed the house and I hope you can get out and do some hunting!!

 

[made582]

Good morning, friends~

Happy Friday!!

Have a wonderful, Christmasy day!!

xx

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Hope you are having a great day at work friend!!!

 

[made582]

Awesome, Awesome, Awesome post Made! So touching!! Thanks for sharing! I am feeling more Christmassy now than ever! You did great! :smile:

Thanks, Holiday!!!!

 

[made582]

Made, you're a strong, brave guy who's had the breaks against you at times, but found the spirit to come back up from the valleys of life. It's an honor to know you. Thank you for sharing your story in your post.

Thanks, MerryCarey!!! That means a lot!!

 

[sugar142286]

Good afternoon, everyone! Hope you're all having a great day! We're headed to look at a new car right now.

I will stop by later!


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[made582]

Made,

Thank you for sharing this with us, and you know something, we wonder as well, "What would we do and where would we be if we didn't have you in our lives as our friend".

I can relate to your struggles my friend, stay strong, believe in a higher power and have faith in yourself, "... remember no man is a failure who has friends..."!

Thanks, Xmastidings!!!

 

[made582]

Good afternoon, everyone! Hope you're all having a great day! We're headed to look at a new car right now.

I will stop by later!


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Hope you love it!!!! Have fun, friend!!!

 

[made582]

They just showed the Rockettes on the Today Show to kick off the Holiday season and the arrival of the Rockefeller Tree. My granddaughter loves the Rockettes so she watched them with me and was very excited. As soon as they started doing the high kick in their routine she said, "Come on, grandma, let's kick"! So we joined arms and kicked away with them. What great fun to "kick" off the Christmas season!

Oh tell me SIT got video of that!!!!! LOL!!!

Glad you two are enjoying yourselves and are filled with the Christmas spirit!!

 

[made582]

Good morming!! HAPPY FRIDAY!!!!
:merry:

I saw a Christmas tree in someones window last night!!!!!! I was so excited!!! That "someone" happens to be our Aunt Eileen!!!
:sparkle:
She puts her tree up early every year & I LOVE IT!!!! Now she has me searching windows to see some more!!! I bet after this weekend more will start popping up!! (I HOPE)

Tomorrow I am meeting my lake neighbor ladies for a "Winter Yuletiede Gathering" ~ shops in this town have thier Holiday open houses. We had so much fun last year. I'm looking fwd to it! We are meeting at 9:15 at the coffee shop. I have about an hour drive to get there, so I need to get my Christmas music ready for the trip!!!! YAY!!!! I'm planning to stop at Joann Fabrics on my way home too - Friends & Family weekend - 25% off total purchase. Woo Hoo!!!

I am off to read Made's special post!! I stopped reading when I got to that so I have something to look fwd too!

Have a great Friday everyone!!!

Sounds like you have a great weekend planned!!! Hope you enjoy it!!!!!

 

[made582]

I forgot to mention but the other day when my 4 year old granddaughter was here I was making us breakfast (eggs and toast). As I was cooking I said, "Wow, I really feel tired". My sweet granddaughter said, "Grandma, you can lay down, I will cook the eggs for us". She just melts my heart! I told her that was a very sweet gesture but I will go ahead and cook them. Not sure it's a good idea to have a 4 year old cooking. :wink: I had her get plates and silverware so she can feel helpful. I told her that was a really big help!

Aww, your grandkids say some of the cutest things!!! My niece would have just slapped you and told you to wake up. LOL!!!

 

[made582]

I just realized that today is my anniversary here! It has been 6 years since I joined this community of Christmas lovers!

Happy Anniversary!!!!!

 

[MerryBells]

Such a beautiful day here; sunny, windy, and 49 degrees. The leaves are falling and there's talk of Thanksgiving in the office. My sister and I were discussing this year's menu (another reason why it's fun to work in the same office as your sister!), and now I'm really hungry! Wouldn't mind some yummy turkey and dressing right now. I guess I'll go home at 2, and finish putting away my mountain of Halloween stuff. Then, I'm seriously considering putting the lights in the windows, just to save time later. Wow! We have cable now, too....how blessed is that? I can hear the Christmas MC channel while I put my lights up! Yay!

 

[MerryCarey]

I like the cat quote!

And I hope you may soon have a day when nothing hurts and you can stay indoors warm and snug, with a "whine" with no H in it.

my head hurts, I don't want to go to work, its cold outside, my foot hurts....
there, I have had my whine today, now I will feel better!

 

[MerryCarey]

Please post a picture of the kitten and his/her name when you can!

TGIF my Christmas friends!!

I hope everyone had a great week.I had a busy week with work and today I am headed to my youngest daughter's school for their Veterans Day Celebration...her class is singing a song.

Then tonight we are going to get a kitten..I have never owned a cat before but my kids have been begging and begging so my hubby and I agreed.

We wrote out Thanksgiving menu last night..I just love this time of year!! I just put on my Christmas music..:grin:

Hope everyone has a great weekend...I really do enjoy this site..such nice people!

 

[made582]

MADE WROTE:
"I couldn't really explain it but for some reason I just liked it here. The people all seemed to be nice and cared for each other. There was no fighting, no arguing, no complaining. It was just a bunch of people who loved Christmas like me."

That says it all about what's so special about this site, Made.
A peaceful island of beauty on the internet.

Thanks again for your heartfelt and touching post.
Great opening message to start the series.

Thank you, Crown!!!! I'm glad that you liked it!!!

 

[HomemakinGirl]

Four and a half years ago I was at a pretty dark spot in my life. I had lost the love of my life. Found another girl that I thought could show me that I was still capable of love only to have her betray me and damage my heart even more. I had a job traveling around as a sales rep. I loved it. There was no co workers to deal with on a daily basis. I only saw my boss 3 times a year. It was just me and that was the way I preferred it. I could run into a store and pretend to be happy while trying to sale the manager whatever new product I had that period or to tell them about the specials going on then go back to my truck and wallow in my own pity. I had pushed almost of all my friends away and the one's I still bothered with, lived out of state. Most of our interaction took place over the computer. So they had no idea that the happy act that I but on every time I talked to them was all a facade. I even hid my depression from my family. I would tell them that I was going out with friends and just go drive around all night so they wouldn't question why I was staying at home so much. I was at a point that I really didn't want to interact with anyone.

Then one day I was sitting at the desktop computer in my bedroom when out of no where I wondered how many days are left to Christmas? I don't remember the exact words I typed into Yahoo that day but as I scrolled through the results I stumbled across mymerrychristmas.com. I clicked on it and was amazed by the site. Not only did it have the countdown to Christmas that I was looking for, it had all kinds of info on Christmas. Now I had always loved Christmas and listened to Christmas music and watched Christmas Movies all year long. I had never really studied Christmas though. So to see all of this info in one place overwhelmed me. I also noticed that the site had a forum. I had read forums before to stay up to date on Nascar and other sports but I had never actively joined in. As I read through the posts that day though, something struck me. I had this overwhelming urge to join. So I listened to it and joined the site. I posted an intro and looked around. I was amazed how active the forum was even in April. Eventually I stumbled upon the Countdown thread. I posted about what was going on in my day and read about everyone else's day. Then I shut the computer down and went to do some other things.

The next day, I was on the computer checking my email, when MMC popped in my mind. So I searched for it again and did some more reading. Then I logged back on the forums and read some more there. Before leaving I once again headed to the countdown thread and posted again. That same scene repeated itself again and again. Finally about a week later I bookmarked the site so I didn't have to keep searching for it. I couldn't really explain it but for some reason I just liked it here. The people all seemed to be nice and cared for each other. There was no fighting, no arguing, no complaining. It was just a bunch of people who loved Christmas like me.

As the weeks passed, my daily visits became 2 or 3 times a day. I found myself replying to other people's posts. Playing the games. Chatting with Coach about Nascar. In a way, I started feeling at home. Which shocked me. I never believed that I could care about people that I had never met. In fact at that point, I wasn't sure that I could ever care about anyone again. I found myself thinking about other member's randomly throughout the day though. Praying for those that needed prayers. Wondering if people who said they were sick, were feeling better. It kinda scared me to tell you the truth. I didn't want to care. I viewed MMC as a way to kill time during the day. I wasn't trying to make friends. I wasn't trying to get to know people. This wasn't part of the plan.

Soon I couldn't deny it anymore though. I did care about all of these people. It was more than that though. I enjoyed hanging out on the site and chatting with them. It made me happy and that happiness was carrying over to my everyday life. All of you were helping me to claw out of the dark hole that I had been stuck in for so long. I wasn't sure how or why but you were and Christmas that year was one of the best that I had had in a long time because of it.

Year's later I can look back and see what was going on. I still loved Christmas but I had lost my Christmas spirit and MMC helped me find it again. In the process, it also helped me find myself again. It showed me that I was still capable of being happy. That there was people who would like me for who I was and not who I was pretending to be. That my heart though broken was not dead. That it was still capable of feeling emotions and of caring. I don't want to be to dramatic about it but in a way MMC saved me. Had fate not caused me to stumble on to this site that day back in April of 2009, I don't know where I would be today.

I'll admit that it's still a struggle some days though. In fact there was a time earlier this year that I really felt myself slipping back to that place again. It just seemed like everything was going wrong in my personal life and all of that emotion was overwhelming me. It was 2 very special friends from here though that realized what was happening and stepped in to pull me out of the downward spiral. For as far as I had come from where I was back in 2009, I still couldn't bring myself to let anyone in. My heart just wasn't ready to trust anyone with those thoughts for fear of them being used against me. Through their persistence though, those fears lessened and I slowly started opening up for the first time in my life. I'm in a much better place today because of it too.

So as we prepare to celebrate this Christmas season, I want to take this chance to thank all of you for the things you do. Not just here in the countdown but also the things that happen behind the scenes that no one will ever know about. Thank you for the kind and caring messages. Thank you for the prayers and get well messages. Thank you for the support in the good times and the bad. Thank you for your selfless acts and for the surprises. It is all of you that make this site so special and I'm honored to call you all my friends.


"The joy of brightening other lives, bearing each others' burdens, easing other's loads and supplanting empty hearts and lives with generous gifts becomes for us the magic of Christmas."- W. C. Jones

Made I was so moved by what you wrote, you did an amazing job!
xo

 

[made582]

Beautifully written, buddy. So proud of you for opening up, your special post is inspirational and clearly from the heart. And you have such a big heart, we are all so lucky that you share it with us each & every day. Thank you for your friendship ��

Love & blessings!!

Xo


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Thank you my friend. I'm truly a better person now that I have you in my life. Your love and support has meant everything to me. Love Ya, Buddy!!!!

 

[made582]

Wow Made! Very nicely written! You are a very dear friend of mine here and like you, I feel very close to a lot of people I visit on here everyday. We are all very happy to have you here!

Wishing you more happy days ahead!

Thanks, friend!!! You've always been there to listen to me vent and I truly appreciate that!!!

 

[made582]

Made I was so moved by what you wrote, you did an amazing job!
xo

Thanks, HMG!!!! xx

 

[HomemakinGirl]

good morning guys...hows everyone today..getting excited yet guys

It's actually good night here in Australia.... but still I'm excited!

Good morning!
Have a nice day guys

Hi Frosty, Virginia and aLESKA :hi: