Christmas Countdown - 2017

[Holiday]

That was the old ones with the round, hissing weight bouncing around on top.

Ok! The electric ones are SUPPOSED to be much safer?!?! Never thought of boiled peanuts in them. Hmmmmm... YUM!

 

[Holiday]

I just heard, RIP Mary Tyler Moore.

So sad!

 

[Holiday]

Everyone, have a wonderful evening!!! This seems so odd - it's the 1st time in ages I can stop at moms on my way home, and then don't have any pressing plans ALL night! Fingers crossed!! xx

See you at the Pines!!!

 

[Bradmac]

Ok! The electric ones are SUPPOSED to be much safer?!?! Never thought of boiled peanuts in them. Hmmmmm... YUM!

My mother-in-law can boil peanuts in a pressure cooker and be done in a short amount of time. I'm too scared of the crazy thing, now!

 

[Christmas-A-Holic]

I was in a similar situation this season, Sheila. Although no where near as bad as cancer. I had to make the toughest decision I've ever had to make in my 43 years of life. I admitted my daughter into the hospital for attempted suicide. Granted it was a call for attention, but still hard to do. This was right before Thanksgiving and needless to say, I didn't eat for 3 days, I was so upset. I was in an all time low and everyone around me knew something was up because I wasn't in my normal Christmas mood. My wife, bless her heart, did all she could to get me to come around and eventually I did. I got better when my daughter came home, although still not completely back to my normal Christmas self. Then my brother, who lives in TN, did something that really upset me. I had started a tradition with my mother, who passed away a year and a half ago, in that I would get her at least 1 Christmas village house every year for Christmas, sometimes more. Well, when she died, I told my brother that he could have her cribbage board (which we would "fight" over when she was alive as to who would get it, it was all in fun) because I had other things that meant a lot to me, being her Christmas things, especially the village, which I got her about 80% of the village. I had taken what I had room for (the pieces that started it all, which is the main pieces I really wanted.) Well, on FB one day I see he had posted pictures of the village pieces, some I hadn't had room for but still would have liked. He didn't talk to me at all about taking them when he was up for my and my niece's weddings. So that put me in a downward spiral again. Yet again, God bless my wife, she did her best to cheer me up. She talked with my sister and between those two and the children, we stared increasing the village we have.

It sounds like you are blessed, like I am, with a spouse and at least one family member that love you so much that they delve into the Christmas Craziness we live in every day to cheer you up and bring at least a little of our Christmas normalcy back to us.

I also have to state that MMC and working on my hours for Tracking Santa also helped me not spiral down into the dark hole that was threatening to help me. I thank the Lord every day for this community and everyone in it. This is a very special community and I am thankful and humbled to be a part of it. I just hope I can give back as much as everyone here has given me.

Stay strong, Sheila, you've got this beat! I believe it with every fiber of my being.

Thank you!

It sounds like your battle has been a tough one and I am glad that family and Christmas brought you through a dark time. Praying your daughter is healing and other situations in your life are getting better. Thanks for sharing your story with me. I have been very fortunate with all my friends, family and church supporting me through all this. I'm going to be fine, that's for sure!

 

[Crown 84]

So sad!

Yep. Mary Tyler Moore was one of my favorites.

 

[HomemakinGirl]

Thanks much, HmG~
Always praying for you guys too ❤
Hugs & love being sent back your way!
xx

You're welcome Snowflake ~
And thank you <3
xo

Good Morning MMC !

and happy Rudolf day to you all !

This also is my moms 86th birthday. She is off at my sisters in Vermont right now. She is an amazing woman who can out walk most teenagers.

I have the day off work so am going shopping with my eldest daughter in Kitchener.

hoping you all have a great day !

Happy Birthday to your mom!

Happy Rudolph Day!! Last night, we got some sad news from our friends. His father died from Alzheimer's, he has been battling it over 10 years and has been in hospice for the last 3 years so I guess you can consider it a blessing. Such a terrible disease. We are going to go to the service on Friday morning.
Just work for me today and my daughter has dance tonight. The weather is supposed to be pretty mild and then colder this weekend.
Hope you all have a great day!

I'm sorry to hear about your friends father, I will send up a prayer.
xx

I was in a similar situation this season, Sheila. Although no where near as bad as cancer. I had to make the toughest decision I've ever had to make in my 43 years of life. I admitted my daughter into the hospital for attempted suicide. Granted it was a call for attention, but still hard to do. This was right before Thanksgiving and needless to say, I didn't eat for 3 days, I was so upset. I was in an all time low and everyone around me knew something was up because I wasn't in my normal Christmas mood. My wife, bless her heart, did all she could to get me to come around and eventually I did. I got better when my daughter came home, although still not completely back to my normal Christmas self. Then my brother, who lives in TN, did something that really upset me. I had started a tradition with my mother, who passed away a year and a half ago, in that I would get her at least 1 Christmas village house every year for Christmas, sometimes more. Well, when she died, I told my brother that he could have her cribbage board (which we would "fight" over when she was alive as to who would get it, it was all in fun) because I had other things that meant a lot to me, being her Christmas things, especially the village, which I got her about 80% of the village. I had taken what I had room for (the pieces that started it all, which is the main pieces I really wanted.) Well, on FB one day I see he had posted pictures of the village pieces, some I hadn't had room for but still would have liked. He didn't talk to me at all about taking them when he was up for my and my niece's weddings. So that put me in a downward spiral again. Yet again, God bless my wife, she did her best to cheer me up. She talked with my sister and between those two and the children, we stared increasing the village we have.

It sounds like you are blessed, like I am, with a spouse and at least one family member that love you so much that they delve into the Christmas Craziness we live in every day to cheer you up and bring at least a little of our Christmas normalcy back to us.

I also have to state that MMC and working on my hours for Tracking Santa also helped me not spiral down into the dark hole that was threatening to help me. I thank the Lord every day for this community and everyone in it. This is a very special community and I am thankful and humbled to be a part of it. I just hope I can give back as much as everyone here has given me.

Stay strong, Sheila, you've got this beat! I believe it with every fiber of my being.

I'm so sorry for everything you and your daughter have been through. I hope this year brings many blessings for you and your family.
xx

 

[xmas365]

Hello all! Been awhile!!!



Thanks so much for the prayers! Bradmac and a few others know the details but I have no idea how much info has been shared on here with others about my health. Had cancer surgery Thursday and the good news that it did not spread to the lymph nodes! I will have to have radiation treatments starting in a few weeks. I must say, I feel pretty darn good for what I have gone through. Everything is going to be just fine!

Thanks to all who have sent messages of support, prayers and love!

So glad to see you!!!
I am happy to hear the surgery went well, and the cancer didn't spread.

You are still in my thoughts.

 

[nmc42088]

Happy Rudolph Day!! Last night, we got some sad news from our friends. His father died from Alzheimer's, he has been battling it over 10 years and has been in hospice for the last 3 years so I guess you can consider it a blessing. Such a terrible disease. We are going to go to the service on Friday morning.
Just work for me today and my daughter has dance tonight. The weather is supposed to be pretty mild and then colder this weekend.
Hope you all have a great day!

So sorry to hear. Alzheimers is terrible. Prayers for he family

 

[xmas365]

Thank you, Brad!
Keeping you and yours in my thoughts and prayers~
Stay warm and safe, friend.

Yay!!!
Snowflake is back!

Great to see you back here!

 

[xmas365]

View attachment 35407

Greetings, MMC!

Hope you're all doing well~

We are doing pretty good, enjoying the winter weather in Northern Wisconsin =]

Things continue to be busy on our end.
We have filled a position at work, but one of my bosses recently had surgery and is out for a few months, so not much slowing down in the future.

Harlowe is still having health issues, fingers crossed she gets relief soon.
We are going to try her dental surgery again next month. A bit worried about that but know it's very important for her.

My FIL is still struggling, but we are grateful for his good days.

Adi has been traveling a lot for work, but he is home now so trying to spend as much time as possible with him before he has to leave again.

I keep in touch and updated through messages & e-mails. You all remain in my thoughts & prayers daily.
Sending hugs!

Peace & blessings ❤

You and your family are in my thoughts.

 

[xmas365]

Good evening,

A very long day off today, the kittens had their appointment to be neutered today. So between dropping them off and picking them up I spent about 4 hours driving 2 round trips. The kittens are in good spirits tonight, maybe even a little stoned from the medication they were given because they are downright goofy.
Back to work in the morning, 3 more days until the first New England Black Wolves home game, we cannot wait to go.
I am heading to bed, my eyelids are getting heavy.

Goodnight, everyone

 

[noodlenoggin]

Noodlenoggin, I see it this way.

Christmas is a wonderful, enjoyable and SPECIAL time that everyone here truly loves. But we also enjoy the anticipation of another Season coming.
Speaking for myself, if I was to leave my Christmas decorations up year round, listen to Christmas music every day and watch Christmas movies continuously, what would there be to look forward to for the next season? The anticipation, which I truly love, would be absent, as would be the special uniqueness.
Taking Christmas down in January and carefully packing it away is the first step toward looking forward to the new season to come and keeping it a special time.
When the holiday things come down, it's very sad for me too. But I tell myself: "There! I've taken the first step to insure a wonderful next Christmas Season to come!"

(Don't know if this will help you feel better, but maybe it can provide another perspective.)

Thanks Crown. Sorry it's taken so long to respond. Was really busy this past week so I haven't even been able to log on.

Anyways, I agree with what your saying. And I'll admit that taking everything down and leaving it behind once and for all for the year certainly brings with it a sense of relief in being able to do and focus on other things. Usually most years I'm able to resign myself to the thought that it will be back sooner than it seems. And with that thought in mind I'm able to move on from it pretty well within those first couple of weeks of January. Especially since like I mentioned before, being such a Halloween fanatic as well, I'd be lying if I said that I wasn't getting the holiday wheels turning inside my head as early as August.

I think one factor this year that lead me to carrying it on so long into January was that it was really hot for most of November where I live (So Cal). It was weird because it was typical Fall weather in Oct, then it suddenly got blistering hot (hotter than it was during summer even) for the first 2-3 weeks of Nov, and it wasn't until Thanksgiving weekend that it then cooled off and started to get wintery. So in that first part of Nov with the heat and everything it just wasn't really conducive to start delving into Christmas just yet, as opposed to in years past where by mid-Nov everything is ablaze with Christmas and I get a whole two months to do it, which includes that early part of January.

But the thing this season was that I know some major changes are coming in my life fairly soon, mainly that I will be entering the military at some point in the year and embarking on some extensive journeys for the foreseeable future. And I know for the most part this past season was the last chance for me to do Christmas and the holidays in the capacity that I'm in now and have been up until this point in my life. Just with life and the ease of being around my family and my dog and the home I grew up in, mentally still feeling more closely linked to how things were when I was growing up than to how things will be in the future. Don't get me wrong, I absolutely look forward to the adventures ahead and eventually establishing a life and home for myself. But for the time being I was just trying to squeeze out whatever last possible remaining moments of Christmas that I could before I had to wrap it all up (no pun intended) once and for all, and before things will change for me to the point where simply going back to the state I'm in now will be impossible. In a good way. And believe me, I can't count my blessings enough for having it this good up to now.

But yea, this past Saturday I woke up early before work and finally took everything down. A bit of comic relief came when I stepped out of my front door with my tree in hand and a neighbor walked by, sort of gave me a bewildered look, and said "Well I guess Christmas is over huh?". It just felt like such a Clark Griswold end of credits type scene. If you've seen the movie you know how much he obsesses over his tree, and it would have totally been an appropriate end of credits scene to then see him finally take it out super late into January and the neighbors just look at him confused. That's the first thing I thought of and it brought some good lightheartedness to it.

Everything is all boxed up at this point. Now all I have that leaves any indication of the holidays are a few glass snow globes and glass mugs sitting on my shelf that I still need to wrap in paper for padding and then box up. Since I barely did it this past Saturday it's still a little weird coming home and not having any lights to plug in. And I'll still reflect on it here and there throughout the day, especially that whole "exactly 1,2,3,4,5 weeks ago at this moment..." thing I do. But I'm not really sad over it anymore.

I got to say though I don't know how I would have done it without MMC. Well, I do know, which is get way more depressed about it than I did. But again, I want to thank all you folks for letting me come on here and lament the way I do. And for supporting me and offering advice and sharing in it. Especially when I know my own issues absolutely pale in comparison to some of the struggles that some of the members on here have faced recently. You all are certainly in my thoughts and prayers. I really feel like I am part of a community here and absolutely appreciate it.

 

[noodlenoggin]

I hope you don't become a stranger here!! Christmas 365!

Nope. I'm here to stay. I really feel like I am a part of this community. And can't thank the members enough for allowing me to be here and for taking in what I have to say. I really feel like MMC has become an integral part of my overall holiday experience now. And it wouldn't be the same without it.

It's just for the foreseeable future that I'm not sure how often I'll be able to log in and comment. Especially once I leave for the military.

Who knows, this may be my only outlet for doing anything Christmassy at certain points depending on where I am and what I'm doing.

But I'll definitely still be here.

 

[Solice]

 

[Edge612]

Happy Thursday! Hope everyone is having a good week so far. I am starting to think about the Superbowl and February and other things in that month like Walking Dead returning and getting a new cell phone (upgrade is available late Feb for me). Lots of good stuff to come in the coming weeks. Most will think I'm crazy for saying this but I honestly feel January has gone faster than December did. I'm not sure why that is and I've never felt this way before but for some reason I feel like we've just rolled right through the majority of January so far. Anyway, another day at work and 1 day closer to the weekend. Have a great Day!

 

[Crown 84]

Good Morning, Friends!

Progressing on, we but turn another page.
And what's written on this one?
Let's check:
Days to the Season: 291
Days to Christmas Day: 333

Well, that's certainly interesting but what else is there?
Words that may shock you!
"The 1/4 Milestone marker to Christmas Season 2017 is now UNDER 2.5 weeks away and closing fast!"
(A shocking message indeed!)



We had a pretty darn good day here yesterday, with plenty of sun, little wind, no precipitation in any form and moderate temperatures. (Really felt rather like Spring!)
However, complacency breeds unpleasant surprises, so we must not let our guard down. Winter is lurking just outside the door!
But for now, we are quite comfortable at 62 degrees here in the capital city as we prepare for one last day of warm weather.


Well, I hope everyone had an exciting visit to the Shispering Pines last night and is ready to have a Thrilling Thursday today!

 

[Edge612]

Good Morning, Friends!

Progressing on, we but turn another page.
And what's written on this one?
Let's check:
Days to the Season: 291
Days to Christmas Day: 333

Well, that's certainly interesting but what else is there?
Words that may shock you!
"The 1/4 Milestone marker to Christmas Season 2017 is now UNDER 2.5 weeks away and closing fast!"
(A shocking message indeed!)



We had a pretty darn good day here yesterday, with plenty of sun, little wind, no precipitation in any form and moderate temperatures. (Really felt rather like Spring!)
However, complacency breeds unpleasant surprises, so we must not let our guard down. Winter is lurking just outside the door!
But for now, we are quite comfortable at 62 degrees here in the capital city as we prepare for one last day of warm weather.


Well, I hope everyone had an exciting visit to the Shispering Pines last night and is ready to have a Thrilling Thursday today!

Thanks Crown! Have a great Thursday!

 

[Holiday]

Good morning MMC! Merry Friday Eve!!!!

Guess what?! It's snowing ~ just flurries, but there are white things floating through the air!!

 

[Holiday]

My mother-in-law can boil peanuts in a pressure cooker and be done in a short amount of time. I'm too scared of the crazy thing, now!

I'm just hungry for boiled peanuts....