Christmas Day PWYC

[Lilac]

CONGRATULATIONS to Harriets DD14!

[OKay]

Congrats to Harriet DD!!!!!

Lilac - I have been thinking of your location as being east of me. I'll have to "move" you in my mental map to be north of me.

Wind blowing hard and temps are dropping. It is close to being a total white out. They have changed our forecast from 12 to 6" of snow.

[OKay]

LO didn't receive anything from his parents for Christmas. he did receive a txt from dd this morning saying they would bring him something when the weather cleared. I didn't tell him because they have a poor past record of following through. Maybe I shouldn't shield him. I'll ask his counselor

[helia]

Woohoo!!! Congratulations to Harriet's dd14!! How exciting and wonderful for all!

Turkey has been properly spiced and rubbed and stuffed with goodies (not stuffing; just flavoring) and is happily roasting in the oven. 2 kids have told me it smells good. Turkey mess has been cleaned up. Cranberry sauce has been made and is cooling.

Dd17 likes the hoodie I got for her and she is wearing it now.

We opened our gifts to each other when we celebrated Sinterklaas, but we will open gifts from 2 sets of dfriends today sometime after we eat. I still need to wrap 2 gifts as dfriend in TX had 2 sent directly to us from the stores w/out wrapping.

Yes, Kathryn, good point! Bethlehem likely was not a quiet place at that time. Maybe more quiet at night, one would hope. Our pastor did something similar once, pointing out possible inconsistencies in a Cmas song.

((OK))

Last night, our pastor pointed out the carols from all over the world - and then he pointed out the main caroler of all, God in Zephaniah 3, singing over his people with joy. What an uplifting message! Yes, previous judgment is in that book and in history, but restoration and his singing and delight in his people afterward is affirmed. He left us pondering: how well can we hear that carol?

[Lilac]

While I was in the shower, dd2 called and told dh that she was on her way to town to the ER. Her ex had called and was taking dgd16 there. She was in pain and throwing up. She is the one who just had gall bladder surgery on the 19th. She had been doing fine. Dd2 left the 2 little ones at her in-laws with their dad. Dd2 was in line to fix her plate when she got the call. Please pray for dgd16. Dd2 heard her crying in the background and didn't realize it was her, because she can't remember the last time she heard her cry.

[OKay]

Praying (((Lilac)))

[OKay]

lesson learned...... don't leave LO holding the Kindle Fire unsupervised. he was watching max & ruby on it while I cleaned up kitchen. LO can't read yet so whenever it ask questions he just hits buttons until the words goes away. I just got email notification that he bought a whole season of Looney toon cartoons!

Being confined to house is not my favorite way to spend the day. LO is down for a nap so I need to be quiet. Hum........

[Lilac]

Okay, I am sure you looked like this and this when you read that email.

Still waiting for news. I don't know what to do about our meal. I would cancel but dh acted like it was out of the question and dd1 was waffle-ing.

It is snowing hard now.

I learned a less in the 3rd grade that I carry to this day. I am very flexible on holidays. With dh working shiftwork for 28+ years, it was a necessity. The Christmas that I was in the 3rd grade, dads sister who had 6 kids and they had all been sick, wanted to have Christmas at her house. It was really cold and she didn't want to get the kids out since they had so recently been sick. Dgrandpa brought dgrandma in her nightgown and robe. She was just livid that we couldn't all come to her house. She ended up throwing a hissy fit to end all hissy fits and started having chest pains. They took her to the ER. She didn't have a heart attack but had just worked herself into a frenzy. Let me tell you, I made a vow then and there to never act like that, especially over a blip in holidays plans. The most important thing is that the next day, you still have your loved ones, not whether it all went as planned.

[Kathryn-in-Canada]

Back from singing. It was the best year yet. The Salvation Army has finally started to trust Cheryl (the diner's owner) and is now letting people know that she is open on Christmas Day, offering a free meal to whoever wants one. Since they don't do anything themselves, it makes sense for them to mention her to the people they know might require companionship on Christmas.

The other thing that happened, is that anyone who wanted to volunteer with the Sally Anne on Christmas was referred to Cheryl, so two families of 3 came in to help out making it a busy place (it is a tiny diner with 8 booths, two of which are piled high with desserts on Christmas.) As a result, we had a wonderful time getting to know a Brit and his daughter, and her Kiwi dh. We became fast friends and the Brit was a marvelous singer so we became a trio with him doing all the tenor harmonies, dh on bass and me as melody.

Many, many, happy moments. It really made Christmas for me.

Ds is here and asleep. Dd called while we were out and left a message saying they won't be in until midnight. So she won't be here for Christmas Day after all. On the other hand, this is exactly why I made up a stew for dinner - no worries about timing a meal.

Dfs just called to wish me a Merry Christmas and work out a time to come visit tomorrow. With his fiance's and his parents divorced, plus a foster mom, he has a lot of visiting to do at this time of year!

I'm off for my nap now. In many ways, I need the rest so am not upset that dd will late. I can have a rest, dh can work on making 108 egg rolls and I can get the silver polished at long last - all without having to stop it all to pick up dd.

[OKay]

Kathryn - I'm glad your singing went well and with a new friend too!

Lilac - waiting is hard. (((Hugs)))

I'm walking around the house like a caged wild animal. Pacing. What to do? I've been trying not to do anything since it is Christmas Day.....but I'm going to wear myself out trying not to do something.....so I "give" myself permission to get going.

Going to tackle the first mound of paperwork piled next to this PC. It seems to grow about 3" taller a day and I do NOT have a good handle on getting it processed. I need to figure out what it would take to keep up with paperwork. I suspect it would take 2 hours daily.