OT December Chit Chat

[Lazarus]

I wish a sweet and happy day to everyone...step away to get a wider view of this wonderful place called earth and you will see all the beauty. It is truly amazing.

[agate]

Good point, Linda. When I turn on the TV and am treated to a view of some interesting place somewhere in the world, I marvel at how wonderful it is to be able to see such things and not just look at the same old four walls. I go back to the era before TV. I was in my teens when I first saw TV, and of course it was only in black and white for many years.

Or I can look outside my window and see birds and squirrels going about their very busy lives. Occasional cats still wander through, some looking in various stages of disrepair but some of them look very well tended, actually. They're just on the prowl, checking out the neighborhood.

And somewhere the citizens of Catterville are enjoying their lives since Catdancer has told us about them.

[Virginia]

Happy Christmas Day to all my friends on BT!

Jeanie, please let others do and take it easy on your body. Ibuprofen use to be my friend, but always makes me sick now. I hope you have a good day today after maybe a little rest yesterday.

Nuthatch, I agree that it is a shame that your children live so far apart. At least you have Christmas to look forward to in January. It really doesn't matter when it is, as you and others on here know it the spirit of Christmas that we are suppose to celebrate anyway.

Agate, I hope your day is a good one. I am glad that you got to see your son and daughter-in-law and the little one. Nineteen pounds is a lot. Don't feel too bad about not being able to easily pick him up.

I went to brother's last night, but did not drive. My young, 6'2" already powerful nephew, who then gets up early in the morning and goes to the gem to exercise, called and hardly even asked, just told me that he was going to pick me up. He lives on this side of town. He drives a BIG truck and I assured him that I could not get in or out of that truck. He just as quickly told me that he could get me in and out of the truck. He gave me no choice, and I thought well as strong as he is I am not going to argue with him. So Howie I got to ride in a Ford F-450 truck. It had seats that massage, heat and all the good stuff.

Everyone that was suppose to come was there, so there were 13 of us. My SIL had decorated that new house beautifully and fixed lots of food. Another SIL helped some and a Niece-In-Law brought two dishes. I overate and then brought a plate home for tonight. So I am looking forward to dinner tonight.

We put our gifts in a pile and drew numbers (not expensive gifts - price was set at around the $25 mark). I was amazed at what some of the people came up with. Everyone seem to enjoy it. We could either open a gift when our number came up or take someone else's. We were allowed to steal three times and after that the gift was frozen. There was a lot of jumping up and taking a gift from someone else and everyone was laughing and having a good time.

Today, I am home and glad to be in. I am trying to go on with a little work. I am washing and changing linens, and a few other things that I normally do on Tuesdays.

Agate, my little humidifier came yesterday just before my nephew picked me up, so I naturally had to get it set up. It was a little after 10 last night when I got home, but I read the directions and put it in my bedroom. It did fine, but I think I will possibly turn it a little more toward me. I have a fairly large bedroom and the door to the hall was open, so the space may be a little too much.

I will work with it to see what I think. It is easy and simple and I like it. Funny, my gift at our Christmas was a Cool Mist Ultrasonic Aroma Diffuser along with 4 bottles of essential oils. You are suppose to put a few drops in the water and it will supposedly make the house smell good. The only thing is that when I read at home it said pregnant women and people with medical conditions should not use the oils. So, I am not sure if that would include MS. It too, is easy and simple to use.

I hope everyone of you have a great day. I have been thinking about Cat and how brave she is to take on entertaining over the Holidays. I hope she is having a wonderful time and that it will not be too much for her.

[Howie]

I just ate the meal my nephew brought me. It was an Italian meal, spaghetti with these huge meatballs, and bread, and a pasta salad. I couldn't eat but half of it, so I covered it and put it in the fridge for tomorrow. It was delicious.

There was a dessert too, but I couldn't even think about having that now, I'm stuffed!

[Cherie]

We went to younger daughter's church yesterday afternoon for the Christmas pageant that the two youngest grands were in. Back to her place for supper before heading home last evening. A Widowed 82 year old friend came over early afternoon for dinner then a couple hours after she left, Heather showed up with the boys. Kristof serenaded us with the violin and my 12 string guitar while I got badly beaten at Monopoly by Gregory. All is now quiet. We will celebrate Christmas with both girls and their families next Sunday (30th).

We started reading Becoming by Michelle Obama yesterday and are a full 5 chapters into it. She has made it to her senior year in high school so far and is a rich and endearing story teller.

I hope and pray everyone had a lovely day. Remember...Christmas officially goes till January 13th by the Church calendar so you still have plenty of time to celebrate if you missed out today or still have more Christmas Spirit to be enjoyed.

[Virginia]

Cherie, glad you enjoyed Christmas Eve with your daughter and two grandchildren. Also today with friend and more family. How old is Gregory? He must be smart to beat you at Monopoly. Now you have next Sunday to look forward to.

I thoroughly enjoyed Michelle Obama's book and I am glad you have the chance to read it.

[stillstANNding]

It’s good to see the BT forum is here tonight.

I’m glad you didn’t drive, Virginia. I was concerned especially about the long drive home. I’m glad you were well fed. Those kinds of gift games are called a Yankee Swap up here. Because of the stealing and trading, Peter ended up with a Lindt bar and a Buble Christmas CD.

We are safely in Western Pennsylvania tonight. Mom is good and I am holding up pretty well.
ANN

[Virginia]

I would have stolen Peter's Buble Christmas CD. I'll have to remember that for next year's Christmas.

So glad you are home Ann, with your Mom and Peter.

[Jeanie Z]

:) I did not go to the church service yesterday or to the brunch this morning. I just rested and nursed my sore knee. Tonight Liz came to play Rummy tile. We played 3 games. Liz goes to bed before 10 PM every night, so we don't play long. She picked up Chinese food for us. Merry Christmas everyone. Jeanie :)

[Cherie]

Gregory is 11 and a half and kept telling me I could not play Monopoly because it was age 8 to adult. Heather asked him how old he thought I was and he said, "clearly a senior citizen and that is older than adult." Then as I was losing and landing on his one property over and over with a hotel and an $1100 rent, he said, "Hey grandma, do you think maybe things are slipping a bit? I can help you pay your bills?" Heather told him that bordered on disrespect.

Jeanie,
We love tile rummy. I have a set that my dad cut and I did the numbers and smile faces on and mother coated them with Tung oil. Have played for years with a homemade game in a handmade drawstring sack.

[Virginia]

Cherie, that's not disrespect - he just loves you enough to think he can tease you a little. I think that is cute. Were you letting him win?

Jeanie, sorry you couldn't join in with the family last night and today, but I think you did the best thing for your knee. I am so glad you have your friend to come over and it sounds as though she loves spending time with you, as much or more than you do her.

I hate to admit it, but I don't even know what tile rummy is. It sounds like it would be fun since both you Jeanie and Cherie enjoy it so much.

I guess I better get off to bed.

[Catdancer]

The strangest but wonderful thing happened to us: our friends were coming for Christmas t inner, so we went grocery shopping on Sunday. Bought a ham, need tenderloin and other stuff a hundred dollars worth of groceries. We got in line behind a young woman. She paid for her groceries...then ran her credit card again, and paid for ours we were stunned! We don't know who she was or why she did that, but enjoyed our free D inner

[stillstANNding]

The true meaning of Christmas, Cat.

ANN

[Howie]

That gives hope in humanity. There are some good people out there, we just don't hear about them enough.

I just went to CVS and picked up one med. I get the rest of them on the 3rd. Then tomorrow, I go to the grocery store one last time before the 3rd. Then I get paid, and start it all again.

Everyone have a great day!

[agate]

What happened was so nice, Cat! It's great to know that there are people out there--lots of them--who are kind. I sometimes think there aren't nearly enough people like that but at least there are some, and I've been very lucky in having many kind things done for me.