We always exchange gifts with three of the nieghbor couples and this year we all decided instead of exchanging gifts we would all go out to dinner together instead. At this time of year we are all so busy and its to cold to be out so we decided we would just continue our barbecues inside at a resturant.

I'm so lucky to have such great neighbors!

I don't think there is going to be much in the way of decorating or cooking let alone shopping this year. The back injury is proving to be more than hoped. Wish DH was willing to do some of it since I do enjoy it but I am married to the Grinch so I will have to settle for online shopping this year. I will drive around after dark to see the lights as they always give me a lift and I will listen to as many Xmas songs as I can find. I am baffled by the idiots claiming Christmas is under attack. When Christmas starts appearing in the stores before Halloween I would have to say Christmas has highjacked the whole winter and they have made Christmas into an entire season rather than a 12 day religious event. By making Christmas a secular event they reduce its true intent.
To those of you who will celebrate Christmas as a joyous birthday and renewal of the sprit of love and compassion for all I wish you a merry Christmas. Sandy

Well, for us this is the first year that the kids (4 plus IL's, grandchildren, and SO's) can't all come over for dinner. Or for presents & breakfast. Some will come early, some late. And, they keep changing their minds.
We're a bit sad, but life goes on, they have to build their own traditions and fit the parents and in-laws into it.

But one thing is better! DH will be home from now until January something! (Or so he says...) So he can help with the tree and the present shopping, and maybe put some lights up outside. Sandy, I feel for you, girl... it makes it so enjoyable to be able to do these things together. My DH is a frugal and no-nonsense kind of guy, but he does humor me with these things.

:) Mary

My wife and I are going to take our new hand guns and shoot the eight tiny reindeer and put the meat in the freezer. :o)

Actually, we're doing the same this year as we have been doing since moving down here. We're going to my parents in Alabama. There is one thing that will be different. Frances will be boarded at a kennel. She might not enjoy the trip after tomorrow. Tomorrow, she has an appointment with the vet. Snip, snip, no puppies! Plus, we're going in my wife's car this year, a 1994 Firebird Formula. We are going to see how many tickets we can get before we get to my parents. :o)

G'day,
Scott

Well this Christmas will be a creative gift giving on our part with a slim budget. I dreaded putting up the decorations and tree by myself since hubby will have nothing to do with it. But guess what, it was a quiet reflection time for me. I actually thought about the true meaning of (Jesus birthday) Christmas and thought about the good times when i was a child and remembered my love ones who passed away. My aunt who is up in years, gave me my grandmother's mother's sewing machine that looks like new with the engraved decor wood with drawers and wrought iron peddles. This means so much to me. I have wanted it so much to hand down to my family as a family heirloom. It is like having a part of my mother, grandmother and great grandmother with me next to the Christmas tree. I will be starting a new part time job in January working with school children leaving time to still do my commerical art business at home. I will have my family around me on Christmas day and maybe Christmas eve. I am very blessed. In October I had a lumpetomy and skin biopsy and both were NOT cancer. My husband and I have new paying businesses to count on and after the first of the year my husband will be pursuing a full time engineer job close to home and hopefully with medical insurance. We both had to have operations since last December and October without medical insurance. I am looking forward to the new year and new beginnings.
Blessings to all,
Theresa

We never do much decorating which is okay by me. I'm not into it. The tree and the stockings are enough. We almost always have the same dinner....there's only 3 of us, so I get the smallest possible turkey (8-10lb) and brine it in orange juice and spices for 36 hours, then BBQ it on the grill. The Dec 24 forecast has a high of 68, Christmas Day should be okay for grilling!!! We usually have green beans and stuffing with jalapenos and andouille sausage, and butter rolls and a nice California Chardonnay, and Emerils Chocolate Bread Pudding for dessert. Its a small dinner, not a lot of work

We always do the holiday rotation between DH's family and mine, so this year is Christmas day with his (large Irish) family, who lives locally. It's going to be pretty tough, since his mom passed away on Aug. 17th, and this will be the first holiday season without her. Lots of tears, to be sure, but I hope there will be some smiles, as well, because Betty was always smiling.

Then it's a mad dash 2 hours north to Redding on the 26th to spend a night with my little family (Mom, Dad and brother, up visiting from S. Cali) and exchange gifts. DH only has a 3-day weekend for the holiday (besides taking Tues. off, as well) since it falls on a Sunday this year, so we'll try to cram it all in!

We lit up the house last year for Christmas, but this year, we didn't even bother to put up the (fake) tree. Boring, yes, but tomorrow is the big shopping expedition, and I'm both frightened and excited. LOL Hopefully, we'll get to drive around one night soon to look at all of the pretty decorations in town. That's one of my favorite things to do this time of year! :)

Stay safe, everyone!

Brenda

Oh, the season of giving is truly here! Hubby came home with a substantial gift certificate for one of the big electronics stores. (Back story: DH has been fuming about our phones for a long time. We have several cordless phones including one rather good one with an answering system and one phone with the cord. He has always refused to learn the control buttons on any of them. He had repeatedly demanded I get new phones but refused to tell me what kind he wanted so I have been saving to give him a new system for Christmas in the form of a certificate. I also got the wires etc. to run new wiring anywhere in the house he wants to put them. That was going to have to wait until I get over this back problem.)
Well, he announced the certificate was going to the purchase of a new phone system and I said that messed up my gift to him and it was a good thing I had not yet purchased one and gave him the cash I had saved along with the list of phones that I had been looking at and their ratings. After a long perusal of all those, he decided they weren't good enough and he found a really high tech system with an answering machine that will take up to 8 extensions to the base unit. It came home last night (thankfully for our bank account with only one extra extension) and my technophobic DH presented it with the announcement that it was the first time one present covered gifts for both of us.
So here I sit with 40 pages of instructions to figure out and apply to the new system before I try to explain to DH how to answer the phone, make a call, retrieve a message or find a number in a menu. Hopefully he will read the instructions but I won't hold my breath.
Merry Christmas, every one. I hope you have all the parts and the instructions are all in the right language. Sandy