Texas_gem - Your mother was a wise lady. It's a rule I lived by once our first child was born because I could already see the demands set on by my MIL. It's a great decision to make. It's one I passed onto my niece when her first was born because knowing her mom (my ex-SIL) I knew what was going to happen. It's a rule she lives by as well. I'm not sure about the plans. The days of the huge family dinners on Christmas Day are gone as the nieces and nephews are all married with their own families (and whatever issues that may bring up on Christmas Day). Years ago I started a tradition of having a Christmas Dinner in early December just to take the angst of having to decide who to see on Christmas Day and it has worked out really well. Family is all there and we do turkey with all the trimmings. My brother is doing it this year so that's nice for me. Christmas Day is probably just the 4 of us and my MIL. My mom and sister will be in Hawaii with my brother. Nice and quiet. Not quite used to those quiet Christmas's but I am getting used to them.

Well, not sure right now. We got together with my side of the family yesterday and went to church last night. We are supposed to go to my daughters today for a big get together for my husband's side of the family. But my daughter called last night and said she is running a fever. If she is still sick today, we will bring the gifts over and we may take the grandkids with us to my MIL's. She won't mind having the Christmas there since all my hubby's siblings are there right now. Originally, the plans were to bring the meal to my daughters because she has little kids and we wanted them to be able to nap in their own beds. But now, we are not sure what is up. Dang flu! My daughter is a teacher and she hasn't been sick all year. But wouldn't you know, her husband was sick earlier in the week with a fever and was down and out for about 3 days. Hopefully the little ones won't get sick. It could be that my granddaughter started it all when she had the flu which turned into pneumonia a couple of weeks ago. She's only 2 and you can imagine how worried we all were. She's doing great now. The six month old baby has a slight cold right now, but it may be due to teething. Hopefully he won't start running a fever now.

All the pieces you say you need are "in", and it fits into a nice rectangle, but the house is far from elegant -- the pieces are kind of pushed together /kind of choppy without much reason. The piece I really dislike is the long, dark hallway down the middle of the house; if you really must have such a thing, I'd say make it wider and put in bookcases on both sides to make it a library ... and figure a way to bring in some light. Other thoughts: - Do you have elevations yet? - What's your driveway plan? Your front door and your garage are far apart, and it seems like your front door is on the wrong side of the house. Think this through -- the red line represents your probable driveway (cars rumbling by the master bedroom ... hmmm?). You need the "T" shape so you can back out of your garage /drive out ... and typically this also provides for guest parking ... but imagine you're the guest parking back by the garage ... you have to walk around the corner of the house, and while you're walking you can't see the front door ... when you finally can see it, the porch is oriented the wrong way /it isn't welcoming at all. In general, I don't think driveways /approaches to the house get nearly enough attention. This will matter a great deal. - The living room seems small. - I agree with the poster above who says that he (or she ) would rather see either one good-sized deck OR screened porch ... not two small ones side-by-side. You could then have just one door from the kitchen/dining area to this outdoor living space. - The nook is small; I'd go with a sliding glass door (to eliminate door swing). - Your plan for Dog #2 seems very sound. He will have the nook and will be able to see outside /be taken straight outside from "his spot". Plenty of space for his bed. I'd consider a half-height pocket door between the nook area and the kitchen so the dog could "be with you" but not "with you". - Your laundry is in the middle of the house -- how will you vent the dryer? The answer is, not directly to the outside, or not safely. - I agree with the above poster that the staircase to the upstairs /your college student's space should not be located in the laundry room. It makes the upstairs seem like a servant's quarters, and while you may be okay with that it'll be re-sale suicide. I'm not sure the stairway's going to work anyway ... a person walking up that stair would be walking towards the edge of the house ... and if those lines are roof lines (I'm not sure), you'd exit the staircase in an awkward nothing-ahead-of-you-manner. - Just in case Dog #1 gets up in to the college student's area, I'd consider some type of cat ledge -- plus cats LOVE these things: - If this is your "forever house", the complete upstairs suite makes sense. Your college student will only use it a few years, but in the future it'll be handy if you ever need a family member (or a live-in caregiver) to move in with you. - You have a full bath for a guest room that'll be used only occasionally, then a cramped nose-to-toes half-bath on the same hallway. It'd be logical to skip the half bath /go let the guest bath serve for visitors. - The master bath is simple /functional, except that if you're dead-set on duplicate sinks, don't put them all the way to the edges ... and pocket doors are a poor choice for bathrooms (more difficult to open/close, and the humidity will cause them to fail more quickly, meaning you'll need a repair person to open the wall to fix the door). - You have a problem with too-many-doors-in-the-same-spot at the entrance to both bedrooms. - You have the option to put windows on two walls in your master bedroom ... you should do that. - The master suite feels far, far from the rest of the house -- I'd look at moving the guest bedroom to the far end /where the bathroom is now and move the bathroom to the guest room spot. This would consolidate your plumbing and would bring your personal space close to everything else.

For regular cookies (not big iced display cookies) or oversized ones, when there isn't room for a rich, plated dessert, there's always room for a cookie. :) Also, I read something about the science of dessert. IIRC, the sweet actually makes you feel less full. It's an illusion, of course. Cookies are often served as snacks, as well, and while not approved of for breakfast, can be served at any time of day A sack lunch often has a cookie.. Where petit fours, small cakes, slices of cake, etc., might be served with tea, substitute cookies and coffee here. Often at a gathering, people will step away from the table for a time, and return, or gather in the living room, for coffee and sweets. It might be half an hour between, but time for dinner to settle. Also, I don't know if this is just my family, but we don't tend to pig out at festive dinners. I've seen Christmas tables with thirty dishes on them in the media. Either that's for one heck of an open house, the food the family will be eating until New Year's, or they're taking the leftovers to feed the poor (which I know is done, but it would be nicer to take them fresh food rather than the leavings).