We got two gifts in total. A vacuum cleaner and a pressure cooker. Both most welcome and the pc is still in use. No ’shower’ and only 8 wedding guests. Just parents, siblings and their spouses. DD got married during covid with the permitted 6 guests but a year later we had a party with 100 guests. They requested no gifts, just donations to two charities. The Italian side of the family found this diffcult to grasp and gave a lot of knickknacks they neither want nor need.

LOL...DS and DIL took Ricky and Seth to Disneyland on Saturday and I told DS to take cell phone pics throughout the day and send them to me on my phone. (he does that alot) Anyway I only got about 4 all day and they were the backs of the boys pretty much. I told DH he's sendign me crappy pictures and text him back to send better ones! They wore these shirts that day and they didn't want me to see them until I got this picture the next day so they were afraid to take the front views of them! They were laughing all day about how mad I was getting with the back views...I just couldn't understand what he was doing. Now I get it! When they got home I got all the pictures from their digital camera! I felt better! LOL.....gotta please momma!

I'm not trying to be hokey here, but seriously, the best gift I received this year for my kitchen (besides my kitchen!) was having my friends and family IN my kitchen on Christmas. This was our 14th annual hosting of Christmas Day & dinner and just to have all our loved ones gathered around in our new room was so rewarding. My brother (who is a real foodie) said he thought it was our best dinner yet :) Hearing everyone's lovely compliments let us know our planning and hard work has really paid off. Here's hoping the warm glow of the day lasts throughout the New Year!

Thanks for all the compliments and the happiest New Year ever to each of you! I still have Carpal Tunnel problems and can't use my hands very much. Looking forward to being back at the KT soon.