It’s a Christmas like no other. It’s raining, going to get down to 20 tomorrow, with ice and maybe snow. Our son and wife won’t be here, other sons girl and her daughter may not make it, depending on the roads. Making lasagna and pumpkin pies, among other things. It may just be DH, me and Bud the cat !! At least I didn’t have to deep clean, haha.

We haven't done much for Christmas since our daughter left home. Nothing special planned for tonight or tomorrow. I asked Jody what he would like for me to cook, and I think the consensus is shrimp gumbo for tomorrow. Probably steak tonight since, as much as I hate to, I have to go to Sam's to get cat litter and about 100 lb of cat food. (I am tired of running out!). Sam's have pretty good steak.

Off topic, but I was really happy that one of my favorite cats, who vanished about a week or so ago, and I thought had probably been eaten by coyotes, showed up last night, hungry and skinny, and loudly complaining. It is nice to have him home for the holidays.

Now if the cat that I paid $160 to get out of a very tall pine tree, would show back up, that would make the holiday complete. He laid around inside for about a week, then insisted on going back out...and a few days later, was gone.

Horse back riding this afternoon. Will probably be there until it starts getting dark. I made a pot roast for us yesterday that I had planned for this evening before I knew my schedule would change. DH will have the leftovers tonight and I will grab whatever. Can't think of a better way to celebrate Christmas Eve than going for a nice long trail ride.

Tomorrow I think we are doing face time with the grand kids.

Family dinner and games at our Mom's house. Mom is 87 and failing, most likely the last one she will remember. We all have had covid so we are good. Tomorrow just DH,DS and DD here for presents and a brunch following.

I will be making lasagna this afternoon to be baked tomorrow. I'll also make some type of cookies. It will just be the two of us this year. I have no idea what's for dinner tonight yet, but it will be something easy along with a Christmas movie.

It's pouring here so no hike , no nothing. I'll have grilled salmon, grilled asparagus, as I have every Thursday. Tomorrow will be pizza . I'll see no one. Worst Xmas ever. And no I won't zoom kids because they live two miles from me but it's too risky to be with them as I have every Xmas of their lives.

Marilyn, I hope your tree rescued cat shows up to make your Christmas complete. It is raining and cold here, so much of today and tomorrow I will probably spend in and out of bed, just to get warm, since the dampness makes me feel cold. Tomorrow night's low is to be 19....oh brrrrr and this is supposed to be the "warm sunny south"......yeah, right. LOL Have a wonderful Christmas everyone and stay safe.

Just me & hubs tonight and tomorrow. We're going to grill some steaks for dinner. Maybe go look at Christmas lights. Living on the edge here....

My two older grandsons (9 and 7) are coming over at some point today to watch the Christmas Chronicles 2 movie with me. We saw the first one the other night. The weather forecast for today, tonight, and tomorrow morning has me a little unsettled: heavy rain and heavy wind, with anticipated flooding and possible power outages. Then tomorrow night the temp is supposed to go down to 12º. In pre-pandemic times I spent Christmas Eve with my daughter's family and her in-laws, always a lovely tradition that I hated to miss this year. But with such inclement weather I would have had to skip it anyway.

Lily, you might reconsider that Zoom visit with your kids. It shouldn't matter that they're not far away. This will be the first Christmas since my daughter was born that we won't see one another for at least part of the day. I saw her yesterday for less than five minutes when we met in a parking lot, both of us masked, to put wrapped gifts in each other's cars. But think of all the people who, for whatever reason, get to see their children on Christmas only rarely. Or not at all.

Marilyn, I'm happy to hear about the return of your missing cat, but dismayed that the treed cat has taken off. If only cats learned from their mistakes! Well, I suppose some do. Maybe. But I hope he brings himself home to you for Christmas.

Started cooking for tomorrow's dinner.....Baked ham, golden potato casserole (cooking now), Spinach casserole, (cooking next), roasted asparagus, pineapple casserole, and a molded gazpacho salad with avocado dressing.

Tonight it's just a seafood chowder with shrimp, lobster and scallops, and am trying the box mix for Red lobster's biscuits. I usually make my own but decided to take the easy way out. DS arrived from Pa........he self isolated for the last ten days and we're pretty much socially distancing. Not to difficult with just three of us. We haven't seen him since last Christmas so that's a real treat. Also, he always completes a "honey-do" list every time he comes. Cleans the garage, details our cars and a lot of little things on the list.

Staying in a beautiful small hotel overlooking the sea. Family Christmas was kiboshed by London lockdown which marooned the kids so we've come away to the coast where I don’t have to do any cooking. Just back from a five mile walk (picnic and seal watching) and waiting to go down to dinner. Hope there's seafood.

Q: What are we doing?

Tomorrow while the turkey is baking, we'll go for an early morning run.

--------------------------------------Christmas Day project---------------------------------------

I'll remove the cat5 cover plate, fill it in. Then finish putting in the border tile. I have tile pieces stood up. ☺ I need to work on the pattern connecting.☺ This house was 10 years old & unfinished when we purchased it.

Marilyn I hope your fur baby returns. I do not know what you feed your fur kids but because I was worried earlier this year of running out I started ordering from Walmart the cat food and litter. My original order was to Amazon but it was sent from Walmart.

I am staying home and staying inside. Currently in the teens although it may warm up to 30F. I had plans on doing some things in the yard but decided would use the excuse that I am too old to be out in those temperatures. Am I of course not but it sounds good.

Just me and DH at home. No plans for tonight. Tomorrow he wants to put a ham on the smoker. Mashed potatoes, grilled asparagus, rosemary focaccia and maybe some cake from the freezer.

We haven't been wholly responsible for our own Christmas dinner, ever. We went from living with our parents to married, but every Christmas was with at least one set of family. Huh, that's kinda funny.

We have DD and grand-pup with us (DD is very strict about isolating before visits). We're getting a cold rain all.day.long, so the house is very full with two rambunctious young dogs, and one exasperated older border collie. Cold front moving in tonight, so tomorrow will not get above freezing. It's kind of a flat holiday, but we'll do presents and a nice meal tomorrow. Church service is available on-line, but it doesn't have the same feeling as in person. Oh well, maybe we will spend some time planning for a Christmas After Vaccination celebration ... July? August??

We're staying at home, possibly being visited by DH's sister tomorrow. She works in a retirement residence so is very leery about picking up an illness. It's very cold here, good day for cocooning, eating and watching movies.

We're seeing one son and his partner for a carport visit and exchange gifts this afternoon and the other son and his partner tomorrow for the same type of visit.

For the first time in 30 years I won't be cooking a turkey or setting a festive table.

But as mentioned above, I don't miss doing the deep clean.

After it gets dark enough (maybe 5:30ish) we plan to drive around the hood and check out Christmas lights. It's something I miss from not commuting; I enjoyed my drive home from the Park and Ride location taking different side streets to see the decorations. When we get home, I will make black (squid ink) pasta with seafood.

I'm not doing much of anything different than I do on any other day. My immediate bubble (my sister) is out of town spending Christmas with her youngest, so it is just the dog and I. We will do a flying visit later this afternoon to my niece and nephew a few miles away to exchange socially distanced greetings and leave off some Christmas treats.

Other than that and a few special Christmas time meals, we will stay cuddled up on the couch watching whatever good we can find streaming or on TV. The Call the Midwife Christmas Special for sure!

There is also a very good bottle of red wine waiting for tomorrow's prime rib.........

I'm not going to zoom my kids because I just saw my daughter, SIL,and grandson three days ago wearing masks briefly indoors and then a long hike with my daughter. Son and wife were in Miami Beach for a month living in a suite with a kitchen. They swam , went on the beach and cooked everything at their place BUT they had to fly home last Sunday and he is in quarantine. It's pouring now, flood watch, heavy winds and then turning brutally cold. The daughter said we could have wine and cheese on their newly built patio with a fire pit going. Ahhhh, no. 29 degrees?

Marilyn...I hope your tree kittie returns as a Xmas miracle.

It's cold and grey today, so I'll probably finish reading my current book, make fresh cranberry salad and maybe stream some video. Tomorrow, we will Facetime with my parents in the morning, then have breakfast with freshly baked cinnamon rolls that I'll put out to thaw and proof tonight. Later, we will play Scrabble and listen to Christmas carols. It's supposed to be sunny and clear, so we will enjoy the nice weather.

Tonight, husband and I are just staying in. I just finished taking a special treat out to the horses ...hot molasses, bran, chopped apples and carrots.

I’ve got a 22 pound turkey dry brining in the fridge.

"We all have had covid so we are good."

Judy Good, just FYI, you can catch Covid a second time even though you've already had it. It's happened to many people. Might want to research that.

Sorry to derail this nice thread. I didn't want people to think they couldn't catch Covid a second time.

There was seafood. Followed by a walk on the seafront. Clear sky, moon and stars over the sea. We even have a lighthouse flashing across the bay. Wonderful. Goodnight and merry Christmas.

We have the two boys here for Christmas. Die Hard tonight and dinner tomorrow.

Sephia,

Keep in mind that catching Covid twice is extremely rare and highly depends on how well your immune system functions. Judy Good and her family have had their inoculation the old fashioned way. They should be fairly safe.

Do some wrapping and now I am waiting for Santa to arrive on the fire engine. Not sure I will walk out to see him since it is windy and rainy and I have not been feeling well. Son may stop by. Tomorrow son and I open a few gifts and then have our traditional Christmas breakfast. Later we’ll go to my mother’s and have a simple dinner of salmon, rice, broccoli, salad and apple pie.

sons SO goes home to her family. They are happy to spend holidays with their own family, especially this year so as not to spread germs.

This is the worst Christmas of my life not only because of Covid and distancing but for other reasons, too. I wish Saturday would hurry up and get here so this will be over. Sorry to be such a Grinch.

It's just hubby and I this year, so it will be a very quiet Christmas Eve. Neither one of us feels like we need a big dinner tonight, so we're having a nice bowl of Eid's Harvest Chili, with some sourdough bread.

But we are making more kimchi tonight--I'm pretty sure that's a very traditional Christmas Eve activity, right? I've tried to talk hubby in to burying it in the back yard real Korean style, but he's not going for it!

I am working tommorow 5 am to 5 pm as a favor to a coworker, so I have been cooking our Christmas meal for today. As per SOs request, its basically a repeat of Thanksgiving. Bacon wrapped turkey tenderloin,chicken dressing,cranberry goop, mac and cheese and collard greens. Off to bed early so I can get up at 3 am to get ready for work. He says he wants to wait until tommorow night when I get home to open his gifts,so we will.

The rest of tonight after the kitchen cleanup will be me binge watching my favorite Christmas movies in desperation as after tommorow its all over and the sadness begins.....

I have been watching them on my kindle all day as I cook...

I will likely watch them all day on my kindle tommorow at work as well, the next night I am taking all my decor down.😫☹😥

We always celebrate Christmas day. Today I spent all day cooking preparing ahead what I could for Christmas dinner with my son and daughter, DIL , and grandchildren. The table is all set and hubby is putting together a razor scooter. In the morning if the weather permits we are going to our sons to see the 10 month old granddaughter and give her her gifts. My son only lives 1/2 hour away but the baby hates car rides and screams the whole way so they are all coming over in the afternoon and leaving the screamer at home with her other grandma. I can't wait for flying wrapping paper, squeals, laughter and conversation. Hope everyone has a joyous Christmas.

Tonight I am tucking myself in to my warm PJs and throws, and settling onto the sofa to read a book. Nibbling on shrimp and cookies too, with a big pot of tea. I will tune in the livestream service from church at midnight, or, if I can't stay awake, I will watch a replay tomorrow AM. I do miss having a service in the morning as part of our celebration.

I went running around early afternoon to pick up some last minute finger foods from Trader Joes and Aldi (I tried to go yesterday afternoon, but the line to get in was wrapped around the building! Today it was short and moved quickly.) I had hoped to find the Lobster Bisque that someone mentioned in another thread, but no luck. It was spitting rain when I left, that was freezing on the windshield, but that turned to a light sleet then snow by the time I got home. Brisk cold wind, too.

My DD and her SO are going to come over tomorrow afternoon for ham and the savory bites I got today. I think that I will also make a pot of the pumpkin soup that I made last Christmas - that was a big hit. If I get energetic enough I will also make a small cranberry walnut pie.

We will play a game or two, and I am going to activate Disney+ for a month so we can watch "Hamilton" all together. Possibly drive around to see Christmas lights in the snow after dark. And that will be it!

Tonight we are having tortellini soup with bread and then later me and my kids are going to go look at Christmas lights. When we get home we are going to make some chocolate covered pretzels, chocolate covered graham crackers and some peanut clusters. Tomorrow we are opening presents, having a big breakfast. Later we will have all the turkey and fixings. I've prepped the veggies for the stuffing and the potatoes for being mashed. My dd is in charge of making chocolate chip cookies and brownies for tomorrow's dessert.

Raee that was me that mentioned the soup. My Aldis had it where the cheeses and non frozen pizza are. Of course each Aldis sometimes have different items.

Just the 2 of us tonight. I made a big pot of Okra, onions, and tomatoes and cooked some awesome smoked Louisiana sausage. Plus I made a strawberry cheesecake cobbler for dessert today and tomorrow.

Probably try to find something good to watch on Netflix or read.

Me and one of my exchange students ran to Walmart to get a few things this afternoon. It started to snow and has been snowing lightly on and off since.

We then made a bunch of side dishes for tomorrow's dinner. Only thing I have left to do now is the rolls, turkey, gravy and veggie/olive tray. In between making the sides we played some card games and washed dishes.

I went to bed by six. I was tired. I could have gone to youngest daughter's ad watched Alyssa open some gifts but decided not to. I will go today and take some food I have prepared. Only six of us there this Christmas. They are the ones that help me with things all week long.

Christmas Eve is my favorite. I love the anticipation of Christmas. It was just two of us this year but it was really special. We had a lovely meal--two fishes--good wine--lovely music. We put a new ornament on the tree. We watched a fun Christmas movie. We zoomed with family. We tried to stay present in our moment. This morning, when we are both up, we will have coffee and bagels, lox and cream cheese and open gifts. Christmas Day is nice but it's not Christmas Eve. We will also put baby Jesus in the creche now that he has been born.

Christmas Eve we binge watched Broadchurch on Netflix Still have a few episodes to watch. Today I had to work. Our store was open and I was so disappointed to see how many people were in there shopping today And then I found out my hours were cut by 20%! I can't afford to fart anymore. Then I came home to open gifts and saw my husband didn't buy me anything so I've been in my room watching Netflix on my laptop since 3 p.m. And I refused to cook dinner. I'm done.