Merry Christmas to you too Sherri! You have such a BIG family. Don't know how you do it all. Just taking care of one grandchild is strenuous enough for me. I hope you have help in care taking. And I hope you are able to take care of yourself as well.

Well Anne take pride in the knowledge that you are NEEDED here by me and all the rest of your Boomer sisters. I look for you everyday when I enter here to see what you are up to now. We agree on so many things especially about men. I am a bit more harsh on them however because:
"Been there, done that, have the t-shirt, am buying the hat." So to speak. You can always come here where you are needed and add your intelligent replys to others in need of your wisdom and jokes. We love you girl!!!

COUNTRIEGIRLE,
boxing day!!! isen't that tradisionalie when families have too much of each other over christmass and start boxing one another in the street????

joking, allthough one would wonder some christmasses the things one see's in the streets.

MY MUM (not that she a higher authoritie than you countrie girl) she told me that christmass was to be keept solie as a religouse day and the 26th was the day for opening presents, so not to get the meaning of christmass confused, or did she just need us to work in the familie bussnesses lol.

with lucien we open presents in januarie, febuarie, march lol ....rember last year hmmmmmmm.

ANN shipping the employers off in wooden boxes is creat day, of sant boyoncie. Its March the 22nd

Country girl is correct...boxing day is when gifts in boxes were given to servants and workers of families who had them. My English Landlady and Landlord introduced me that that tradition as well as many Christmas dinner with them, the trupence in the pudding, Christmas crackers, and brussel spouts...I love them. I miss not being there with Bridget and Barry but we exchange Christmas gifts each year and this year I sent Bridget a Paula Deen Christmas Cook book and asked her to open it early. She received a few days ago and hopefully will find something Southern to add to her traditional English meal.

Hi Anne327...it's nice to see you again, as well. I've missed you all so much. How's it going?

Good for you Anne....nothing like taking time off and catching up on sleep. Cats are cool...I don't think I'll have anymore but I miss having them.

Hang in there and it sounds like you've gotten rid of a man who was trouble...good for you.

Anne, I loved reading this because I was beginning to believe that Wilson (my kitty...or one of them) was the only one in the world to do the morning-wake-up-torture thing! He starts by smashing his wet nose in my face...then he goes for pulling my hair with his teeth. If that doesn't work, he jumps on the bureau across from the foot of the bed and dive bombs me...hard!!! Sometimes it's my legs or my tummy...or wherever. I've had cats all my life but never one that will go to this length for his morning can of food! He has other antics, too, like swatting at the blinds (makes nice noise...and he knows it bugs me). If all else fails, he howls...LOUDLY!! He's a love but in the early, dark A.M. I'm less than amused!

Well, the question was, what am I doing for Christmas?

I have my home decorated, I do a whole "Halloween, Thanksgiving, Christmas, New Years, and Mardi Gras tree every year. My decorations depict all the holidays and I put it together right before Halloween! It's fun because it's so pretty to have them all together and the memories of each holiday are depicted there on my tree! I have many ornaments and decorations so now if I buy another, I usually put another away to use when I want to and to give to my son because most are collectables. I feel like it's a holiday starting at Halloween!

The next is Christmas of course so this year I will have my younger son with me for some days before he flies to Minnesota to spend part of the holiday with his grandparents as his grandfather became ill. I love to have him because we have such a relationship that we sometimes start to laugh and can't stop, like when you keep setting eachother off? He thinks of my husband as a second father since his father is in his life very strongly so it all goes well!

I will finish my Christmas cards which I try to personalize soon.

I like to get everything ready so when I have guests I can just sit and relax, enjoying them and not stressing over food or anything else.

My older sister calls my home her "favorite." That's nice.

dancer9

dancer, I also like to plan ahead so when company is here, I can relax and enjoy them. When is your son getting home? I bet you can't wait.

So what's everyone doing this weekend to get ready for the holidays?

Tuesday I took Dad to a family luncheon at a local restaurant that caters to the elderly. I know for certain that I was the youngest one there. One of his cousins is a total inspiration to me. She's battling cancer for the third time and she NEVER complains. She said she's only felt like a cancer patient the first time she lost her hair. She's an awesome role model.

Wednesday Ross took his dad to a Christmas luncheon and I had my prayer group here for lunch. There are only four of us left so it was simple. We sat at the dining room table which is all decked out for Christmas. We got caught up and prayed and ate together. Everyone brought something so it was simple. It was relaxing, peaceful, and yummy.

Wednesday night was the Girl's Night Out Christmas gathering at a friend's house. Six of the seven of us were there. One is getting her masters and is dying because she always had class on the nights we met this past semester. We're hoping next semester is better for her. We talked about our first mother of the bride's big wedding, drank wine, laughed, oh, and we ate too.

Thursday I spent doing an all day outlet shopping with a few friends. We laughed as much as we shopped. We've been doing this long enough that we could probably do one another's shopping since we know each other's families so well. We walk throught he stores saying, "That looks like so and so. You should get that for him/her." And so we do. Or we'll see a certain top and say, "That looks like Joan. Where's Joan? Get her over here. She needs to buy that." It's hysterical. This year, one of the 19 year old daughters was already home from college so she daringly went with us. She had a blast. She survived. The only problem was that she took a picture of her mother on the floor in the Lenox store with all these plates surrounding her while using her calculator, adding up her purchase...and sent it to her dad so he could see his wife in action. Naughty girl! We're thinking we might need to frame the photo.

Are you doing anything this weekend to get ready for the big day?