Thursday, December 25, 2025 - Christmas

118.4 - not bad after eating and drinking so strangely last night. I couldn't eat much though.

Christmas Day is here. Only about 4 hours of sleep for no good reason. I was worrying about those darn osteoporosis shots I have to have on Tuesday and couldn't settle my mind down. I planned the picture below while lying awake.

We leave at about 11 to drive to DD's home. It is a 2.5 hour drive. DS should be there when we arrive and eldest DSD shortly thereafter. Justice is coming though we will put him in the bedroom when the toddler is there (Justice doesn't like small children much). DD expects 14 people with most of them being her in-laws. Another 4 from our side will come later for dessert. It will be packed as it is a very small house but DD is very excited. We stay over at a dog friendly hotel about 15 minutes away from their house. We will have breakfast with DD and DS tomorrow morning before DS returns to Maine and we return to Cape Cod for 3 nights.

Have a Candy Cane Caring Christmas!

ETA: We actually have a small amount of snow on the ground from last night for a white Christmas (the snow in this picture was AI generated - it was originally a picture of Justice on the beach).

Merry Christmas my VSG family! I hope you all know how important to me you are! I share more about my real life with this group of "strangers" than I do with a lot of people I seen on the daily in person! We have been such a great support for each other through the years. We have had many ups and downs that's for sure!

Feeling like I am getting cold. Headache, stuffiness and sniffles. Maybe a bit feverish as I feel warm and that is not my norm! Hoping whatever it is is short lived. Traveling while sick sucks! Well, anything while sick sucks!

Tonight we are having ham, green bean casserole, stuffing, mashed potatoes and gravy, cranberries and dinner rolls with Dutch apple pie and French silk pie. All premade by DC1s grocery store and all I need to do is heat up! Thank Goodness!

Handy grocery store. I hope you don't get terribly sick. That would definitely stink especially when traveling.

Merry Christmas!!!

202.0 - more up down, but it's all good. Salty food and constipation always lead to an uptick on the scale.

Christmas Eve was exactly what I wanted it to be. My dad had a great time and thought the food was great. He ate his entire dinner and dessert. I got him a couple of nice sweat shirts (easy on, easy off) so he'd have a little something to open.

He was fixated all evening on an imaginary situation he'd encountered. Two school aged boys (about 8 years old in his narrative) had come to blows in the school yard. The dean of students had decided to set up a boxing match for the boys so they could settle their differences. My dad had been asked to referee and declare the winning boy. My dad was horrified by this prospect and wanted to give a speech declaring his opposition to such a violent solution to a playground problem. Moreover, he was upset that the boxing match was getting news coverage and would be televised. Incidentally, paramedics came to his building as we were leaving and he mistook the fire truck to be a media truck and announced as we drove off that the news van and news casters had arrived for the boxing match. He kept revisiting the boxing match all evening. I had fun discussing with him the ill conceived concept of violence being a resolution for violence. He doesn't have the words anymore to really "discuss", but he appreciates the banter and his ideas being supported.

Like Liz, I had a fitful sleep. I think in part due to staying up way too late watching Christmas movies. Ron didn't get home from church until just about midnight and needed to decompress. We watched a really charming Netflix animation called That Christmas. A kid movie, but with relevant adult themes. Well worth the watch! I also had a dream I could not shake which kept me awake for a bit. In the dream I was diagnosed with lung cancer. I wasn't sick, or feeling ill, but... Yuck...

Ron, BFF and I will head to Sonoma (California Wine Country) to have Christmas with Ron's family. Always a good spread and enjoyable company.

Strange imaginings in both your Dad's and your minds! Was your Dad a teacher too (is that why he was imagining an altercation in a schoolyard)? Best to shake off that cancer dream - Chilling.

A short trip to Sonoma sounds wonderful:)

greetings all

Merry Christmas! The long predicted rain has just now started. I bet it will peak as we approach our friend's house at 2 for a small gathering. DH will be the sherpa for all the pate, crackers, two wrapped gifts, a jar of home canned tomatoes, a vat of apple sauce and wine. Looking forward to what should be a small and civilized gathering.

Yes to what Paula said!! All of you are beloved to me and this group means a lot. I am grateful that we all feel safe in sharing anything and everything. Weigh is a part of our life issues and it cannot be carved out from all the other issues of life. So thanks all.

Liz Chinese food sounds better and better. Wish we had some. Sounds like fun plans for the day even though a lot of it is road warrior. And Justice makes quite the holiday fashion statement.

Nice evening with your Dad Peps. Good that his musings are imaginative and entertaining. Safe travels to Sonoma.

We binge watched the last episodes of The House of Guinness last night. Cliff hanger so hope there will be a season 2. Good show. We were looking for some kind of christmas music concert to watch but had no luck. What happened to the Mormon Choir? They used to always do something. Good thing I got a lot of Christmas music at the gallery.

Cheers all. The days are now getting longer!

Diane S

Thank goodness for longer days coming! I hope you had a great day with your friends and that your pate, etc made it without getting soaked.

So there is a pretty well renowned chef named Barbara Kafka who had a cookbook called Roasting from 25 years ago. She has a recipe for a standing rib roast that we've used many times over the years. So I was making it today and there was SO MUCH SMOKE! It starts with the the temp really high and the drippings began to smoke and filled the house. I don't know how the smoke alarm didn't go off and send the fire department. The house smells awful and I have been so stressed!!! The roasting pan cracked so that is outside in the cold where I put it to minimize the smoke (which was well pst minimizing). Still don't know if I can salvage dinner. Ugh!!! It was a seriously expensive cut of meat too. Windows and doors were wide open (it's 35), Claudia was using the leaf blower to encourage the smoke out of the window. My clothes and hair reek and my throat hurts. I think my blood pressure should be down sometime next Wednesday. The Barbara Kafka book is going to the Friends of the library. Never again.

Argh!

Presents were well received. Wish me luck pulling this dinner to a positive conclusion!

Merry Christmas, my friends!

OH NOOOOOOO!!!!!!! Hope you were able to salvage your dinner.

OMG! I hope you were able to salvage your meal and the rest of the day! Not what you bargained for.