I say yes, you say no, OR People are Strange

Have a great Christmas, Cherryl!

It is the second day of winter and the high today will be 82. Aaahhh.

Barbara-I am so envious of your warm temps. I think I was born to be a warm climate girl, and here I am in Seattle! My husband and I talk about moving sometimes, but all of our elderly parents live here, and the thought of long-distance care giving puts that plan to rest, at least for now.

I want to wish a Merry Christmas to everyone here!

Mary

Barbara .. It's a balmy 57 degrees here!  Warm enough that I don't have to wear a heavy coat to walk the dogs.  I remember sunbathing in December and January when I lived in San Diego ... can't do that in Virginia!

Enjoyous .. Hope you had a wonderful birthday!

Mary ... I hope you have a great Christmas!

Blue .. A light dusting of snow is okay.  I'm so grateful we don't have snow this year.  The last few years we measured the snowfall in feet, not inches.

I've got a beef stew going in the crockpot.  Mr. Tim should be home about 5 this afternoon.  At least I hope so.  We're going to my sister's house for Christmas dinner.  Don't have any plans for Christmas Eve.  I miss the old days when all my family was together on Christmas Eve and there were so many presents you couldn't count them all!

Hoping everyone is having a great day!
hugs,

Bren

Hi all!!!!



I actually read all the way from where I last read. Then most of what I read sailed out of my brain. yikes. . . . Blue--lovely wedding dress! I look forward to seeing photos post-alternations. I think its great when brides can get exactly what they want. Me, I found my dress in 30 minutes flat and it cost me $50. As I recall, my flowergirl's dress cost more and was the reason the shopping took 30 minutes as I found my dress the minute I walked in the door.. But it really was exactly what I wanted.



Am quite jealous of all the cookie baking. I have done SQUAT!!! and its so frustrating. This was to be the Christmas where things got back to normal. Paugh! Once again, I find I am relying on shops for my holiday instead of cooking it all myself. BUT NEXT YEAR!!!!! Next year I will do homemade pickled herring and LOTS of cookies and TONS of candy and the holiday party will go forth with amazing amounts of food. And I will get presents MADE for all the family and I will get everyone to the Food Bank to Volunteer. And I will do my Toys for Tots shopping with great glee. And anything I have forgotten. So there!!



Ooph recovery seems to be going well. I am trying my best not to over do---including not walking at my usual pace-- but its actually hard as I'm not on any pain pills which for me, help remind me that I Am Sick.



Re mother, hard to tell how she is doing as she says one thing to DH and another to me. Mostly she doesn't want to talk to me. Okay then. I ended the last call with call me when you want to talk to me. Somewhere in the long thread there was discussion of stopping eatting and elderly choosing death over life. I actually have no problem with that. I think one should be able to choose but I think we need to be careful to be sure that is what the person is choosing and that their mind is clear on it. Can a person suffering from depression make an appropriate decision to end their life? One can feel so depressed that life is not viewed as worth living and so you decide to stop eatting or take pills or what have you. If that person were given antidepressants, would they make the same decision? All rather complicated.



I can see my mother deciding not to go through with treatment for her ovarian cancer. She did not expect any pain or discomfort plus I suspect being away from her hoard is very distressing to her. Contrary to the face she has presented to the rest of the world the last 25-30 years, she is not very pain tolarant and thanks to a lot of depression, there is not much fight left in her. She is/always has been a very self absorbed person and really has nothing in her life that is "worth living for"--no strong interests in the world, including her grandchildren. So with that combination of not doing well with pain & nothing one sees worth living for, well . . . . . DH--who is doing all the heavy lifting on dealing with her--says that for the childrens' sake his big goal is that she makes it through Christmas. After that, her choice. I agree. Does that sound harsh? I guess to a casual observer its pretty harsh to say about yiour mother but then a casual observer doesn't know my mother. Remember, my godbrother flew across the country to be with her for Thanksgiving, got gobsmacked by the diagnosis & then spent his Thanksgiving away from his partner, listening to her threatening to take handfulls of mystery pills to see if she could kill herself. As he texted me, "best thanksgiving ever!!" By contrast, his mother (who also died of ovarian cancer) used every last bit of energy NOT to die on her daughter's birthday. sigh.



Back to happy thoughts--early dismissal today! I might even get to make some cookies!!!!

3monst -

I hope Christmas goes well for you and your family.  I think you're about due for a good family event! And no, you don't sound harsh at all.  Your mom is a grown-up and, unfortunately, you have no control over her poor decisions.  

Big hugs to you and your family!  

Love always to you and to everyone here.

E 

Thanks guys. . . .youse the best!!!! Just got off the phone with doctor's office re mom. They are putting her in hospital--her sodium values are low. will be glad to have her in hospital--they can keep her from playing with the pill cutter and the 9million different doses of her meds!



NEW CHEERY TOPIC ALERT:

So we keep a big box of holiday movies, tv shows that we only watch in the month of December. No Rudolph in July for this family! Thus far we have seen 1) Rudolph, 2) Frosty I & II, 3) Santa Clause 1,2 & 3 (thank you CBC TV!), 4) Little Drummer boy, 5) Santa is coming to town, 6) It Happened on 5th Ave, 7) A christmas carol, patrick steward version, 8) Miracle on 34th street, original of course and I forget but I know there were others.



One of my favorites is "Amhal and the Night Visitors" which is an operetta that was performed live in the 50s and then taped. Alas it is out of print so every year, we have to hunt it down on youtube.


so whats your favorite?


Is anyone else familiar with "It Happened on Fifth Ave?" for some reason this year, the political implications of the film just smacked me upside the head. I find I like that move more and more every time I watch it.

Glad to see you posting again 3monstmama! Sorry to hear your mom is in the hospital, but glad you get a break.

My favorite holiday movie is "Legends of the Fall" (with a young Brad Pitt). I watch it every year while I'm wrapping presents. That's what makes it a holiday movie. I think my favorite actual holiday movie is "It's a Wonderful Life".

Mary

Wish me luck for tomorrow girls - don't forget my Mother is coming. SIL wants to know how to cope with her and I told him to upset her and she'll leave - that being her normal behaviour. Steve is playing golf at 6am tomorrow - dirty rat - on Xmas Day???

 Love you all - big hugs to everyone

 Sue

Sort of favourite Christmas movie is "A Christmas Story", with Darren McGavin and Melinda Dillon.  If you haven't seen it, it's a comedy set in the 40's about a little boy, Ralphie, who desperately wants only one thing for Christmas, a Red Ryder BB gun.  But all the adults tell him "You'll shoot your eyes out", and even the store Santa says so!   It was on last night and I laughed all over again!

The original Christmas Story house is in Cleveland, Oh.  We went last year after my SX in January. Looks just like the movie. We wanted to go again this year but there were lines around the block and no place to park. It's in the middle of a residential neighborhood.

I'm off topic but just saw this and had to share with my dog people friends ...

Is everybody ready for Christmas?  Or will you be among the crowd of last minute shoppers?  I'll be home baking pie ... apple pie this time.  And lemon bars because I'm too lazy to make lemon cream pie.  Lucky for me my DH is a desert junkie so it will be gone before I can eat too much of it.

Hope everybody has an enjoyable Christmas!

If you read about a 29 year old man being murdered on Christmas Eve - I did it

The Honey Baked ham arrived yesterday along with the sides I ordered. I ordered a chocolate mousse cake. I hope it is as yummy as I think it will be. Then tomorrow the cooking begins in earnest. I will make an apple pie then roast some chestnuts, slice them into the stuffing mix and stuff the bird. Whew. I am exhausted thinking about it.