Cheers! 
to all of us
I’m always concerned about power outages. We do have a propane heater, and the wood-stove insert it burning merrily as I type; but the stove is electric. If the power goes out while I’m cooking, I’ll have to do the Christmas prime (Choice) rib on the BBQ grill.
I bought our house from my best fiend. Rather than repairing the chimney flue, he elected to install a propane heater for only a few hundred dollars more. I replaced the old wood-stove insert with an EPA-rated one (with a window on the door!)l I’m so glad I did. We have a nice fire going that we can see and which is warming the house. I don;t know if we’ll have enough wood for Winter, it I’ll have to chop more or buy more. But it’s nice to have a cheery fire.
1st song on my YouTube “Christmas Songs” playlist.
We have a gas stove, so I can at least light the range burners to cook. But a power outage means frozen pipes if it happens next week.
All electric here but we have blankets and cats. Our last place had gas heat but had an electric igniter, so when the power went out the furnace didn’t work. Of course our biggest issue here is heat, we can survive without power in the winter for a day or so.
Thankfully, our lines are buried and outages are rare.
Oh, wait, VBC just reminded me about another issue with the power going out. Her litter bot needs electricity to cycle. Hubs has been waiting for a good excuse to buy a generator, he’s going to be a happy man tomorrow 
Happy Christmas! I’m in the parental wilds of poor wifi, but currently I have signal. Have a good one all!
We’ve stopped there and slept there and ingested food there many times. It’s roughly halfway on our trip between FL and MD, which is why we choose it. We’ll stay there on our way back also.
And a Merry Mumper Ho Ho Ho to you all! I woke stupid early as seems to be my habit of late. FCD had another rough night, so he’s trying to get a few more ZZZZs. We won’t be leaving till 10-ish - here’s hoping I can get all the necessary chores done by then.
I got the car all emptied yesterday, tho I still need to grab my CD container. Mom doesn’t have satellite radio and we’ll want music that we like, assuming she has a CD player in her car. We shall see. Beyond that, I need to clean the critter fountain and make sure the cat’s feeder is full. Yesterday, I watered my very sad looking veggies downstairs, but the houseplants upstairs will need a drink before we go. And I need to get out the timer for the lights to make the house look semi-occupied while we’re gone. I thought we had another, but I can’t find it, so maybe we didn’t.
Gotta make up Higgs’ survival pack for the trip - food, dentastix, and treats, as well as her leash and harness. Plus a blanket for her to lie on - mainly to keep her sheds off the car seats. (Altho we plan to take her car to the fancy carwash before we take it back to her.)
I found the Christmas sweater I plan to wear - it’s a Tyrannasaurus Rex in a Santa hat, and I believe there are sequins, too. Just hope my bro’s house isn’t too warm - it’s supposed to be in the 60s today, but I’ll just wear a light t-shirt underneath, so I should be OK.
Speaking of warm, Ocala is supposed to be upper 70s/low 80s while we’re there. Don’t think I’m going to take shorts, tho.
OK. I’ve ingested breakfast (leftover french toast casserole from yesterday.) Caffeination is ongoing. I’m going to allow myself 30 minutes of computer surfage before attacking my chores. Because even on holidays, there are chores.
Everyone have a wonderful day!!
Good Mornin’ Y’all! Up and caffeinatin’. YAWN 'Tis 52 Amurrkin out with a DENSE FOG ADVISORY in effect but with a predicted high of 75 and N.O.S. for the day. The big item on the agenda is to make merry with the Christmas. JDD and Partner shall arrrive around eleven for pre-feast festivities. We shall chomp down around one.
I must needs ingest more caffeine (got to bed a little after one this mornin’ so brain not functional) and get the readyin’ of festive foods underway. I suppose I should also bother to purtify and be presentable. Such a bother!
Happy Sattiday Y’all! MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!
Good morning everyone and Merry Christmas!
Everything but the cake and meal are ready for today’s festivities. As soon as the butter softens and the milk and eggs come to room temperature I shall commence baking. I am dog tired; between all the running around this week, wrapping presents and cleaning I am just wiped out. But, everything looks nice and I can feel good I gave 100%. My son plans on staying overnight tonight and hanging out with us tomorrow, so that’ll be a nice bonus too.
I’m so looking forward to seeing the grandkids today. My daughter has carried on with the Christmas Eve jammies tradition and she sent pictures of both the kids last night. I miss that with my own kids; just a quiet little low-key thing before the big day the next day. I have to say, most Christmases have been nothing but a stress-fest for me, but this year I approached it with a lower key attitude. What got done, got done, and what didn’t, didn’t really matter and I wasn’t going to stress about it. I could have made things just tidge easier by buying some kind of dessert, but I didn’t want it sitting in my fridge for two and half days either.
At any rate, all is good.
FCM, safe travels! I hope the trip is uneventful and that all is well as can be expected with the in-laws.
I hope you all have a wonderful holiday, and for those of you who don’t celebrate or are just hanging out on your own, I send the warmest wishes for a peaceful and enjoyable day.
My Christmas-related observation - family traditions are many and varied, and I had no idea how much till I married.
I grew up with Christmas frenzy. Once gift opening commenced, it was insanity! People would give packages to each other and tear into them and paper would fly and the noise level was overwhelming. But that was Christmas, and that was part of the fun. It all lasted maybe half an hour before everything was unwrapped and we started exploring our gifts in more detail.
But my husband’s tradition couldn’t have been more different. All the packages were brought into the middle of the room. Then his mom would pick one and give it to the recipient, who would open it while the rest of us watched. Lather, rinse, repeat for an hour or more. What was especially funny was my FIL. He’d have his pocket knife, and rather than tear the paper, he’d slit the tape, then literally unwrap the package carefully, then fold the paper and set it aside before looking at the gift.
No, they never reused the paper he so lovingly preserved. It went into the trash bag with all the rest! 
Then there was the year when MIL put numbers instead of names on the gifts, then lost the list of which number went to which person… They all still talk about that one!
In more recent years, we quit gifting except for a $10 goofy exchange, and my MIL would come up with some really crazy games involved in swapping and stealing. But even that went by the way as the brothers moved away. Now it’s to my daughter and SIL to start their traditions…
Good morning and Merry Christmas to one and all.
I’ve turned on all the little lights on our mini Christmas trees and lighted the red and green candles, so it looks festive in the living room. I’ll find the channel “Movie Squirrels” on youtube and play their video of little red British squirrels helping themselves to nuts while Christmas guitar music plays.
Ooh, here it is. I’ll bring it up on the television in a moment.
In a few hours we’ll be off to have a dim sum Christmas day feast. Hope your festivities and feasting go well today.
Merry Christmas everyone! I made the candy yesterday. It’s been many years since I cooked it up but it came out perfectly. I couldn’t resist eating one small piece, so it will go to the dinner with one little corner cut out. As I type the croissants are rising. I made the dough last night and cut it this morning, to warm up and shape. Our family feast will be at my sister’s house at around one.
Last night was church, a wonderful service. It’s only the second time since I’ve been driving again that I drove after dark. Doesn’t sound like a big deal but to me it was. We haven’t had a single flake of snow so far, so no white, but it does feel more festive this year than last.
This is my favorite time of year, has been since I was a kid. Since my birthday is 12/31 I always combined the two piles of loot and felt more “gifted” than my sisters. No gifts, as there are no underage kids in this branch now, but I bought some “thank you” gifts cards for all the help I got this year.
Hope everyone has a good day,.
Happy Saturday!
and
Merry Christmas!
No park today, not enough time.
The dogs are behaving badly. Lots of energy.
We’ll be heading down to the armpit soon. I wanted to leave at 7, 8 at the latest.
More likely to be 9 as my son didn’t start baking cookies until 6.
The last batch is in the oven, and he’ll change clothed while they cool.
It’s going to be a rainy drive, but that is better than a snowy or icy drive.
Hope y’all have a happy day
{{{Boo}}}
FCD is up and we’re both showered and dressed. We’ll head out in about half an hour - I need to check a traffic app to see if there’s anything of concern between here and there. I do have a couple of options, so it’s not like we can only take one route.
According to my computer, it’s 55° and sunny. According to the thermometer on the wall, it’s 51°, and outside my windows, it’s overcast. Never trust a weather-guesser!
Morning and Happy Christmas, all. The travel wasn’t too bad, a bit over 7.5 hours. But got in safe.
It’s really nice to see my parents and sister again, but sadly my sister’s dog doesn’t get along with Cinnamon. So we’ve got gates set up, leftover from when my niece and nephew were little, some 15 years ago.
Stay safe, y’all. I’m only on the phone, so I’ll be back Monday.
Up, caffeinated, and sheveled. Off today. I managed to sleep till 0830. Noth that I have much to do today.
Enjoy! and love the tree rat feast channel.
I woke up this morning to the sound of coffee brewing (it’s on a timer, set for 05:50) and two Christmas presents on the couch. One is almost certainly a new hoodie. The other…? It’s two tubular objects, about four feet long, and roughly J-shaped. They seem to have some firm padding on them. No idea.
It’s snowing in the catio. How? Well, here’s our deck and roof under construction:
You can see that the roof is free-standing.
And here’s the catio (6 pictures):
It’s all open. The powdery snow drifts in on the slightest breeze. So… It’s snowing in the catio.
ETA: I also started a fire in the wood stove insert, brushed my teeth, showered, and shaved. I left the space heater on in the bathroom for The Missus.
Merry Christmas Everyone. Wordy so very sorry for your loss. Losing parents is hard. Hoping your Mom isn’t as bad as you think.
I have only read up to post 111 but shall go back. Since I last read all my repairs have been done and the entire inside of the house painted. It looks nice. My sonny boy does nice work and was paid for it too I have sent a ton of stuff to the Salvation Army store and thrown away a bunch more. I was so tired and sore I haven’t done much of anything since. Still have tons to do. I sent the agent a text yesterday telling her I am feeling a little pressured and there is no way I’ll meet her Jan 1 deadline to have all the things done she wants before she can do photography. She called and appeased me with an extra week, said I’m in charge and then dropped by with cookies and treats for BuddyBoy.
I am so down in the dumps. I thought grieving would get easier in time. This season it’s worse. I cry most days. I did not participate in Christmas this year. No tree, no gifts, no cards. I feel like shit about it. Me and a fiend did ride around last night and look at Christmas decorations. She had to wait until her hubby went to bed before she could go because he hates Christmas because his last name is Claus and he was teased so much as a child it turned him off Christmas forever. He even doesn’t want her to like Christmas but she decorates anyway. I felt so sorry for her.
I am going to hobble across the street later for Prime Rib with the neighbors. My ankle is still killing me. I will take today off but must get back to packing and sorting and preparing the house for photos. Ideally I’d just move out completely but haven’t been able yet to find a place to do. I have decided against Perry unless something else opens up. Everything I find that I like get snapped up the same day I inquire.
I dropped and broke the screen on my IPad. Mad at myself for that. It’s gonna cost $209 to fix locally but I haven’t made the time to take it in yet. I can have it back the same day but will have to kill a few hours or drive an extra 90 miles to leave it and retrieve it later. I finally cut the cable cord so it’s all streaming for me.
Cute photo mooommm. Back to reading the rest of this MMP.
Hugs to everyone.