I had actually managed to forget that I even read that book this year! It was horrible. However, my least favorite was Letters to a Christian Nation. To be fair, I am a Christian though. I was searching a lot last year and early this year and decided to read one of the Big 4 on atheism. I didn't get angry or offended, I just felt it was pointless. Which probably means I'm not the target audience. :001_smile:

Yes, we ordered photo calendars for all the grandparents. They were due to arrive on the 22 and have not yet. We finally got customer service on the phone, they have a huge backlog, and may not arrive until the 29th. We are being credited $35 and given $20 in e gift cards. No one will be upset, but I'm frustrated that they won't have anything else from us under the tree. I ordered a book from Amazon and it was supposed to arrive yesterday as well. It hasn't shown up. The Amazon tracking has had it sitting in Indiana all day??? The UPS site is showing a rescheduled delivery of tomorrow. It's not actually a gift for me, so I think can manage without being too dramatic. ;)

:grouphug: I am sorry.

As long as you don't mind being a human target for the next 2 weeks go for it! I got my DH and brother one for Christmas last year. They had a blast having Nerf wars and then teamed up to take me out.

I have seen them everywhere. There's the people whose only outdoor decorations are a string of lights and some kind of Nativity. From the inflatable, to the light up plastic, to the gorgeous wood cut outs with a spot light trained on them. There's also a couple that are part of a huge lights display that has everything from Shrek, trees w/faces, the aforementioned TSO light show, and so on. One that starts with cutouts of shepherds pointing to a star on the owner's roof, then the manger scene, and finally Mary holding the baby Jesus while riding a donkey being led by Joseph. There's also window clings, angels, light up crosses, a couple of wooden crosses with spotlights, and lots of Jesus Is the Reason signs. There's also been a living Nativity. So it might just be a regional thing. I get a little :confused1: confused at the Nativity scene that includes a kneeling Santa though.

The US baby(Hattie) was a homebirth, but there were complications so she was transferred to the hospital. The US baby's father was the cinematographer for the US location, so it makes sense that he wouldn't have been in too many of the shots. The father was called first about being the cinematographer and the dates the filmakers needed coincided w/ Hattie's birth.

Wow, that's just cruel. I'm sorry someone felt that was OK. My in-laws gave me a stuffed cat that meowed and was supposed to be just like a real cat. I actually have 2 real cats. They weren't as creepy.

Thank you for the helpful replies. We don't want to do this in anger. There's a lot of personal history that I'm obviously not going to go into, but we've never talked to her before about this. It may or not reach her, but at least we can tell that there's treatment she can get, that there's things we can no longer do if, and that she is loved. I spoke with my priest this morning and he was quite helpful. Steered me towards Al-Anon as well.

Ugh, you're right. Not thinking too clearly and wondering, I guess, if anyone had resources to recommend. Thank you!

I have recently found out and had suspicions confirmed that a family member was not the recovering alcoholic she said she was. A group of us would like to sit down and talk to her about what this has meant for their health, our relationships with this person, and how much it hurts to be lied to. And how much we love her. I know there are no guarantees and I know it's more about her, but does anyone know of any resources that are available on the internet about how to do this in a manner that MAY be effective. I'm naturally optimistic, but I know that this may not get us anywhere. I still want to try.

Have fun!

That is a great one. I think they will really get and appreciate that explanation! Thank you. I agree it will be overwhelming, but 3 out of the 4 grandparents almost never really had Christmas presents or their own toys. 2 of them have no happy memories from Christmas...or childhood really. They get tremendous joy out of giving. I can't bring myself to take that away. The presents piled under the tree really means something to them. There's just so much love in what and why they give.

When a friend's teen is wearing a shirt for a band I listened to in high school and I mention, "oh, I loved Green Day back in high school." Only to hear back, "Wow! I didn't know they were THAT old. They've been around a long time." :001_huh: I felt young again when he asked when I graduated high school and told his father, "She started high school the year I was born! When did you finish school?" My solution for feeling old is to have even older friends. :D

That's amazing! It looks so fun and tasty.

These are great ideas. Thank you! Now I'm thinking that in the unlikely event that I am given quiet toys I can use some that are only for his busy bag at church. We have no cry room or nursery, so I need to keep him quiet and busy for 1.5-2 hours. Thanks, I love the Christmas all year long. That sounds like the best way to handle it.

I have one child, a toddler. He is the only grandchild for both sets of grandparents and he is the apple of their eye. I always knew my dad was a softie, but wow! So both my parents and DH's parents will be going all out at Christmas. One side asked for a list for ideas and the other did not. I know one side got him a ton of new clothes, but from comments made I am picking up on the fact that he is going to be getting a huge amount of new toys. I know the side that got the list used it sparingly because they saw things they couldn't resist. This is all fine with me, they may not buy the things I would but it's never inappropriate or dangerous and I know it's all done with love. What concerns me is space. Can I, within a few days of Christmas, box up some of the new toys to pull out at a later date? DS does not spend a lot of time playing with any toys and having a huge selection seems to overwhelm him. Having a few things in the playroom seems to be the way to go if I want him to pay attention to the toys at all. I won't be able to honestly say, "Oh yes, he's been loving the thing a ma jig" if I have it stored and I don't want to offend anyone. Is there a kind and honest way to say something when asked? Can I be direct like, "DS has so many wonderful gifts, we put that away and will pull it out next snow day/sick day/whatever day."

That makes sense and I misunderstand your point. I apologize for that! I share your frustration with people who assume I'm a mind reader and get annoyed when I'm not.

But see I wait sometimes not to be passive aggressive, but because I'm really not in a hurry and don't mind just stopping for a second while the other people figure out whatever it is that requires a mid aisle conference. If I was the OP I would have been waiting for the kids because I didn't care and would have been fine with them taking their time. If I did that and the parent said something snotty to me I'd be angered to. To the OP, sorry. Sounds like a rough day! :grouphug:

We had this offered twice to us. One time the woman tried to paint it as a really great deal because we got our money RIGHT NOW. That was at a time when having food was somewhat spotty. We still opted to wait. The second time the woman was quite up front. She mentioned that we could get it direct deposit or by mail and we would get all of our refund or they could give us the money right now, but we would get less money back because they would be a taking a "somewhat significant" portion out. We opted for direct deposit. The people I knew who opted for cash up front didn't have bank accounts or were very broke. Or drug users. Sometimes all 3. I don't like the practice, but I think I could work at one of those places if I was able to be upfront about the drawbacks of the cash now option. I would be uncomfortable though. I know how hard it is when there's no money at all, but at the time we didn't have kids to feed at that time either. If I was in the same position I used to be in, but had my son...it would be harder to say no.

I tend to agree with this. It's not about haggling, it's about realizing that someone else is in a tough position and using that to your advantage. I don't think the OP meant that all bargaining or low-balling is bad, she used a specific situation where the buyer knew the seller needed to sell desperately and used that to get a better deal. OP, please correct me if I'm wrong.

There's an theater here that has tables and sells food and drinks from the restaurant/bar next door. They show independent and foreign films though. I don't mind being around people who are having drinks and I may join them. That said I worked in a theater through high school and the people sneaking alcohol into the theater were not having a drink or drinking in moderation. Nor they were particularly pleasant to be around or clean up after!

Our local schools are now implementing a positive behavior and social skills curriculum. I, kind of, understand why, but it does make the argument that school is needed for proper socialization a bit weaker in my eyes. :tongue_smilie:

Yes and no. If we're going an actual theater then I will happily(or at least not grumbly) buy their popcorn, sodas, nachos or whatever. If DH and I go to a movie alone, we treat the movie as a dinner date as well. However...the theaters out here don't seem to sell Hot Tamales candy, so I might bring in a box if I'm willing to buy to their food. It's probably something I need to reconsider though. We used to go a drive-in when we lived closer to it and, we'll probably make the trek when DS gets older, and they are OK with bringing in your own food. They are also upfront that they make most of their money off of concessions, so we make it a point to buy things, but we might bring our own drinks.

Or even if she says yes. Who else would have an engagement Snuggie? :D I was proposed to before I had graduated high school with a $100 ring from Target and a romantic of dinner of cheap take out Chinese eaten in his incredibly tiny basement apartment. 12 years later I still think I got the best gift ever.

We're not there yet either. Our DS is only a toddler, but we've been talking about it in a what if kind of way since before he was born. Both of us are intrigued by the possibility of tailoring to a child's ability level. My DH had a hard time learning to read and had a teacher who would laugh at him when he stumbled over "easy" words. I read early and was often bored in school and, eventually, learned that I could do the bare minimum and still pass. Up until recently DH had a work schedule that was non traditional, so he liked the idea of not being tied to the school's schedule as much. That's not as a big an issue now, but it's still something that is a plus. It's still easier for him to get vacation in fall and spring, as opposed to summer or Christmas time. Now we're in a school district that has a lot of issues. There are charter schools, but they have long wait lists and the district/school board are somewhat hostile to them. He liked the idea of being able to hands on/unit study type things. He was concerned about how we'd provide social opportunities, how I'd handle art/music, and if it would be too much for us to handle. Particularly me. He thinks it sounds really hard to be a mom and full time teacher. That concerns me too. :tongue_smilie: One thing that has really won him over is that we have a public school run program(not run by our district, but available locally) that provides a one day a week school day. They do art music, PE, languages, and some other academic stuff. I've only talked to 2 people who do it, but they have very positive things to say.