Prayers for peace and comfort.

Following. My dishwasher died at Thanksgiving. 😞

Not a show but a movie: we loved Spirited (Will Ferrell and Ryan Reynolds in a Christmas Carol-esque holiday film). We weren’t certain on first viewing but it had grown to our favorite movie this Christmas.

I like the theory….but I’m a bit leery of eating food prepared by strangers. I’ve seen some sketchy food prep via my in-laws, who are nice and giving people, but there’s no way I’d accept food from their house. I wonder if there’s a vetting process to ensure cleanliness. 🤷‍♀️

I’ve lost 30 pounds over the last 4-5 years. Slowly, sooo slowly. But I’m okay with that because I feel like it gives my body time to “settle in” at each new weight and reset before I make a new change and lose some more. My first change was switching to drinking mostly water. I cut out the sweet tea that I was drinking, the occasional diet soda. I still drink a coffee a day, but that was a quick 5 pounds gone. Then I made a strict “brush your teeth right after dinner!” rule and that stopped any extra nibbling. 5 pounds. I started an eating window (not eating before 11 or after 7). 5-10 pounds lost. Switched up my exercise regimen (added the rowing machine) and that put me up to 30 total pounds lost. (211 to 181ish) My current goal is to lose 23 pounds in 2023. With DH’s recent health issues, I’ve fallen off the good habits wagon…but I’ve maintained my current weight (hovering around 183). I’m hoping that if I restart the above, the scale will start trending down again. (I don’t follow any sort of diet. I eat meat, fast food, sweets. I’m sure at some point I’ll plateau and need to make adjustments, but I’m not there yet.) eta: I’m 42, fwiw.

Amazing! I was just coming to update that, while I did all my stocking candy, DH did wrap an Amazon gift card and hid it in there after I went to bed. Wonder of wonders!

I woke oldest dd (my late sleeper) up around 10:30. Normally, she can sleep til lunch but younger dd wanted to open presents. 😂 She got up pretty quickly (unusual), and without complaint, which is a testament that she wanted to get to the presents as well, lol.

Aww. Does/did it bother you? I’ve also always filled mine. I like candy too much to leave it empty!

Postponing won’t ruin Christmas, but I bet a massive poop accident will. Just saying. (But I know you know that, OP!)

I hate to say it, but I’ll be surprised if y’all make it through the Christmas weekend without ending up in the ER.

I loved Robin McKinley when I was younger. How about Patricia Wrede? Her Frontier Magic trilogy is great (it begins with The 13th Child).

The House Across the Hedge? (Grace Livingston Hill) (I’ve never read it so this is just a wild guess. But I know she’s a Christian author so maybe this one has deep meaning…?)

That’s beautiful! I love it.

I agree! (Though also frustrating because he should totally ask before feeding someone’s dogs, lol.) But!!! At least it’s a kind reason, not a malicious one.

Crazy town. I now feel the urge to rewatch the Terminator movies for some reason.

Disclaimer: I haven’t read all the replies. I was raised in a modesty culture church. My parents didn’t really have rules for me, but church camps and such really harped on it. I never used the word modesty with my girls. I talked about clothes being appropriate for church or home or weather. Talked about clothes being practical for activities (mine swim in boyshorts and long sleeves rash guards because they chose that over sunscreen when they were little and now it’s habit). When we buy clothes, I give feedback on whether an outfit is age-appropriate. I deem clothes inappropriate for my teens if they are excessively tight or revealing. The older my girls get, the more lenient I’ve become...but they are still pretty conservative in their clothing choices.

I just have stockings for me, my DH, two kids, and the cat (who gets snacks and treats). My mom has stockings for me and my brother…our spouses….and our kids. That’s 12 stockings (up from the original, nuclear family 4). IDK what I’ll do. If it isn’t a hardship, I like the “more is merrier” approach.

After a semester of mediocre (at best) and frustrating DE courses (composition and world Civ), where my daughter came out having learned absolutely nothing but how to get by, we’re making the switch to CLEP. I hope to use it as a means of end-of-semester assessment, while actually teaching the info before doing quick preps.

This is how DH’s foo is. Present opening at their house is absolute chaos — no pausing to say thanks or acknowledge anything. No appreciation of a gift before chunking it aside to open the next. I hate it so much. Because of the above, when we’re at home we take turns opening gifts, and everyone gets to see it and ooh and ahh over it.

My FOO didn’t wrap the things that Santa brought. DH always thought this was strange, and I never knew any other family that did this! All the gifts were displayed, and my brother and I would sneak out super early and see everything Santa brought. (I wrap everything now.) Stockings are mostly food items so no wrapping. Sometimes there’s small gifts - those are wrapped.

My manga kid is getting a couple of volumes of Saturn Apartments. My plant kid is getting a succulent guide, as well as Beatles for the Ukulele. I bought myself the most recent illustrated Harry Potter. And several kindle books with my “no rush shipping” credits.

Ideally, it does take 1-2 weeks to clear up. But there’s a decently high % of relapse, especially in situations where the immune system is weakened. It is possible she’ll be fine. It’s also possible she will relapse.

Cranberry white chocolate oatmeal cookies. (I add walnuts.) https://www.livewellbakeoften.com/white-chocolate-cranberry-oatmeal-cookies/ And my kids like these Almond Joy balls. https://gluesticksblog.com/chocolate-coconut-bites-are-decadent-and-delicious/

Oh boy. It’s all fun and games til everyone is pooping uncontrollably. 😱 I hope, for your family’s sake, that it doesn’t spread. Yikes.