I'm leaning toward Reservations.

We were buying a car recently. I asked sellers to meet us at my mechanic's shop to see the car. I got a few people who were just weird in their responses " I can meet you at x time but only at "place near my house" or I cant meet you at any of the times suggested, no counter suggestions.. I just stopped looking at their car at that point.

https://letgrow.org/resources/crime-stats/

My kids were too old for Kiwi Crates when they came out but we have subscribed to both Tinker Crate and Eureka Crate. I never had a disappointing experience with them (I did receive a crate with a missing piece, they handled it quickly and easily) ... we have loved every crate we have done. I'm really kind of shocked at your experience! How terribly disappointing!

I'm the OP, and I *am* a MIL with a married son. They lived across the country last year, will only be 8 hours drive away this year, and will be across the Atlantic for the next Three Years (he's an Air Force Pilot). They know they are always welcome at our home, for any holiday or none and that I love making things a celebration -- just not the crowds... the challenge is actually that if they were home they'd want to participate in the big, crazy family thing -- and I don't. LOL I would probably give in for his sake. He's very close to my mother. LOL But one of the reasons I've decided to BREAK the big family holiday traditions (skipping Thanksgiving and traveling for Christmas) is to relieve any pressure on them that they should "Come Home." We're not going to be here, and we're not going to do that. If I'm not doing it, the extended family can't expect them to do so. So, they should come when it makes sense for them and we can celebrate together ANY TIME. We've already sidestepped a lot in the past because we had custody expectations pulling our older sons to their dad's. I think this is one of those things where all the traditions may shift as more and more commonly kids have Great Grandparents and ... adult children have living parents, stepparents, grandparents, etc... By the time I had children, both of my grandmothers had passed... my own parents had moved across the country from their siblings, etc. So I didn't have all the extended family and I STILL had a hard time figuring out how to face dividing time between ILs and parents . I find it very unreasonable for parents of adult children to place these expectations on their children, and moreso for parents of children who HAVE adult children.

I have loved Helena Bonham Carter since Lady Jane. Man.... she is SO GOOD. This season was really well done.

If access to English books is an issue, have you considered a nice e-reader? A Kindle Paperwhite would make an amazing gift and offer access to a world of great books.

Loving it. The new cast is fabulous. Princess Anne seems a bit of an older casting and I was glad to finally see Andrew and Edward a bit. So good.

I use a carpe diem planner by simple stories ... These inserts Simple Stories Say Cheese III Planner Insert https://www.amazon.com/dp/B06XNM6GM6/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_i_Cs10Db460G6T5 Carpe Diem Planner Essential Horizontal Format Weekly Inserts https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01JTT8FA4/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_i_7s10DbXR0F6P8 This binder Carpe Diem by Simple Stories Bloom Clover A5 Planner Boxed Set https://www.amazon.com/dp/B072RTX6G1/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_i_sq10DbSBC7XZQ (This cover is cheap on walmart now and other colors on amazon and scrapbook.com )

I wear my tennis shoes in the parks. The two most important factors are 1) wear broken in, not new, shoes and 2) swap between at least 2 different pairs. Wearing the same shoes every day for that kind of long walking and standing on concrete is really hard on you- creates pressure points and hot spots where the shoes rub you, your stance is affected, etc.

Especially dramatic family holidays? I'm skipping Thanksgiving - my cousin is hosting. He hosted last year. They are very welcoming and I love them... but they have dogs and my brother is living there, with his cat... to which I, my DH and DS 14 are all allergic... and there's smoking (I'm asthmatic) and I hate big family gathering events. And theres drama and.... In the past I've participated because I felt I owed it to my parents or to my kids but.... I'm over it. Anybody else over it?

Lori, I think you're mixing your parks. Magic Kingdom has both hard ticket Halloween and Christmas parties. Disneyland only offers hard ticket Halloween parties (and as of this year, those are in DCA not DLR). Disneyland does not have a hard ticket Christmas party. Rise of the Resistance will open in Florida in December. But is slated for mid January in California. For maxpass/fastpasses in Disneyland its one at a time. There are two exceptions - if you get fastpasses for a night show (Fantasmic/World of Color) they don't impact the others. If you book a fastpass that is MORE than two hours away, your opportunity to book another opens at two hours after the first was booked.

Sorry... to clarify- wait times average 10-20 minutes less than in FL. So today the longest wait time in Disneyland was at Matterhorn (not smugglers run!) At 110 minutes at its highest (like I said I'll be there next week so I'm watching patterns)... for Disneyland this is a SHOCKING wait time. It's pretty rare to see anything except Radiator Springs Racers or Guardians sit at over 90 minutes for any real length of time. .... top tier rides in WDW frequently see those kinds of waits. Maxpass - you can ONLY reserve fastpasses at Disneyland on the same day, and ONLY once you have entered the parks. Without maxpass, it's the legacy system - go to a kiosk near the ride, scan your ticket, get a same day fastpass return. This is because a lot of locals just "drop in" for the afternoon on a whim. They need access to popular rides. With maxpass, it's an app based system - you can book and track fastpasses for the same day only... and it only works once your ticket has been scanned into the park for the day. If you havent entered the parks, you cannot book any fastpasses. Once your maxpass has been activated for the day though you can book from your hotel, a restaurant, the other par; but only for same day. And you can book the next one as soon as your pass for the current attraction has been scanned (so I've swiped my app at Grizzly River Run in DCA, then just inside the turnstiles booked my next fastpass for Haunted Mansion Holiday in DLR before boarding GRR) ... in a park that runs on the legacy system, this is huge!

I made a small scrapbook album for a friend last week.

DH took care of this on his own before I got a chance to tell him but he did say it was a bit of a hassle and he ended up having to contact Amazon. Worth it for the discount, though.