DECEMBER 2023 WISH dancing through the holidays

[Summer2018]

Hosting my family for brunch was such a pleasure. We started with English crackers and laughed looking at each other wearing our paper crowns as we read the silly jokes aloud. The toys were fun. I made two of my low fat quiches which were the only healthy items on the menu. I cooked sausage links and patties in my electric frying pan and added the bacon after baking it to keep it warm. Pastries and muffins were from Panera. I set up a waffle station with my Minnie/Mickey double flip waffle maker which turned out to be a big hit. My family brought fresh NYC bagels. We enjoyed mimosas, prosecco and champagne. Our presents were a hit. My sugar cookies were for dessert. We really enjoyed catching up with each other.

Most of all, I am so grateful that we all stayed healthy enough to actually celebrate Christmas together this year. The past couple of weeks have been so stressful as everyone at school around me were dropping like flies with Covid and horrible stomach viruses. I faithfully wore my mask everywhere. Kids and adults alike got way too close to me as they told me they felt sick...(Then why are you in school?! and why aren't you at the very least wearing a mask?!). People can be really funny about masks...it bugs them when others wear them to protect themselves. Many of my colleagues became sarcastic and asked me if I planned on wearing my mask at home with my family too. My response was, “Of course not. My family is the reason I'm wearing the mask…to stay healthy for them. When they arrive, there will be no masks, just lots of hugs all day long.” In October when I caught the common cold from a coworker, it stayed a mild cold for her. For me, it was an entire week out of school and the nightmare side effects from prednisone, the only medicine which would get me better. If wearing a mask every day keeps me from getting that sick again, so be it.

Bottom line? My Christmas hasn't been this good for a few years...I wouldn’t change a thing.

 

[ShannyMcB]

Christmas eve and day were a mix of highs and lows. Mostly highs but there was one relative who missed Christmas eve dinner due to feeling ill (ok) but instead of calling or facetiming to say hi she was sending random text messages to different people then yesterday sent a text chain complaining no one contacted her even though she was called and texted by a few folks (myself included) and it just turned into a thing....so sad when one person decides to have a pity party even though others are going through some rough things.
Aside from that it was a couple nice days. Kids had fun and adults had some good laughs. DS8 spent Christmas eve watching the norad app and updating everyone on Santa's progress. Good food all around. Yesterday morning I made pog juice and the kids had juice and we had pog-mosas. Last night though my immune system just gave up and the stuffy nose I've been trying to fight off slammed into me. Fortunately for me the kids slept in a little so I was able to sleep past 7 today which helped.
Took the kids to the zoo today for some fresh air and DD waved at every animal she saw...so freakin cute. Tonight DS11 has a bowling party. We'll have to figure out something to do tomorrow as DH and I have the day off again. Back to work for Thursday and Friday.

 

[PAsFab5]

So glad to catch up on everyone’s Christmas celebrations! Sounds like things went pretty well for everyone!

We had a great Christmas! My sister in law, the Queen of Christmas Eve, did an amazing job as always! Nice to spend time with family, laugh and make memories

Christmas Day was great-it was my kids and their spouses, DH and my daughter in law’s family. Absolutely had a great day with one another.

I have mentioned before that I struggle with my relationship with my parents and a few of my siblings. Friday started with unexpected cards/gifts and Christmas Day there was a few unexpected texts. I continuously struggle with what is real and what is manipulation. It was comforting to come here and read that we all had a lot of joy but also experienced family/work/friend challenges!

 

[Summer2018]

WOO HOO WEDNESDAY

 

[Summer2018]

WOO HOO! for being off from school to not only recover from Christmas, but to recover from the month of December at school which was nuts…actually to recover from the first three months of school which are the most difficult and challenging months of the school year.

From here on out, there will certainly be challenges, especially with upcoming winter weather. Experience has taught me that those challenges will be easier to handle because my students are now a fully functioning team that works with me to educate them.

 

[Oneanne]

Woohoo... for another short work week, with work being a relative term since so many people are off and it is so quiet.

Woohoo... yesterday I updated the spreadsheet where I track exercise minutes, weight etc. I didn't use it at all in December and it shows on the scale. Yesterday I got in 45 minutes of exercise, including doing an arm video and getting in a walk at the beach.

Woohoo... for January being a totally open month with no holidays or celebrations. All I "have" to do in Jan is take care of myself and my health.

 

[newski_mom]

I'm back after a few days completely unplugged. I got caught up on reading everyone's posts - glad to hear things went smoothly for the most part for everyone. Christmas can be so much fun, but also challenging at times.

We had a very nice Christmas - it was good to have yesterday off to have a day to kind of chill out before coming back to work. Yesterday DH and I went to the movies to see The Boys in the Boat. It was excellent and I would highly recommend seeing if you get the chance. We hadn't seen any movies for a few weeks, and I feel like we have a lot of them to catch up on.

My WooHoo for today is the short work weeks - this week and next week. We get two days off for Christmas and this year we got Monday and Tuesday off since Christmas Eve was on a Sunday. We get Monday off next week for New Year's Day, so anothe short week!

 

[PollyannaMom]

WooHoo for low expectations this week in the housework department! I did manage to straighten up all the Christmas boxes/bags/wrapping stuff and get that put away this morning, but I'm taking my time with stuff and doing what I'm in the mood for each day.

 

[PAsFab5]

Whooohoooo for Wednesday!! DH and I are off all week using up the last of our vacation time for the year. Yesterday was literally a day of recovery for me. I did clean the kitchen so I could function but outside of that I read, napped and ate leftovers!!

Today I walked small dogs at the spca and DH came and walked big dogs. I need to be cleared by my Dr before walking big dogs again since I have stiches from my melanoma removal. Got 4 miles and 12k steps which felt great, especially since I cannot workout until at least 1/3/24 when my stitches come out.

It’s a rainy day here but not too cold which is surprising!

 

[ShannyMcB]

Woowhoo for slow and steady progress from DS8 and DD. DS8 is reacting well to his adhd meds and it is so wonderful to see his creativity shine through. And DD is making slow but steady strides in speech, potty training and generally being more social. Better late than never here...between her waving at zoo animals and greeting a relative she hasn't seen in years with a big huh after we told her it was ok it's so amazing.

 

[Summer2018]

 

[ShannyMcB]

Thankful DD didn't freak when she lost her first tooth! Literally lost pretty sure it was swallowed. She started biting a towel (not something she normally does) and was kind of fussy but we chalked it up to being overtired from the last few days. A few hours later she was belly laughing and I noticed something odd...she kind of smirked...I made her open her mouth and sure enough a tooth sized hole!

 

[piglet1979]

It sounds like everyone had a pretty good holiday. It was nuts here last week. I was sure I was not going to get everything done. I am very thankful to Elizabeth for helping me wrap and bake and Jeff for keeping up with the dishes. Nick wasn't able to help to much as he had his wisdom teeth out on the 20th and he was sleeping a lot the first few days.

The parties all went pretty good but we did have some ups and downs. I host Jeff's family on Christmas Eve and his grandfather (his step dad's dad) wasn't up to celebrate this year. His wife died right before Christmas about 12ish years ago and his girlfriend now was in the hospital and it was all too much for him. Thankfully it sounds like she is doing good and will make a full recovery. The Jeff's grandmother was in a mood. One of the first things out of her mouth is that she should have stayed home and no more then 5 minutes later said next time she is just staying home. From then on she didn't talk to anyone and had others open her gifts. The rest of us had a good time though.

I did get a surprise. My dad came up from Kentucky. That was really nice. We also had a great time at my moms. Kids also got everything wanted and had a great time too.

Christmas night Nick started with a headache and yesterday he had a fever with alternating Tylenol and Advil. We are keeping a close eye one his temp as in the past a few times he has gotten 105 temps. So far he has gotten up to 102. I took him to the doctor today since he had a sore throat with white spots. Rapid strep test was negative (it is never positive for him). We will see what the 24 hour on says. Dr. is unsure what it is. She threw out Mono, hand foot and mouth and just a plain old virus. We just need to treat symptoms right now. We are keeping him in his room as much as possible because we are trying to keep Elizabeth from getting sick. She leaves on the 2nd to go to Universal with my sister for a few days.

The rest of the week we are just resting and hoping the illness stops at Nick and that his fever brakes soon.

 

[DisFam95]

Hello - I need help! I was part of this forum many years ago but I'm at my highest weight ever and I need to regroup and refocus. The last 3 years have bene hard w moving away from home (Texas to Florida), mom passing away, taking care of Dad, and then back to TX and buying a crap house in a crap housing market and dealing w a 1 year reno. Yes I have many things to be thankful for and I try and focus on the positives for sure but I have let!! myself!! go!! for sure! Every week saying I'll get it together next week.

I've just skimmed a little but is this the right place for support. Just looking for a place to keep my focus on my goals.

 

[Summer2018]

Hello - I need help! I was part of this forum many years ago but I'm at my highest weight ever and I need to regroup and refocus. The last 3 years have bene hard w moving away from home (Texas to Florida), mom passing away, taking care of Dad, and then back to TX and buying a crap house in a crap housing market and dealing w a 1 year reno. Yes I have many things to be thankful for and I try and focus on the positives for sure but I have let!! myself!! go!! for sure! Every week saying I'll get it together next week.

I've just skimmed a little but is this the right place for support. Just looking for a place to keep my focus on my goals.

 

[Summer2018]

I’m thankful that my biggest problem today is that the fire alarm went off in the theater and we had to evacuate in the middle of the movie, “Ferrari” in the rain. While most people are standing in the rain…why?!…we are sitting in DH’s SUV. My only real concern is that I really have to pee. Lol.

Edited to add:
Well, that was truly a farce. Due to the fire department being volunteer, it took 45 minutes for them to respond, only about 10 minutes after the police. If it had been a real fire, the building would be gone. An hour later, they opened the doors, but nobody was allowed to return to finish the movie. The staff had no clue what they were doing and the crowd was getting bigger due to the next showings. They talked about vouchers but were doing nothing to begin the process. I got really uncomfortable in the crowd, and we just left. I emailed fandango to get a refund, but I don't have high hopes in that happening.

Oh well, could be worse.

 

[Oneanne]

Hello - I need help! I was part of this forum many years ago but I'm at my highest weight ever and I need to regroup and refocus. The last 3 years have bene hard w moving away from home (Texas to Florida), mom passing away, taking care of Dad, and then back to TX and buying a crap house in a crap housing market and dealing w a 1 year reno. Yes I have many things to be thankful for and I try and focus on the positives for sure but I have let!! myself!! go!! for sure! Every week saying I'll get it together next week.

I've just skimmed a little but is this the right place for support. Just looking for a place to keep my focus on my goals.

Welcome! This is a very supportive space and I hope we'll be able to help you focus on your goals.

 

[Oneanne]

Today I am thankful for how easy it is to gain access to needed information and how the right information keeps showing up at the right time.

A week or so ago I realized that my ADHD doesn't just impact my eating with the sugar abuse, it is also the root cause for not cooking for myself, high carb food choices and throwing away so much food - a lot that was an impulse buy when at the grocery store that then never gets eaten. I follow an ADHD nutritionist on IG and went back thru to actually read her posts and the responses, which got me very excited about potentially signing up for one of her group sessions. But when I looked into it, it is very expensive so not for me right now. Instead I've been going back to the basics on ADHD management and refreshing knowledge of general tips and hacks which I can then apply to food management. I listened to two podcasts yesterday and ordered a new book.

Got my covid booster yesterday, he told me he hasn't heard of anyone who has had a negative reaction to it and I responded I really hadn't had a reaction to any of the others, so guess what... yep, body aches and chills. Not too bad, just enough to make last night a tough sleep night. But I'm thankful that we have them and that I could get boosted before my upcoming big trip.

And I'm grateful for being able to stream tv shows, I'm binge watching the crime drama "Shetland" again, where the locations are a big part of the stories, so it feels like taking a vacation to Scotland... where people mysteriously die.

 

[PAsFab5]

Thankful to be off work today and getting some things done!

I volunteered at the SPCA this morning and then started to clean/rearrange my office. I share my home office with my daughters senior bunny who sheds 10xs more in her old age then she ever did so I need to rearrange her living space to make fur clean up easier. I think I have a good idea of what will work but I need to continue to clean/dust/purge then rearrange all the furniture before I will know for sure!

Did grocery pick up for New Year’s Day and a few stops to get my daughter in law bday stuff for tomorrow. Thankful to celebrate her birthday with her tomorrow and take her out to lunch, she has requested hibatchi!

Have a great Thursday everyone!!

 

[PAsFab5]

Hello - I need help! I was part of this forum many years ago but I'm at my highest weight ever and I need to regroup and refocus. The last 3 years have bene hard w moving away from home (Texas to Florida), mom passing away, taking care of Dad, and then back to TX and buying a crap house in a crap housing market and dealing w a 1 year reno. Yes I have many things to be thankful for and I try and focus on the positives for sure but I have let!! myself!! go!! for sure! Every week saying I'll get it together next week.

I've just skimmed a little but is this the right place for support. Just looking for a place to keep my focus on my goals.

Welcome!!!!!!!