missy…thinking of you and sending many blessings your way. We will keep you and your family in our prayers, May you and your Mom find some comfort in the prayers and love around you during this season of peace and joy. Take care of yourself, too!
Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays to all of you! May you be surrounded by the joy of the Season!
Merry Christmas to all of you who celebrate. Good luck in Canuckistan.
MP, sorry to hear about your mother and best of luck with her recovery. With luck, maybe she’ll become happier or more grateful at the end of this.
We went to an Ethiopian place last night with ShawSon and to Star Wars IMAX 3D with ShawSon and ShawD. They are gems. ShawWife is feeling left out when it is just ShawSon, her and me. He tends to talk to me about business stuff and not really address things to her. So, she feels a little left out. ShawSon is a) hyper-focused as always, in this case on his business ideas and business success; b) given that he is in similar academic fields to me (I was in statistics and taught at a business school and he is studying data science (though he focuses on computational and mathematical engineering); and c) know the business world pretty well, we have a natural connection, he naturally moves to talk with me. She can understand the ideas in part a, not so much b, and isn’t fluent in c, but I need to help him help her feel more included. Any thoughts?
ShawD is working today (as she did yesterday) at her residential school. There are only 5 kids living there over Christmas, and a couple are very sad because the parents are choosing not to take them out even though they could.
My dad had work schedules that often required him to fly on Christmas or other holidays, so we pretty frequently rescheduled those dinners accordingly. (And, in one of those really nice things, Jewish pilots often volunteered to trade with Gentiles with little kids for trips that spanned Christmas, and vice versa on the high holy days. )
D really surprised us with a Christmas gift of an envelope of cash neatly itemized for a very, very nice weekend away.
After having the whole extended family here for Thanksgiving, Christmas was very quiet, but lovely. It turned into a white Christmas starting about 5 last night – 2" of the fluffy white stuff. Very pretty.
MP – I hope your mom is stabilized and that you get some rest. Good that she was with you rather than at home. We really are the sandwich generation. 
Hello all. I got 6 hours of sleep last night so I feel better than I did the last couple of nights. Mom is up and down, generally much better but if there is power in positive thinking, she reaps the opposite. So negative. So negative to everyone and about everything.
I stepped away for 3 hours in the middle of yesterday so we could open presents. Fiance’s parents invited everyone over to eat yesterday. The timing didn’t work out Christmas for dinner but they went over for ham sandwiches in the evening. So nice of them to extend the invitation!
I am going to get other family members to be with mom for a few hours so I can cook Christmas dinner tonight for H’s birthday.
So sorry about the negativity.
I still can get a stomach ache when I remember how my own Mother treated people trying to help her.
Many hugs to you.
Is there a diagnosis?
Happy B-day to your H.
Remember that it will not help your mother or anyone else if you do not take care of yourself.
I hope the hospital is close by.
Sorry to hear about your mother’s negativity, mp. Hope you were able to have the birthday dinner for your H.
Had a nice time in NYC, but as S said 'it didn’t really feel like Christmas". I know he would rather be at home and have his sister here, but with her married our new reality is that she will not always be here on holidays. Drive back today was very long and then H blew a tire on his car when we went to pick up the dog. Glad there is another day before we go back to work.
Blown tire? Yikes! Inconvenient and dangerous!
Son and H spent 3 hours with Mom so I could cook. We also had younger D’s BF for dinner because his flight out of town was cancelled due to weather.
Our tornado sirens didn’t go off. The tornadoes were to the east. Older D and I were cooking, drinking wine and jamming to the Hamilton soundtrack while all the scary weather was going on.
Hugs to you, MP! I’m glad to hear your mom was not alone…and Shaw, I’m glad to hear your daughter was there for those unfortunate residents. How sad…
Christmas was sweet but way too short for me. This is the first time in years that I’m not on the school schedule and will have to be at work this week. But I took the week off before Christmas and had a wonderful time with the kids and H doing all sorts of one on one things. S is the quite the cook and did most of the Christmas dinner…D is great at cleanup! 
H woke me this AM to say that there was a bat in the skylight where we nestle the tree. I think the bat came in with the tree. It was sound asleep and hanging upside down on the skylight windowsill. We put on our protective (winter) gear and got a fishing net from the garage…quick work!
Going into Flushing later today for dinner with the S’s GF and my sister. If you don’t know, Flushing is the real Chinatown in NYC nowadays. If anyone ever wants a restaurant recommendation, let me know! And Happy New Year to all!
I hope you got pictures, Woody.
When I was very little we went to visit one of my dad’s aged aunts in Flushing, and I remember crying because the name scared me…I guess I was envisioning some endless toilet bowl action, or something? I’ll look for some restaurant recommendations for Chinese when we visit D late this spring. (Though, given the current weather in NYC, late this spring sounds like…today.) Have fun!
MP – I hope your mom is doing better. Any chance of her moving into AL?
She hates (hates!) the idea of AL, an apartment and the like. Her “fix” is for my sister to move in with her. They would NOT get along!
arabrab- your “Flushing” comment cracked me up. I might take you up on the restaurant recs sometime, woody.
Happy New Year!
The “parade of neuroses” was more like a 72-hour marathon, but there was some fun mixed in there…and of course, a wee bit o drama nonetheless, love my sibs most days so I’ll take it.
T-minus 5 sleeps to the birthday cruise and I have a lot of work to fit into the next few days!
I’m also sad to say that I’m having a wardrobe crisis bar none on summer clothes, which means a major return to the wagon is in order Of course, that won’t help me fit into anything cute between now and Saturday, so somewhere in there ill be on a mission to find “fat” crop pants in winter. Hi ho!
That’s one problem with a trip to warm weather in winter. I once took a November beach vacation and didn’t even remember to bring a beach bag. Good luck on your quest for pants!
D left last night - we were very busy while she was here. Saw The Nutcracker (24th), the Rockettes at Radio City Music Hall (25th), and the play King Charles III (26th). She also squeezed in a couple of museums.
Christmas dinner turned out well, despite my ineptitude. I got a new meat thermometer but didn’t realize it wasn’t the kind you can leave in the oven. The aroma of melting plastic was a quick clue.
Our crazy warm weather is becoming slightly more seasonal today - today’s high around 39-40.
I’ve heard that King Charles III is really good.
Mom’s procedure is already over. No major blockage. Will just treat with meds. She was always so proud of how few pills she took (fewer than I do) but by refusing to take care of conditions with meds she has had to go through all of this.
The woman just won’t nap. Even still a bit drugged she keeps talking. Yesterday she didn’t nap the entire 15 hours I was with her. I thought that I would get to nap as I was "sitting " with her.
But don’t yall worry about her… I am outwardly the essence of patience and sweetness.
Older D is being very cold and distant to me. I know that this was NOT the trip home she had anticipated but I feel like when I get home I should be treated like a hero. Ah well, an Imperfect Christmas for the record books!
Stopping by to check in. I guess most of New England is getting their first snow/sleet of the season, but here at the shore it’s all just rain and wind.
mp – sorry to hear of all the trials with your mom, but good to hear her condition isn’t more serious. And, yes, you should indeed be treated like a hero/saint when you get home.
kmc – I’m all too familiar with having a winter wardrobe crisis. H wants to spend the month of February in FL, so I’m hoping by then I’ll fit back into my shorts and capris. (Have I mentioned H’s plan previously? Thinks it will be fun to drive down with a dog who gets car sick …)
woody – when we lived in Fairfield County, CT we went to Flushing quite a few times for Chinese food. Both D & S were/are pretty adventurous eaters and loved going to dim sum. Once time we took a HS friend of D’s – she (and her whole family) were pretty much “meat & potatoes” eaters. Needless to say she hated everything that came around on the dim sum cart.
Our Christmas went off as scheduled. Really missed S – he’s just so far away! We did FaceTime with him, which helped some. We’re planning to go visit him in April – and of course do some other sightseeing while we’re over there, with a several day stopover in HI on the way home. H has enough miles for the various flights, with some upgrades for the longest legs.
Our whacky dog, Kiley, seems to have discovered the Christmas tree this year and had been trying to eat ornaments. Honestly, she’s worse than a toddler! (Good thing she’s cute.)
Let me tell you about the real heroes at my house: Son and H took turns giving younger D her pain meds every 80 minutes all through the night. I seriously could not have done that! Love it when people rise to the occasion! Younger D says (texts) that Son is a fantastic nurse.
Yay for the guys “stepping up”. Hope your D2 is feeling better.
Wait – what happened to your younger D, MP? Two ill in the family just doesn’t bear thinking.
Arabrab, younger D had a tonsillectomy yesterday morning. It had been scheduled since July. She is doing well and is now taking her own meds. But yes, what a day and night we had.
What is interesting about our topsy turvy Christmas is that this was to be our last to do Christmas totally “our way” before having a DIL in the mix. Nothing like a major disruption to keep all in perspective!
I realize that I have been selfish in not commenting on others’ posts. I have been reading them all and wish you all the best.