<p>Wahoo-- yep, decades ago since Arkansas has seen snow at Christmas. Usually have some during January or Feb for northern and central part of state, never lasting more than a few days. And one Christmas there was a massive ice storm, but no snow.</p>
<p>My high school French must be rusty…don’t remember green beans terminology.</p>
<p>Oh yeah…verts…green. as in verdant pastures!</p>
<p>confetti - just got to read your post AFTER i posted and its so true! I was feeling a bit bad complaining about DS13, but I know we all have our “stuff” with our kids, who are generally great kids, and it’s great to be able to talk/vent. You are most certainly NOT crazy! :D</p>
<p>Haystack - Love that!!! I’ve always wondered what is so darned important about those 3 items that they are total must have’s if one is stranded by the weather, and now I know! ;)</p>
<p>I get our Prime Rib at Sam’s Club every year. They have marvelous meet there, better than we get at the butcher, seriously. It was $8.98/lb. I thought that was a steal!! Mine was a little over $57.</p>
<p>Pay attention to the weather over the next couple days–the entire country seems to have a nasty Christmas Day outlook–storms of all kids.</p>
<p>Spending time with family in NYC. The Sprint cell towers are still down by my parents so our cell phones can’t access the Internet. I am sharing my IPad with the kids and hubby since it is on Verizon’s plan. Lots of families are still without power here!</p>
<p>I have been trying to keep up with you all as I prepare for Christmas and D’s birthday tomorrow. So checking in…</p>
<p>Walker, you keep me rofl! Thank you!</p>
<p>keli, I’m part of the 18% as well. I had never heard of the feast of the seven fishes or haricots verts. I grew up in a rural state similar to Arkansas. We had many, many a white Christmas though.:)</p>
<p>my3gr8boyz, we are having a spiral ham as well. It cost $14.99 at the local grocery store. I agree it is very easy to do amidst all the hubbub of Christmas Day. We will have what my kids call cheesy potatoes (scalloped potatoes) along with simple other fixins. Usually spread it all out buffet style and everyone serves themselves.</p>
<p>Tomorrow for Ds birthday we will have pot roast with vegetables and her favorite red velvet cake. </p>
<p>TVenee, congratulations on your bundle of joy! So glad to hear things turned out well!</p>
<p>And on the college/scholarship front, some time ago D was named as the nominee for her hs for a larged named scholarship at our flagship. It really is an honor just to be nominated and we didn’t think the process would go any further than that. However, yesterday, she received an email inviting her to interview for an alumni panel in early January! D has no experience interviewing…yikes! She will probably be fine, but I am a little more than nervous for her. Any advice anyone has would be greatly appreciated. I am sure it will be a great experiece for her.</p>
<p>Merry Christmas to all who celebrate!</p>
<p>Blueshoe–yay for your daughter and good luck to her on the interview! I think there’s a thread on CCsomewhere about interview tips. Definitely have her do a dry run with you or someone before the actual. I’m sure she will be great.</p>
<p>blueshoe - congrats to your daughter!!! An interview in front of a panel sounds intimidating, but I’m sure she will do fine. There is a mom on here whose job is in interviewing who gave kelijake advice on her phone job interview (correct me if I’m wrong). She might have some advice for you.</p>
<p>When I hear about a child whose birthday is either the day before (as your D’s) or day after (the daughter of a friend at church) Christmas, I immediately think back to what it was like for the mom to be pregnant and in limbo during the holiday season. How was it for you? Was the birth of your D the best Christmas present ever? Also, how was it when she was little having a birthday so close to a gift-giving holiday? Do people tend to lump presents together as combo b-day/christmas presents? Hope it’s not too many questions! I just asked the same ones of the girl at church today, and she said a good thing is that if you don’t get something for Christmas, you still have another chance the next day! :)</p>
<p>This probably does not relate much to anything here, but I was wondering if anyone has an answer for this: I signed up for the January SAT and received 4 free score reports. I sent all four to schools that I am applying to and collegeboard says that they will be sent after the Jan sat and include the Jan SAT and any SAT I took previously. I was wondering whether anyone knows if these reports will still be sent if I decide not to take the Jan SATs. Will colleges only receive my previous SATs if the reports are sent?</p>
<p>Walker- great recipe.</p>
<p>We have seafood gumbo for Christmas Eve dinner. For Christmas day dinner we have ham, green beans, salad, a pineapple dish, sweet potatoes and pecan pie. And mulled wine and mimosas to drink during Christmas day.</p>
<p>Tornado: I remember someone on this thread missed the SAT and no scores were sent.</p>
<p>Swimkidsdad - seafood gumbo, yum!</p>
<p>blueshoe - congrats on the interview! Check here: <a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/college-admissions/246098-thread-college-interviews.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/college-admissions/246098-thread-college-interviews.html</a>. There are probably also suggestions in some of the Ivy League threads, and I know there are threads about specific scholarships that might have useful information if you’ve got time to dig for it.</p>
<p>Thank you keli, my3gr8boyz, and confetti! Appreciate the link!</p>
<p>my3gr8boyz, the birth of my D was indeed the best Christmas present ever! No Christmas will ever be able to top the one that she came into our lives. She has added so much joy to our lives and additional joy at this time of the year! It was difficult working this around the Christmas expectations of a four year old at home, but we managed. We brought our D home (in a Christmas stocking!) early in the afternoon on Christmas day, and convinced our S that after his nap, we were sure that Santa would have arrived. While he was sleeping, we quickly finished Santa’s business and when he awoke he was thrilled with his haul…(feeling guilty about the attention taken away from him, we may have over done it a bit:) D slept through it all. I needed a few meds:)</p>
<p>D has always thought of her birthday as a double edged sword. She loves the uniqueness of having a birthday at Christmas, but would really rather have some distance between her two favorite holidays! Her special day tends to get lost in the shuffle with relatives and friends are busy with holiday preparations and plans so she often doesn’t get to spend time with them either. A few times when she was younger, we had birthday parties in the new year when others were able to attend. Overall, though, she knows nothing different. She loves going to Christmas Eve Mass every year on her birthday and on the Eve of the birth of Christ. When she was young, she used to wear a birthday button, so the other parishners knew it was her birthday too! Thanks for asking. It gave me time to reflect upon that special Christmas Eve 18 years ago.:)</p>
<p>Getting all my pre-Christmas Eve baking done. I’m making an egg nog pound cake I found on Pinterest to use for our fondue (chocolate) tomorrow. I also found a recipe for cake batter “sugar” cookies to do cut outs. I started having the kids decorate cut out cookies on Christmas Eve several years ago because they were driving me NUTS and they have decided it’s tradition now :D.</p>
<p>The boyfriend is home. He got anxious to see DD so he texted her that his mom wanted her to deliver some presents she forgot to give before they went out of town so she said she would be over when she was done cleaning her room…2 hours later the boyfriend texted again saying the people she was supposed to “deliver the presents to” were leaving soon…DD said she got to their house, saw the BF’s stuff and was really confused until he came around the corner—she cried. She hasn’t seen him in 2 months (military).</p>
<p>Blueshoe, way to go to your D!! I know what scholarship it is, and that is fantastic!! I’m so impressed! Update after the interview, ok?</p>
<p>Thank you, wahoo! Will do!</p>
<p>blueshoe–is there a chance her HS guidance counselors might practice a mock interview with your daughter? Our GCs announced this during the Jr college night last month. Since my son is a Jr, he has not yet availed himself of this service, but I intend to suggest that he do so. Good luck and congrats to your daughter on this opportunity.</p>
<p>TVenee - Welcome to the new member of the family.</p>
<p>Blueshoe - Congratuations on the scholarship nominations and good luck for D on the interview.</p>
<p>Sorry I didn’t report back after the Vandy interview. We did the out of town portion of our holiday this weekend and left really early Sat. I don’t think my MIL was happy that we came on home. But this is the last Xmas before my baby is grown and I am going to spend it at home with my DH and DS.</p>
<p>I don’t want to jinx it, but S thinks his interview went well. After answering the “what impressed him about Vandy” question, his interviewer said that was what she loved the most about the campus too. Now to sit and wait for the next 10 to 12 weeks.</p>
<p>TV-congrats on the wonderful healthy baby! Lovely time for christmas! </p>
<p>Need advise from my so wise CC friends: D invited to an all expense paid overnight to a college she likes (top 5 but probably 4 on her list) She is waiting for her two top picks and visiting the 3rd in April. She says she would like to go on the trip and see what the kids are like, if it has the intellectual feel she fears it doesn’t and if she can handle the weather in the Northeast in February. If she knows there are two other schools she likes better (but not in yet) and the college is only offering a few kids this opportunity, is it fair to go?</p>
<p>Happy Happy everyone!</p>
<p>Hello Everyone,
Its been awhile since I was here (I think the end of August?)</p>
<p>The college process has been a bit rocky at our house and I have basically backed out of it all, except to put in my charge card number!! DD changed much of her list of schools and basically did everything on her own. I just needed to be out of the process and that included being on a message board, because I knew that would make me want to be more involved!!</p>
<p>So, as of today, she has three college acceptances (Cal State Fresno, San Diego State and Mizzou). She also applied to Cal Poly and ASU and is finishing her app for Kentucky. I was pleased she was accepted at SDSU-dd was confident she’d be accepted, because her GPA and ACT were above the average. I tried to explain when 70,000 kids apply, nothing is a guarantee, but that fell on deaf ears!!</p>
<p>Wishing everyone a joyous holiday week!</p>