What did you "get" for Christmas?

[kimmerspixelated]

What was the best thing about your weekend?
What was the worst thing?

But it's all good, right Rick? Gifts are everywhere.

[Kookaburra]

1. A lot of love from friends and family

We didn't exchange gifts this year, but we did get together for a feasting and having fun. We ate and we drank and we sang, and now that the dishes are done and left-overs in the fridge, we're sitting here, happy to know we are loved.

(Okay, I did get a really nasty burn on my left index finger, but I don't think that's what you're looking for)

[Avalux]

2. I got 3 hours alone with my 90 old grandmother, listening to stories of when she was young.....

she's failing; and hurt her ankle during the day while at my mom and dad's house. I drove her home after dinner and decided to spend the evening with her because I didn't want her to be alone; also realized when I come back to visit at Christmas next year she may not be here. Best present I could have every received...

[Lucinda]

5. I'm glad you got the chance to spend time with her

Other than her injury, it sounds like the perfect way to spend the day. I hope she is feeling better today.

[BlueIris]

3. Enlightenment.

Namely, my family is not what I thought it was. It is time to move on.

Strength. I have felt a boost of it from...somewhere this weekend. That could get interesting.

New skills. I learned a few practical things about life management in the last 48 hours.

[Howler]

4. A big oh hairy mess to clean up! LOL!

Would someone please tell me why you clean the house BEFORE your family and guest's arrive.????
When you know between the gift exchange,The booze and the food there is gonna be one whopping big mess to clean up after!!!.
I mopped my kitchen floor and there still is a stickey spot i'm gonna have to go back over.

HA! HA! But my little four year old niece and her 3 year old sister didnt bring down the christmas tree this year like they did last year pulling the candy canes off.Mr Howler bolted that tree in. LOL! But they happile stripped it completely bare of candy canes as far up as their little arms could reach.

I do. I really love this time of year! I do. I really hate this time of year.
LMAO!!!
All in all I'm glad its over and Mr Howler and I can rest and rejuvenate

[Lucinda]

6. Sounds like a wonderful, chaotic time!

[Howler]

7. Hey Lucinda!

My faveriot thing about christmas this year is Mr Howler put together the penguin olive recipe you posted (I'm gonna post the pictures for you over in the cooking group) we didnt do the little scarves though.

Mr Howler Called them my "Minions" LOL!!!!! Everytime I looked at them in passing they made me smile!
You so rock Lucinda! Thank you!

[Lucinda]

8. LOL Minions! I love that!

Can't wait to see the pics!

[Celebration]

9. the weekend

Best thing--Christmas Eve over at friend's house--we rarely see them because right now we live in different cities. Much fun to get portions of our two families together. Plus I only had to make dessert, LOL

Worst thing-- well the sore throat I got a few days ago hasn't completely left me (although the worst part of it left before Christmas Eve).

Really lots of fun things up here in Seattle with my new baby granddaughter!

[MorningGlow]

12. Ohhhh not that virus!

Take it easy, C. I had that--it starts with a wicked sore throat that lasts for a week at least, then segues into a virus with a cough that lingers for weeks. My son's pediatrician said she's known the cough to last for a month with some people.

[Celebration]

22. Good gosh

Ok I am going to will that to stay far away from me. I have been doing every home remedy at Earth Clinic, including a homemade syrup of onions and brown sugar. I think I stripped the shelves of elderberry. Definitely much much better, but....

[Remember Me]

30. In my experience, elderberry is great but a multi-pronged approach works best

http://www.herbal-cures.org/imagine-my-chagrin.html

[Celebration]

36. I took the maximum plus of a bunch of stuff

including oregano, EmergenC, plus I made myself cayenne tea, and drank a ton of lime juice and water. Anyway, never had fever, my sore throat was only bad for one afternoon. It came and went for about four days. I was taking the herbal stuff regularly. In retrospect the cayenne and the lime juice in water kept it from reasserting itself. If it felt scratch I knew I was slacking on that.

Usually I don't take this much of an aggressive approach, but there was a newborn baby around! I stayed out of the house completely for 24 hours, and for another 24 hours didn't pick her up. After that I really didn't feel I was contagious.

Okay, now but still taking oregano and lime juice and water.

[kentauros]

10. A rotten, hollow log!

My father found it for me after I walked all over their property looking for the same. He already had one in mind and I passed right by it. Then we split it in half, knocked all the really rotten and wet stuff out (and the spiders) and now I have two nice hollow-log planters

The worst thing I brought with me: this lingering bronchitis. However, I still have some remedies I haven't tried (already did the antibiotics, twice this month) as well as getting outside more often. Now that I have a container-gardening project, that shouldn't be a problem

[MorningGlow]

11. Another Christmas with my mom

At her age (87), that's the most important thing.

[Proud_Lefty]

16. Yay. Cherish each moment.

Nothing better in life than a mom and a dad. Mine have been gone for a while now and I'm so happy I cherished those moments, even with the clinched teeth (at times). I'd give anything for another moment. Hope she's in good health.

[orleans]

20. you're so lucky

i lost my mom three xmases ago--she'd be 88 now.
i did cherish my time with her
my life hasn't been the same
and i want my old life back so much

[rosesaylavee]

28. Sorry you are sad

My mom has been gone for 22 years this coming February. Unbelievable to think its been that long! But the pain and heartache do lessen over time. I still miss her but its not so heart wrenching.

edit to add - she would have been 88 too. She passed at 67 from COPD (dreadful way to go).

[kimmerspixelated]

13. Oh, Wow!

I love everyone's stories and heart shares!

[teenagebambam]

14. I got a re-connection with my cousins on my mother's side

Haven't seen them all in the same place for about 25 years; hadn't met a lot of their children. The children I HAD met were in diapers the last time I saw them, and now are fantastic and interesting adults.

Likewise, since I am the youngest cousin, lots of them hadn't ever spent time with ME as an adult. Or met my partner (I'm the only gay in the family. That I know of.)

Downsides: we were there for my Uncle's second wedding...his first wife died less than a year ago, and his children aren't altogether comfortable with the timing of the wedding. Plus there was a stomach flu going around the family which my mother has apparently inherited.

Upsides: Lots of great food, and the aforementioned re-connection, and most of the family are fantastic musicians specializing in "Old-Time" music (=early Appalachian, pre-dating Bluegrass.)

[Ricochet21]

15. reconnection to old old family in Italy

ritual, traditions, stories, passing of the torch
pictures of the ships that made it thru Gibraltar
it's all good

[Kind of Blue]

17. Wow!

Wondering if you've been there, Rick. I saw an HGTV House Hunter Int'l a few months ago about a family trying to buy a house in Italy in their ancestral town. It was just moving how much it meant to the father/husband for his children to be physically in touch with the land always, after his parents' home was lost many years ago.

[Ricochet21]

25. I've been there twice

Awesome people and food.
Want to go back with my son and Liza someday! It's really beautiful

[Kind of Blue]

18. I got an early present of an easel/computer table.

And best of all, my whole family alive and well! And, of course, my mother spilling my teen/young adult business to my husband as usual -ugh- the things she remembers

[OneGrassRoot]

21. ...

Bless you, Tumbulu.

[Tumbulu]

27. Thanks, OneGrassRoot

the lamb is great- the barn did not burn or even get hot, the lamp made a huge difference and I feel so much happier to be done with the emotional expectation baggage I carry on Christmas

[OneGrassRoot]

23. Maybe the most memorable thing ever...

My daughter, home from college, told me I'm her best friend.

[Tumbulu]

26. That is wonderful!

[Melissa G]

37. That is so great!

Mine is in the tearing away stage... It's painful, but mostly I have a sense of humor about it.
Like childbirth, it needs to happen.

Happy for you, that your daughter has flown back in her adult stage. You must feel so proud!

Great Job, Mom!

[GardeningGal]

24. A backed up sink - why does that always happen at the holidays?

Still trying to get it opened up without calling a plumber.

The best thing though is that my nephew's son (is that a grand or great for me - never sure) had dangerously low platelets and after a couple days in the hospital getting a couple of infusions, he seems better. We'll know tomorrow if they're staying up where they belong.

[rosesaylavee]

29. I got the gift of going with the flow

and learning to not get my shorts so much in a bunch when things just don't turn out as planned. In fact, things turned out better than I had planned.

[GliderGuider]

31. My busted elbow was the gift that kept on giving.

For Christmas it gave me two more uninterrupted days to spend with my beloved. No visiting, no traveling, and the only gifts we exchanged were the gifts of our time and attention.

[Remember Me]

32. I received a remarkable lesson, kinda humbling

My ex-husband (my son's father) and his 3rd wife and her 8-yr. old grandson for whom they have custody since his mother is still apparently an addict, are here. Frankly, the man caused me enough grief before, during and after the divorce that I really didn't want to see him. BUT, they're here for a long time -- from the week before Thanksgiving to mid-January. I ended up caving enough to invite them over for "dessert" on Thanksgiving but they declined because they thought the boy might be disruptive.

He came over one morning with my son, and not realizing it, I went outside and saw him. We all lived through it.

After t hat, my son invited us over for Christmas and I knew I was trapped. No way out. (Normally, I cook - blech -- and my son and his wife come eat with us.)

So, we went. I took some desserts and token gifts for people, and a nice little gift for the boy. And it was all very pleasant. The food was okay -- quite a spread and my ex-husband basically did it all, with only minor help from others.

We all had a chance to talk and I learned what he's been through. This former Army Infantry officer, Ranger and all that, got prostrate cancer and the Army nearly killed him from the surgery -- he was paralyzed for 2 years and had to "regrow" his leg muscles and he lost some brain function from oxygen deprivation during the surgery... and then his mother was sick with Alzheimer's and he did a lot to care for her. And somewhere along the line lost his real estate business and so had to go through bankruptcy. And after his mother died he got his Nursing Assistant certificate and spent time working in small group homes with elderly patients.

I said, "I never would have thought of you as a caregiver...??" He said the 2 years disabled changed his mind a lot about that issue whereas before he was a hardass about people not being able to do things, thinking they just weren't trying hard enough. And there was no money in the work as a nursing assistant ($9/hr), but it was tremendously rewarding, "just to see them smile." At which point he teared up.

His wife seems very nice, and the boy is darling and was perfectly well-behaved while we were there.

So, I'm left with shock and awe over how incredibly ignorant of me it was to imagine that people don't/can't/couldn't/wouldn't change in 20 or more years (since I last saw him at my son't h.s.graduation), with the potential to change profoundly!! And how miserly I was -- how much I cheated myself (as well as everyone else) in closing my heart off to that possibility, and to the potential for warmth and friendship -- and forgiveness. Oh, yes, forgiveness.

I am so very sorry.

So clearly, it was a very beautiful Christmas, if rather humbling.

[GliderGuider]

33. What a wonderful Christmas gift!

And how graciously you accepted it!

The universe gives the very best gifts of all, doesn't it?

[Howler]

34. Thats absolutely beautiful Remember Me!

And I agree with GliderGuider you handled it very gracefully.

[OneGrassRoot]

35. Yes, I echo that sentiment...

that you handled it with grace, and love.

How wonderful.

[Melissa G]

38. Beautiful story. Thanks for sharing.

Glad you have better feelings about your family- ex and otherwise, to carry around with you.