It's Thursday - Merry Christmas Eve!

Good morning ladies! It's Thursday and Christmas Eve. Wasn't Thanksgiving yesterday?  Holy smokes this month flew by.

My company celebrates today and tomorrow as holidays so I actually have FOUR DAYS OFF.  Holy COW!  I love this!!

I know we don't all celebrate Christmas, but regardless, the end of the year is a bittersweet time of year for many of us.  Sweet memories for many of us, but also a time that makes us reflect back and remember loved ones who are no longer with us.  It helps me to remember the happy times so I'm loving the Christmas Memories you guys have been posting.  I posted a whopper story about Christmas Eve on Vickie's thread.  It made me laugh and cry to type it.  I hope you enjoy it - 100% true story from my childhood.  

I host Thanksgiving every year, so I get to relax and visit other people on Christmas.  Tonight, Ron, his parents and I will have an Italian American seafood dinner while watching a few Christmas movies - the old George C Scott "Christmas Carol" is a favorite.  After dinner, we will go to Ron's aunt's house for a Christmas Eve visit - "cake and coffee" which is really, drinks and silliness.  

For Christmas Eve dinner, we're planning a "caprese" salad (that's fresh mozzarella with basil and tomato), baked clams, and mussels marinara over homemade fresh pasta - but I will have it with spaghetti squash!  I just can't open that pandora's box of fresh pasta. I know I may have to face this demon at some point when I get to maintenance, but I'm not doing it today.  But I'm not going without treats - I'm just planing carefully.  I'm making sugar free, low carb (but certainly not low calorie) batch of PB2 cookies for tonight. I will make and bring  sugar free low carb pumpkin cheesecake (no crust) to bring to my sister in law's tomorrow.  My SIL hosts a full day Christmas she-bang, starting with Christmas breakfast.  Then everyone sits around watching movies: A Christmas Story, It's a Wonderful Life, etc.  When evening rolls around we have Christmas Dinner.  My stepchildren spend Christmas Eve and Christmas Morning with their mother and stepfather every year.  They return on Christmas night, in time for dessert at my SIL's.  then we will come back home and open our gifts.  It works out nicely.

Anyway, rather than sitting around eating and watching movies all day, this year I am planning to take my dog to the beach after breakfast - it's supposed to be 70+ today and tomorrow!  Weird!! Anyway, I plan to get out and exercise and get some fresh air during the day.  But today, I have a few items to get for dinner - namely, the clams, and some wine for dinner and gifting.  And then I can come home and bake the treats I am planning for myself.  

I am off all day so I will come back later to visit.  Have a great Thursday everyone!!! 

xo

Christine

Good morning Christine and my sistas to come!

My day started with a bang. Chris called in a panic. Overslept, going to be late for work, could I come to her house and dress and get the boys for the day?  So here we all are finally. Haven't had a shower yet and already Budder spilled chocolate milk all over himself. So clothes running in the wash and I'm dressed like a ragamuffin in the first things handy, but hey!  Merry Christmas!  LOL!

I haven't had a minute to read the latest Christmas stories, but I so want to. I may have to hide in the bathroom with my tablet to get a moment's peace. The minute I sit down at the computer the boys come running, wanting to play "mouse"!  If you have little ones get a subscription to ABCMouse.com.  it's worth it.

Today we are decorating cookies for Santa and dipping things in chocolate.  Chris and Mike don't get off wor****il 6 tonight so it's going to be a long day.  I'm serving finger foods  and snacks for dinner tonight, so that's easy enough. Won't stress over cooking a big meal and it doesn't matter when everyone gets here.

Merry Christmas my sweet sistas! I love you all!

Hello Vickie....sorry your day started up with a panic call from Chris. I am glad all is going well considering you look like a "ragamuffin"!! I haven't heard that term in a very long time. My mom always said that!!

Enjoy decorating cookies with the boys!! That should be a fun time!

Merry Christmas to you and yours...I love you all!!! 

Loads of love and tons of hugs.....connie d 

Good morning!

Im still in the hospital! Having bits of dizziness and nausea. Not sure I'm going home today.

Being Jewish we usually just chill! Maybe go for Chinese food and a movie. But seeing I can't eat Chinese anymore that's out!!! I'll jus****ch Netflix!!

c

Glad you're recovering - sounds like a more complicated surgery than they expected.  Chill, recover!

Hi Carla....sorry you are now feeling dizziness and nausea. You might be having a reaction to a medication or from the surgery. Rest and feel better soon.

Love and hugs to you....connie d

Happy Christmas Eve Christine, Vic, and all you lovely ladies to follow,

Christine, I, to this day, cannot eat pasta. There's something about pasta and rice that makes me deathly ill.  I think it's because they swell up in my pouch...I am not sure what happens but if I eat either, I go to bed sick and usually end up throwing it all up...so I avoid the foods I love the most...I am also very lucky that to this day, if I eat sweets, I also get so sick.  But there are plenty other foods that I really have to avoid such as chips and dips...you know, we all have our demons.  

Vic, I am so glad you have the boys making all those Christmas memories and next year, you will have the boys and the baby girl.  

DH has to wor****il 4, so I am home wrapping the last of the gifts.  We made one last mad dash to the walmart, best buy, and the shoe carnival to pick up a few things for the kids.  I hate wrapping as much as I hate shopping, but I am determined to make the gifts look beautiful. 

Normally, on Christmas Eve, I take a bunch of baked goods and other foods that I have made down to my daughters and we eat and the kids open one of the many gifts we buy them. All the other gifts go under their tree after they fall asleep and when they wake up, they think Santa or their mom got them all the gifts. We don't mind letting her get credit for our gifts because we know she doesn't have the money to buy for them and I would never let my babies go without because I sure went without when I was a child and vowed to never let my kids or my grandkids ever know what it is like to not have what so many others have.  And, as the kids have gotten older, they are beginning to piece it all together but still we play the part of whatever my daughter chooses to play.  

This year, however, my daughter is still being a total ***** We still plan to take the kids gifts down; some of the gifts we have already taken down but we still have quite a few things here so we will take the gifts down after DH gets off of work and we will give them their Christmas Eve gifts and DH and daughter will carry the gifts into the back of the house and hide them to be gift later by Santa.  Then we will leave.  Tomorrow the little ones will call and tell us what Santa brought them and we will make plans to pick them up for them to stay with us for a few days.  

She did text DH last night and she informed him that if we want to, when we bring the kids gifts down, we can follow her and the kids over to her friends house because they are going to watch movies for a little while and her friend is making dinner for them...so it's Thanksgiving all over again.  DH texted her back and said, we will drop the kids gifts off and give us a minute for the kids to open their Christmas Even gift from us and then we will leave so she can go spend Christmas Eve with her friend.  There you have it.  

So we are going to eat Christmas Eve dinner with the friendly folks at IHOP...they do make a mean vegetarian omelet.  

Ladies, have a wonderful and safe Christmas Eve and tonight when visions of sugar plums are dancing around in your head, remember that the craziness of Christmas only comes once a freakin' year....maybe after the first of the year, people will get out of their stress modes and our lives will resume on the road to weightless and happiness.  Love you all...Merry Christmas....

Jeannie, if I eat too much fruit at once - too many grapes or an entire pear - I will get sick.  Even fruit sugars make me dizzy, nauseous, etc. I am not going to tempt fate by trying breads and pastas, and I assume they will make be extremely sick.  It's actually a good thing to have that fear (of getting sick) hanging over my head.  I will deal with the temptation/demons part later.  

Weirdly, I actually really enjoy spaghetti squash.  I can deal with giving up the pasta but really good bread... that, I miss!  :-) 

I love the spaghetti squash too.  I am a fan of all squashes. My policy from the beginning was to not try anything that was bad but eventually, I did try the sugar and it made me so sick and pasta and rice, even in small quantities, so I don't even attempt them any longer.  I got sick on those sweeteners too and fruit, especially, grapes make me so sick.  It's a fine line we walk and each person is different.  The test thing to do is avoid it all....stick to your protein sources and green vegetables or yellow vegetables.  You will do fine.

Hello Jeannie....I am with you...pasta and rice do not set well with me either. I have given up trying. It makes me feel so rotten!

Sorry you can't do your usual Christmas Eve this year. Why she puts others in front of her own family. That makes me sad. I know you are used to it but it still isn't the right thing to do. I am so sorry!

I know your grandchildren will love the gifts even if they think they are from their mom. One will be from you. Something tells me they have figured that out already. They just go with the flow no matter what it is that their mom decides to do. They seem like pretty sharp kids. MERRY CHRISTMAS to them!!

Enjoy your meal at IHOP. The Veggie Omelet there is good!!

I think I will skip the Sugar Plum dancing around in head....I may get dizzy and fly out of bed again!!

Merry Christmas Eve and Merry Christmas Day!!!

I love you...HUGS....connie d