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Liz, love your very personal gifts to your children. Sounds like a great Christmas, and still a little more to come!

Lovely to read about everyone's celebrations, and Ann who took it to the next level of celebration, congratulations!

We had a lovely Christmas Eve. We did have to go to Mass without DS, but he was at our house when we returned. My BFF, brother and sister in law, niece and her husband and toddler joined us for dinner. My dining room table can seat 10 if we are being very cozy, so it was the right sized group. Back in the day when we would have 30, the adults generally claimed the table, and the kids took over the living room. My niece is married to the nicest, most congenial man. How nice to have him in our family these past few years and see how he loves our niece and parents our great niece.

Christmas Day, we opened gifts. DH continues with his stellar gift giving: he got me a subscription to the physical paper Sunday addition of The New York Times. I LOVE it. This may be the most perfect gift for me ever. He started the subscription last Sunday, and said he had to hustle outside and grab it before I went out to get my local paper. He wrapped it up with a note, so now today I can enjoy it all.

Christmas at my parents was a mixed bag. It's a lot of work to cook a meal and transport it, and set it up there. My parents cannot handle any daily tasks well, let alone Christmas. I urged them repeatedly not to worry about gifts. They usually get us gift cards, and I said you can just hand them to us. But when I arrived they had been fighting and yelling at each other because they tried to wrap presents for the little kids, and make gift bags for us, and were just overwhelmed. My Mom had one terrible meltdown, crying that no one ever acknowledged what a terrible childhood she had, and how she was a prisoner in her own home. My children said they both willfully tried to step out mentally while this was happening. Sick, tired, frustrated, i feel bad for her, but i just kept saying calmly, I don't know why you're yelling at me right now, until she calmed down. After dinner I spent an eternity trying to find covers for Tupperware so I could stock their freezer with the leftovers. I divided food into dinner portion servings, labeled them, and put a list on the freezer door and the fridge door about what was in there. I took the lists to my Mom's chair and showed her what was on it, I taped them on the fridge and had my Dad come and look at them. I told my Dad he could cross them off the list as he used them. I did everything I could think of to make sure they didn't forget they had some prepped meals. My brother was diagnosed with pneumonia this week, so clearly, he couldn't come, but my nephew stopped by with his family. That was a bright spot. My nephew is awesome, and I love his wife (she does my hair), and his boys are adorable.

And now one of my favorite days of the year has arrived. I love December 26!!!! For me, this is when the real Christmas break begins. I sleep in, the house is full of tasty leftovers and treats, it's reasonably clean (special dishes from dinner need to be put away, but bathrooms are clean, floors are decent etc from company preparation cleaning that took place) and my obligations are completed. Tonight I'm having dinner with college roomies.

Well I have a huge Sunday paper to read, along with some more tea. Happy boxing day !

142.4. Bouncing around a 1.5 lb. range with not much rhyme or reason. 1/2 dose injection this morning. I think I can tell the difference with the reduced dose. Not bad but food noise is a little more pronounced. Appetite suppression is still very good.

DS2 is taking me out for a coffee shop date today. I'll get my favorite lavender latte and maybe some food. Tonight we are ordering in pizza. All 3 kids will still be here for dinner. Tomorrow night is the birthday dinner at our local Japanese steakhouse. We love their Hibachi! The shrimp and scallop combo is my favorite but I think I'll try ordering the kid's shrimp. I wouldn't make a dent in the regular sized portion.

Awaiting the MRI on the 2nd. Wish we had the answers now so I knew if the Hawaii trip was still a go or not. I sure hope we don't have to cancel.

I'm with you on the mashed potatoes - remember I mentioned that DH didn't know there was any way to make them other than from a box! Horrors!

I hope BFF gets some good answers soon. And your family picture on FB looked great - you looked very slim and handsome!

I bet that Christmas gathering was very comforting for most.

So thrilled for you!!!!