Reinholt1

Mom received her package today. And heck no! She was NOT waiting! She received two small lenox bowls with winter decorations and pretty birds inside. Two packages of Hersey's Bliss (one milk chocolate and one dark Chocolate. " FANTASTIC! MY FAVORITE! I LOVE IT!" ) and a pretty antique silver/pewter flower pin with iridescent blue-ish stones in the petals. ("Is that blue? It's lovely! How did Chef Elf know I like blue??") She is very, very happy! Thank you so much Chef Elf for letting her participate! It made her day! The very first thing mom did was open her chocolates....."I have to one of these NOW!" (Yeah right mom!...More like 6 or 7! Those little lenox birdie bowls will see no chocolate in them!!) About an hour after she opened her box, (while I was putting up mom and dad's Christmas tree, I caught mom going through the garbage. 5 minutes later she was still going through the garbage and now it was all over the kitchen floor! "What are you looking for mom???"......."I lost Chief Elf's address! I need it! I have to write a thank you card!". She wasn't satisfied until we had found the shipping box. ("Oh my! Did you see how much it cost to ship my presents from ________ ??" LOL If mom only knew how much it cost to ship to Chief Elf mom's favorite chocolate cheese!) Dad saw the chocolate spilled in a pile on the dining room table when we got back from dinner at their senior apartments and he dared to reach for one or two and he quickly got chewed out! "Get out of there!! That's my chocolate! You don't like dark chocolate anyways!...Here you can eat this!" And she tossed dad the kit-kat's they gave us after dinner. Trust me...dad knows better than to argue with mom over her chocolate!! Sorry, I didn't have my camera with me today so I did not get pictures. I'll try to get pictures of the birdie bowls and the pin later, but I suspect the chocolates will be long gone by then.

Must have missed that post. Thanks.

OK, Black Friday is over.....so is Cyber Monday. Those of us in the Holiday Secret Santa, Ornament and Christmas Card exchanges have or should be sending everything out by today..... So where is our annual fuss over which holiday movie beats out all the others?!?!

To Gatorpam et al....I won't worry about the wrapping...especially if you ordered something online that is perfect and had it sent as a gift. I had that dilema too...somethings aren't really wrappable. I sent one packed off with everything wrapped and the other with everything unwrapped. I suppose we could always email the Chef Elf and ask her to relay the message that a "package is coming unwrapped and to not open the box if you want to save the package for Christmas".

Mailed my SS gifts off this morning. Counting on that wonderful winter weather to keep everything snowy and cold and put everyone in the holiday spirit! (As the poor mail person says..."Neither Rain nor Sleet nor Snow!.......")

It's 50% off of EVERYTHING...including clearance.....which makes the holiday stuff 75% (50% off 50% = 75%). But if you stick to just clearance stuff, you get really great deals on good quality stuff. And you can get regular stuff at a good price, especially if if rarely goes on sale. It's their best sale day. Dillard's will do 30% off during the year. Once a year late summer/fall, they go 40% off but Jan1st. is the one day it's 50%. I already put in for Dec 31st overnight off of work so I can hit the sale. (My boss just shakes her head.) Mom's birthday was this week, she opened her $11.25 Dillard's Christmas sweaters I bought last Jan 1st. She is thrilled. And my pocket book is happy. Can't beat it!

Oh wow! Look at that! It really is a song! Thanks!

Earth Today Rejoices (another not so familiar hymn.)

It is hard not to laugh....but I really wish it wasn't on stations like ABC Family....kids mimic any and everything. (Imagining mortified parents at the Christmas Eve Mass or at prim and proper Aunt Mary's house for Christmas dinner as little Johnny does his best imitation...... ) Adult humor needs to be confined to adults. (Imagining all those husbands in the bedroom on Christmas night with those their new joe boxer's..... ....... oh boy! All those poor women!! )

Yule shoot your eye out...LOL is that even a song?? (Clever though) If it is then I submit The Coventry Carol if not then i submit Ye Simple Men of Hearts Sincere (Nativity hymn by John Wesley) Moderator.....it's your call!

Wow! perfect! simple a straight forward! My favorite way! Thank you for doing this!!! You ROCK!

O Holy Night I am seeing a lot of duplicates on this list. You know, when I would play this game in the car with my Youth group, when we would hit a letter that we had clearly exhausted, we would all agree to use the second to last letter. So if we are out of "E"'s then let's use the letter before it.

You have a lot of great suggestions here...I would only add my voice to say "since you are excited and happy about all your guests...Enjoy them!!!". I think it is fine to ask folks to bring item(s), I suspect some of them may even appreciate the opportunity to bring something. (Even if ends up only being the friend of your son who "gets it".) But I also agree that some folks who are traveling, especially if they are coming by plane may find bringing something to share difficult to do. I also think letting them know that the expectation that they will help with (and even be responsible for one meal) is realistic. (Provided you are comfortable letting folks take over your kitchen.) Tell them you need a big pot of soup for Saturday and point to a bunch of stuff they can choose from. and see what they come up with. Make extra mashed potatoes on Thanksgiving and ask the next two or three guests to make potato pancakes for the group. (Or potato corn chowder...cheap and filing.) Chili is always a hit when people are weary of turkey. (As previously noted.) If you don't want a tomato pasta...use that pasta to make turkey tetrizini (cooked pasta, a can of cream of whatever soup, a container of sour cream. I always like to add onions and or mushrooms. Some add peas. Throw it in a buttered casserole dish, sprinkle with paprika and back 350 degrees for 50-60 min. It's not rocket science. Face it, anything with a can of cream of something soup and sour cream is going to be a hit. Ooo Tell some one to make a pan of hash brown casserole...watch that disappear.) 3/4 of the fun and the memories that I have are the people I am with. It can be fun to mess around in someone else's kitchen with 2 or 3 others and come up with a soup or a chili or a pasta. A couple of "cheap" things that my church youth groups have done that have been very popular for church dinners that I am sure would work for family get togethers: --"egg-strata" -- easy breakfast casserole with unlimited variations. (recipes online) -- Baked potato bar -- bake a bunch of potaoes and use all those left overs for topppings....the chili, the turkey tetrizini, the pasta, the enchilata's. Sausage gravy, Cream chipped beef, taco items also work. Of course you can have some cheese, bacon bits, chives and sour cream for the stubborn ones who don't like "change". -- a Bread and flavored butter bar to go with your meals. Have 3-5 different loaves of bread. and make up some flavored butters. The formula is 2:1 ..... 2 parts butter to 1 part flavoring. For instance for honey butter make 1/2c softened butter and 1/4c of honey. Use strawberry jam, chocolate frosting and maple syrup to make new favorite butter flavors. If you want to make something like cinnamon sugar butter use powered sugar so the butter will not be grainy. A good pesto sauce makes a nice butter for those that don't want something sweet. Use your imagination to come up with other flavors. The butters can be made up ahead of time. I use those little yellow "I can't believe it's not butter" to store the different flavors. One pound of butter will make you 4 flavors and a lot of happy faces. One last easy idea...came from a "mistake" my mother made a few years ago when she misread the left over labels. We call it "gravy soup" and we have made every year since. Throw the left over stuffing and gravy in a soup pot and toss in any left over vegetables from the dinner. If you need vegetable, toss in something from the freezer or cut up a potato or toss in a bag of little baby carrots. Let it simmer. Add a little water (or a beer) if the base is too thick to thin it out a bit. (And freeze the turkey stock for January. ;D) Blessings! I hope you all have a great holiday together!

Whoo hoo! 100.3 in the Metro Detroit area switched over to Christmas music today. Don't know what time... but it was playing pop stuff this morning. When I got in the car this evening --- CHRISTMAS MUSIC!!!!

Very cool!!! I can't wait to tell my colleagues at the Spiritual Support office that we cannot possibly put up any Thanksgiving decorations until after we have celebrated Chanukah this year!! I have already pulled out my Chanukah CD's at work and am ready to sing. (I can be so annoying for a Lutheran....) Thanks for the heads up Gator!!!

Yeah...there is a pattern alright!.....My 83 year old mother STILL will not let me touch her Nook ....... unless it's not working for some reason. ("My toy is broken, fix it please. ... Do I need a new one?? I have my credit card.... OH THANK YOU!! You fixed it!! .... Now give it here! I missed playing it. I had to wait three days for you to show up and fix it!") Something addicting about these electronic gadgets........

I'll try the Secret Santa this year. In fact, sign me up for 2 slots. I'll spot my 83 year old mother one spot. She'll enjoy the surprise. (especially if it is dark chocolate)

I am also about 90% plus done. I started last Dec. 26th and have been picking up things throughout the year. Will mostly be picking up things that are a good deal and that strike my fancy over the next couple of month. Will probably be putting stuff away for 2014 gift giving. But the excitement is building....I moved my 83 year old parents into the "Old People's Apartments" 6 months ago. My parents now have separate bedrooms...which means my mother now has two double closets all to herself. She told me Sunday that she got motivated to finally get organized and get rid of some boxes and that she was unpacking all weekend. Yesterday, my mother announced that she has all her "Christmas sweaters and holiday clothes hanging up now and that she has plenty of room for her new Christmas clothing." .... then she started in with her...."I could be dead by then you know....If I had my beautiful new clothes now I could be enjoying them before I die......" Oooo! Oooo! I forgot! I do need one more gift!! Mom and dad discovered Wii bowling at the Old People's home. Mom asked for a Wii for Christmas so she practice between their weekly bowling matches. Any body have any suggestions on where I can get a a good used or refurbished Wii for a cheap price?? (I am NOT buying mom a brand new video game system when all these old people do is play bowling!! I bought her a Nook two Christmas' ago and put 29 "The Cat Who..." books on it. And all she does with it is play solitaire. A refurbished Wii is good enough!)

**IF** I go out...it will be in the Metro-Detroit area...most likely the northern suburbs this year. Last year I was able to get what I wanted online so it was JoAnn Fabrics (for work) and Walgreens/CVC etc for the little goodies.

Well, I know the post is late BUT... ... YES...the 50% of is available online. It starts in the middle of the night. No set time. I just stay up and start throwing things in my cart and keep refreshing my screen until the additional 50% off starts appearing. We don't have any Dillard's in Michigan. I used to live in Ohio and was introduced to Dillard's there. (They are very comparable to the old Hudson's.) There is a bit of a melee online...similar to the store...But hey! It adds to the fun! When I go to check out it is not uncommon for me to "loose" 1/2 of my cart because the items are already gone. But their shipping is very reasonable. I pay for what I have and then I immediately head back in to find the items I lost at a different (but acceptable) size. For the best deals, stay in the clearance and holiday sections only. Go back and check again in a couple of hours if there was an item or two you really wanted but did not get. I picked up 2 holiday sweaters that had "sold out" at 2 am but I was able to get one a size larger at 5:30am. There are so many shoppers online that we do overwhelm the system. I spent $400 ... but I bought over 50 items. And my Christmas shopping for my family as well as my Mother's Day, Mom's birthday, parent's anniversary etc. are all done for the year! It's nice to be 90% done for next Christmas already. Jan 1st. is the only day they do 50%. Dillard's will do a 30% and sometimes even a 40% off a few other times during the year. But 50% off everything on January 1st is the best. And they really clean house too. The women's section had a couple thousand selections in size L when I started shopping at 2 am. 24 hours later there were only a few hundred choices to choose from in clearance. (Glad I don't work their shipping department!)

Pretty Racerfan! And I love the figures! Must be quite a sight when you turn all the figures on! (Quite a cacophony too! I'll bet!)

We did not open our gifts until Wednesday morning. (Because I work at a hospital.) Here's what it looked like for us!

A "must see" if you are an animal lover! Klaatu42 has uploaded a Christmas Carol video the last 4 years now. He just released this years offering. Enjoy! This will DEFINITELY put you in the holiday spirit! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xGuoRGjCvmY&list=SP040AC7C9087AC9CD

RUDOLPH! RUDOLPH! RUDOLPH!

Rudolph The Red Nosed Reindeer vs Frosty The Snowman A Charlie Brown Christmas Vs How The Grinch Stole Christmas- edited!