Reinholt1

Well, I actually start shopping on Dec 26th ..... So I was pretty well done shopping before the virus shut downs. Mostly at this time of year I am keeping my eyes open for those "can't turn down" sales (Got myself a new amazon fire a few weeks ago. Cost me nothing. Could not pass up that deal. ) and waiting for secret Santa. ..... HEY BOPEEP! HAVE YOU GIVEN ANY THOUGHT TO THIS? I THINK WE NEED TO START A LITTLE EARLIER THIS YEAR. ...... I am hoping with all these stores backing off on black friday we all can have a less hectic Thanksgiving day. Perhaps a blessing from the virus. Don't get me wrong, I love a good deal like the rest of you, but it has been feeling like things were just getting crazy the last few years. And the best deals were turning up online anyways. I think, like just about anything else, we need to plan ahead....leave plenty of time for shipping, maybe focus on some gifts being homemade or more practical...especially since money will be tight for many this year. (If you are one of those TP hogs, I sure would be thrilled if, for Christmas, you gifted me one of those multi packs of Kirkland to you have stockpiled.....). Some folks, in Michigan, started putting up their Christmas lights early this summer. Get together with your neighbors and plan neighborhood lighting. Being able to drive around with family to look at great displays would be an awesome gift we can give each other this year. (SOMETHING TO DO! YAY!)

Welcome blueredzone! Happy to see you are not shy. We are a actually a pretty low key friendly group around here.......something not always found elsewhere on the net! Keep on jumping right in.

Thank you so much cjdav and Sunni0913 for our gifts! They really brightened our day. Mom has long ago eaten all her goodies. Which tells you how happy she was to receive them. She still has 1/2 of the coconuts chapstick left though. She is enjoying that! Cjdav, I am so sorry but I have not yet opened my gifts. I know 1/2 the fun is seeing the person's reaction. But my box is at home and I am stuck at mom's. She will not follow directions and does what she wants. (Like twisting on the toilet and pulling on the counter with her good arm to get off the toilet.) She is a fall risk until we get this dumb cast off. I will try to get them open when I can. But thank you again. The kitten loves the toys and that is good enough for me right now.

Reinholt1 does not like this Reinholt1sMom likes this

Oh yeah!....go to the movies while we are all sitting here on pins and needles waiting to see who our secret Santa's are! I can see that BoPeep is starting the new 365 day count down on Santa's naughty list! ::ducking quickly before BoPeep thwaps me::

Well, it's breaking protocol but I know BoPeep will post the secret santa list any time now....and I have been chomping at the bit to say this..... You are very welcome Wittenlover. I am glad the kitties found the box so quickly. My cat Samurai picked it out herself for your kitties out of the three I put out for sizing fit. She and rotten little devil cat lay in there making sure it was a perfect kitty fit and getting their kitty scent all over it while I wrapped. I knew it would be your kitties favorite. I wanted to tell you 2 weeks ago to take the gifts out because I had sent that particular box for your kitties! I am glad you like your gifts. I was so excited when I saw I drew your name. I wanted to put more thought into it, but with mom breaking her arm, I have been living with her for weeks now. I had to go with "easy". I hope you enjoyed your day with dad and saw a good movie. Lots of good ones out there right now. Maybe we can meet for a movie ourselves one of these day. Thanks for the kitty pics. They are great! Merry Christmas!

Wishing you all a very blessed Christmas. May you feel the peace and wonder of this night and enjoy the blessings of being family together.

Good job! And you are doing better than I this year! I gave up on putting up a tree this year. Just tell folks you are being traditional. Many never put up a tree until Christmas eve and it stayed up for 12 days of Christmas celebration. It's only in our modern day commercialism that we started decorating the day after halloween. Enjoy you family and your tree! Merry Christmas!

Ooh one of my favorites! That and Maoz Tzur.

To all our Jewish sisters and brothers .... Wish I could join you all in the singing! May Ha Shem bless you and your family as you gather these 8 nights. Hanukkah Sameach!

Hopefully the recipient can check it on their end. I am assuming it is hung up at their post office. ???

Hey Bopeep! I was thinking.....how about adding another question to the secret santa questionaire. Something along the lines of "will this secret santa gift be your main Christmas gift this year?". I've noticed in years past, and even this year, that for some of us, for whatever the circumstances, this is the only thing some of us will be opening on Christmas. I don't mean the question to invoke pity from others, I certainly don't feel sorry for myself. I enjoy the companionship and the fun that this group has developed in today's over the years. But maybe knowing that the secret santa gift is the main (only) gift that person will receive may inspire the giver to make sure the gift is wrapped or perhaps to buy 1 nicer $10 item rather than a few smaller ones (or even the other way around). Or maybe come up with something fun like wrapping the gift inside 3 or 4 boxes. (Heh heh heh) I only bring it up because if I receive a name of someone like Tracy0504, (Sorry if I put you on the spot Tracy0504), I would want to put more thoughtful thought into the gift (s). What do the rest of you think??

Mom and I are sitting on her couch right now watching "Holiday Inn" with mom opening a box of fudge covered Ritz crackers and eating Almond Rocca when behold .....there is a knock at the door! IT'S THE POSTMAN!! BEARING GIFTS!! Mom happily opened her box and what is there?!? ......COFFEE CAKES! Boy is she happy! Like her prayers for junk food had just been answered! Kash! What a thoughtful surprise! I can't tell you how touched I am that you would bless my mom with the perfect surprise. Thank you so much! It's just the type of thing that makes her day! Thank you for bringing some Christmas cheer to our afternoon! [][][][]

Wow. Zeus was a very special pet. It's extra hard when you have to say good bye to a childhood companion to boot. It's like loosing part of your childhood as well as a beloved pet. He sound extra special. I hope she has many yummy strawberries in his new life. I never heard of a borneo leaf turtle before...so I looked up a picture. What an unusual shell shape and markings! Zeus must have been a very pretty turtle. I believe you when you say Zeus knew who you are and prefered your company. Even reptiles know who takes care of them and loves them. Thank you for telling us about Zeus. She sounds like a wonderful pet. And to live almost 30 years, is a testament to your great love and care!

I have to admit, I am very impressed with all the gifts sent so far this year. I know we say a $10 minimum and that we do this just for fun.. but clearly we've become a close knit community and everyone is so thoughtful and generous with one another. It's so nice to be apart of a group of such wonderful people! God bless you all for your kind hearts!

Got mom and my packages wrapped and out today. Saw my box from my Secret Santa and noticed 2nd day priority on it. YIPES!!! And I did ask for local goodies too. I quickly cut it open to see if there was anything perishable inside. Fortunately, no. (Whew) but there were lots and lots of kitty treats and kitten toys! Oh boy! Thank you secret santa! I threw a crinkle ball and the jingle bell ball to the rotten little devil cat and boy was he happy. It helped to keep him occupied while I wrapped my secret Santa gifts and get them in the mail! I saw Reeses and other wrapped gifts. Holy cow! You really went overboard! Thank you so much! I am going to wait until Christmas to open them though. Still hoping to find a fishing net in one of these packages. Update on mom. She has 4 twinkies left. And 2 cookies in her tin. That's all. Her aide was laughing as mom set the twinkies up in a row for tomorrow morning - admonishing both of us to not touch them. Her aide said every time she looked at mom today she was eating chocolate or a twinkie. (Mom still has a few Ferro Roche and Almond Rocca left from her birthday.) Mom is loving the Christmas cards again this year. We have received 7 so far. She loves seeing which state they are from. She thinks they are all beautiful. We have them all hanging up. Thank you to everyone who has sent her a card! We see the orthopedic surgeon on Thursday. We will find out if mom will have to have 2 plates put in her arm or not. Keep her in prayer. Not that I want surgery for mom, but on the other hand we can get rid of the cast and her arm will heal stronger/faster. Not sure what to hope for at this point.

I am so sorry! Many of us have beloved pets and we all know the suffering of missing a beloved family member. Can you tell us about your turtle? How old was s/he? What kind of turtle? How did you come by him/her? What was his favorite snack? Do you have a picture? I for one would love to hear about him/her.

Update to mom. Her aide reports that mom refused to eat any of her meals today. Seems she ate 1/2 the coffee cakes, all the pomegranate thingees, 1/2 of the tin of cookies, all but 1 of the snickers, 9 Ferro Roche, and the dove chocolates. Mom was very happy. The aide is allowed to come back tomorrow, so at least she had enough sense not to get between my mother and her junk food. You hit a home run secret santa!

Did it a while ago when I worked with church youth. They had a ball, and it taught them modern age orienteering. It is fun to hunt for "buried treasure", no matter what your age though.

Both Reinholt1sMom and I received boxes from our Secret Santas. Yeah! THANK YOU secret santas! I have not opened mine yet. Probably won't for a while as I am stuck at mom's babysitting her. She fell and broke her arm. And they have her on pain meds, which make her loopy. But it looks big enough to hold that fish net I wanted to catch Rotten Little Devil Cat. (Except he is now Rotten BIG Devil Cat.)

Mom fell and broke her arm. I have been adult sitting her all week. She can't walk well on pain meds. I managed to find someone to stay with mom for two hours so I could run to petsmart and buy catlitter. Not the $8.88 of previous years but $10.99 is still a good price when you have 4 cats between mom and I. Got some buy one get one temptation treats too. So I am happy. They did not have any feather da bird toy refills though. My kitten already demolished the one I had. I got there about 5pm. Still a moderate sized crowd to push a heavy cat litter laden cart through. Check out wasn't to bad. A clerk took pity on me and took me in a line that they were closing. So I got through check out quickly.

LOL! What do you think the fish net is for?!?! I have had DOZENS of kittens over the years. Every once and a while, you get on that is .... um.... a little crazy. The moral of my story is: #1 When a co-worker shows up at work with a litter of rescue kittens that need a home - turn and run away quickly! #2 If she catches you (because you have to admit that you are starting to... maybe ....get old and have a bad knee) don't take the kitten the foster family has named "Trouble"!! Question.....does anyone have any ideas on a better way to post photos?? The picture of the kitten looks OK on my tablet. But on the computer, it's blurry and has a photobucket stamp on his rotten little devil face.

Dear Secret Santa I am very sorry, but I need to make some changes on my list of wants and needs for the year. I went to work one day a week ago and the CNA (nurses aide) brought in a litter of kittens for the patients to enjoy. (pet therapy you know). The kittens came from a rescue cat she was adopting. But she did not want all of the kittens. And so 4 of us went home with kittens that night. This is my new kitten. His name is Rotten Little Devil Cat. (Which is better then the name the CNA had given him -- "Trouble") Here is Rotten Little Devil Cat's picture. So here is my revised list: 1) Neosporin & bandages - because he thinks I am a tree that he can climb 2) and while you are at it...A sturdy tree - because he needs something to climb 3) Some kitty Xanax or Ativan - because my 2 blind Siamese are close to having a nervous breakdown with him scampering around and jumping on every thing 4) A sturdy fish net - so I can catch the little bugger 5) a gift card or gift certificates to a local mental health center - because I think I need my head examined for adopting this critter. (Reinholt1sMom has already banned him from visiting her again. "He's got claws and teeth!" (That was after the 3rd time he climbed up her leg.) 6) Kitten toys to distract him - he plays with everything but he is showing a preference for those mylar like crinkle balls and anything that makes crinkly plastic bag sounds. Thank you so much for understanding Secret Santa. By the way, there will be no christmas tree to put your gifts under this year. (See #2 above) So just leave them by the door. Hopefully I can get to them before the kitten does.

Answer: Home Alone Quote: “Vermont must be beautiful this time of year.”

OK...you have me curious now! I have made bone broth many times. But how does one "season it into Jewish Penicillin"??