Cottoncandy, Thank you for your Christmas Greeting!  Everyone is welcome here in "Bait and Tackle", and we would love to have you join us for talk and comments on any subject.  Hope you have a wonderful Merry Christmas with your family!  

We all settled down for a deep Winter's sleep.

Deed we did.  And we do.  Constantly.  Makes no nevermind in this household whether it is Winter, Spring, Summer or Autumn.
We catches our forty winks whenever and wherever we can.

In my family, we are all zinging around the e-mail circle the lovely phone-photos of trees, set tables, packages, and you name it.  I think I am going to have to wake Patricia from her long Winter's nap and ask if she has ever posted my crystal tree for me. I don't recall ever sending it to her.  She would remember;  I do not.  I remember absolutely nothing these days.  So sad.  I do remember you.
 
Most days.  And Norm.  All days.

Oh, the presents this old hag has received so far!  Becky went to the trouble of telling everyone only food will be welcomed.
So food it is.  My Fav?  So far, Anne wins with her box of Cinnabons. Cinnabons, by the more than a few, come in pale blue boxes.  Anne's got popped in the freezer right away.  It had to be shoved in end to end, due to the fulness of the season, as it were.  Chip has printed on the showing end, in bright red felt-tip: "GIANT BOX OF DEATH!"  Thanks, Son!

A box of chocolate-covered strawberries arrived this afternoon.
From Elizabeth.  Christmas can be really serious fun!  Thanks, Daughter Becky!

We have dozens of presents under a tiny tree.  Piles of beautifully decorated Christmas cookies.  Life is good here on the Chesapeake Bay.  Wish I could promise and deliver Peace on Earth, Good Will to All! Not just the men, but ALL the all.  Every all there is.  And throw in Death to None.  Blessings all around to you and you, and you, too.

MaryPage, I remember you very well from the 2006 SeniorNet DC conference, but I'm not sure you even noticed me because you and Deems/Maryal were too busy joking with each other.  I'll think of you on Christmas Day, looking down at the beautiful Chesapeake Bay, surrounded by a huge crowd of people who love you.
Most of the rest of you, I know only from here, and you probably don't know me, because I don't say much.

To all of you, I wish you a wonderful, Merry Christmas, and Happy New Year, with joy, and peace, and hope and love.

Hello fromAustralia.  Today is Christmas Eve and I
WISH YOU ALL..A VERY MERRY CHRISTMAS AND A HAPPY NEW YEAR.
ENJOYED READING THE MESSAGES.  I AM NOT VERY CLEVER ON THE COMPUTER THESE DAYS, BUT WHEN ABLE COME IN TO READ THE NEWS.
I NO LONGER GO OUT FROM AGED CARE.  WE ARE IN OUR SUMMER TIME,STORMS PREDICTED.  I JUST WISH FOR .... PEACE. ...
GOOD HEALTH TO ALL.      JUNEE

Best wishes to all for a glorious celebration!

for MaryPage

https://www.seniorsandfriends.org/photos-and-more/photos-old-and-new/msg245149/#msg245149

Thank you so much, Dear Bubble!  I appreciate your talent, your patience and your friendship.  I cherish your friendship, am jealous of your talent, and have been trying to immulate your patience for simply years now.  Mebbe I'll get there one day:  Miracles DO happen!

PAT H, I am mortified that Deems and I behaved in that way, and I send you my deepest, most sincere apologies.  I like to think I am better behaved these days.

As for remembering you, like many other things these days, your name seems familiar and tells me I know a person who owns it.  I have to confess that the memory I was filled with pride to own for many decades has dissolved into some senile dementia.  My family help me in conversations.  Someone will say, for instance, "I remember when" such and such happened."  I will have no memory of that event AT ALL, but Chip will say:" Oh, Yes, Mother!  You enjoyed that so much, and you said thus and so and so and thus about it."  Chip now sports the claim to a perfect memory.
Mine own seems lost to me.

Once upon a long time ago, I was a journalist for a while.
I took up accounting to get away from the hubbub, and spent years with that until retirement, but it has been an astonishment to me and to the entire family that I have not seemed to lose the ability to write.  I am extremely grateful for this boon, as it enables me to join in with the family emails and enjoy all the news these engender.

Oh, Mary Page, there's no need for mortification.  It was at a dinner where everyone was joking, and I wasn't being left out, I was talking to someone too, and it was fun to listen to the two of you. You didn't subtract from my fun, you added to it.

Thank you for the absolution, PAT H.  Thank you much!

It is a beautiful, sunny day here on the Chesapeake Bay in Annapolis, Maryland.  Chilly, but not freezing.  I have taken my thyroid pill and will have, Chip promises, blueberry blinses? at ten twenty-five.  Woo Hoo!

PEACE ON EARTH & MERRY CHRISTMAS TO ALL!

Good morning everyone, and a very Merry Christmas Day to all who post here in Bait & Tackle . . . plus all other Seniors & Friends members!

We had a nice Christmas Eve celebration with our three adult children and only three of our seven grandkids.  A small family group, compared to last Saturday,  when son and wife hosted a large gathering at their house.

Mary Page - I know you enjoyed your blueberry breakfast and are ready for another big day today.  As soon as I finish this message,
I plan to take another look at your crystal tree and your beautiful table setting with the Spode Christmas Tree dinnerware.  One of my favorite holiday patterns!

Junee - Hello and Merry Christmas to you!   Hoping your day was nice at  your Elder Care facility, and that your granddaughter arrived home from the UK in time to celebrate with you?

Callie - Glad your hands and wrist are better, and that you enjoyed your overnight visit at your son's house?  Also the fun of spending time with  Miss Ellen - your NYC granddaughter!   Let us know how she's doing, as far as any "show biz" work is concerned?   

Tome/Joanne - Hoping you spent Christmas Eve, with your daughter, and will be seeing her again today?  Thanks for the tip about the garden gloves!  I'm another one who can no longer turn door knobs, open lids of any kind     without all sorts of gadgets, or even pick up many items without dropping them.

Also Good Christmas morning to Jackie, and to Jenny and Rick, and MarsGal, and Cottoncandy,  and PatH, and Oldiesmann, and a special heartfelt and hopeful Christmas greeting to Bubble. ❤️

Marilyne..
..had an enjoyable " free " Christmas Day three course lunch thanks to the pub-restaurant owner who gave six free places to one of our church members to pick 6 people from our church that would otherwise be by themselves...I pulled it off by going there on my mobility scooter..A tad nervous on my way back home in the dark but so glad and relieved i made the journey there and back safely...

Oh, Marilyne, I should have said!  That is not MY Spode, but my daughter Debi's.  That is not my table setting, but hers.  I no longer own and trim the Crystal Tree, but She does!

Hope each of you had a Merry Christmas Day!

Marilyne, #1 son would have picked me up after being with his wife's family and, by the time he drove from there to here and another 40 minutes to his house, it would have been a short night for me!  So #2son/wife picked me up this morning and the entire family had a delicious brunch and opened gifts at #1 son's house.

Ellen hopes to do some auditions when they begin for summer shows in a few weeks, but she'll be 31 in February and realizes she's now competing with girls 10 and more years younger than she is. She still loves living in NYC, however!

MaryPage,  I loved the crystal tree and the Spode china! 

With my birthday celebration on Saturday night and today's celebration, it's been a busy weekend with the family.  I loved it but am looking forward to some quiet time doing things on MY time frame.



 

Oh My!  How I relate to That, Callie!  How I relate to that!

Good Morning all!  We are now in that lull, or time-frame between Christmas and New Years.   I used to look forward to New Years Eve . . . but that was long long ago, when we were all much younger.  Our friends and neighbors were still with us, and those big parties were lots of fun, and a great way to start the New Year!

Jackie - So glad you had a nice Christmas this year, with a three course lunch at the pub-restaurant!  Good for you . . . to drive your scooter to the event, even though you had to come home in the dark.

Callie - A belated HAPPY BIRTHDAY to you!  One of those poor souls whose birthday gets lost in the excitement of Christmas.  Sounds like everything worked out well for celebrating everything, over the long weekend!   Good to see that Miss Ellen, is continuing on with her Broadway  dreams.  I sincerely hope she gets her chance this coming year.

Mary Page - I enjoy looking at all the holiday dinnerware/china patterns  every year, and the Spode Christmas Tree, is one of my favorites.  I love  to see beautiful table settings, and wish that the younger generation would make the effort.  They're happier with paper plates or throw-away plastic, but I'm hoping the pendulum will swing back,  at sometime in the future.

I hope we hear from Joanne, MarsGal and everyone else today, or soon?

Spent a total of five wonderful, fun days at my daughter's.  We binged TV shows, I told her my Christmas present from her would be her letting me watch the Cowboy Game on TV.  We never got the Prime Live to work, so I only saw about half a quarter (which turned out to be MORE than enough). She's not a football fan, and I understand that, but she was happy to let me watch the Chiefs and ? (I've forgotten already)while she took a nap.  We ate a lot, but not in the Christmas Dinner vein. She cooked and wouldn't let me help wash up.  I got a great laugh, when she came into the den carrying a load of my freshly washed laundry, saying "Housekeeping!"  That became a running joke for the remainder of the visit.  She drove me back home on Wednesday, we thought the traffic might be lighter.  Bah, humbug, traffic on any of our major highways is never "lighter". Back to back 18 wheelers, and snarky little cars with out of state plates, passing unsafely, jumping in and out of lanes trying to get past the trucks.  Ha!  Not happening. This, plus all the highway construction areas.  They had only finished the beautiful upgrades about 4 or 5 yrs ago, giving us at least 2 lanes in each direction. Now you're lucky if it's down to one lane.  Well, we made it home safely, and she went back and only had one slowdown because of a wreck, but made good time getting to her house.  All in all it was a a great time together! Sounds like most here had a pleasant Holiday. And to quote "Tiny Tim" - God Bless Us Every One!

I had an exhausting but splendidly satisfying day yesterday, as well!  Chip has been dreadfully ill, so I have been dependent upon Becky, who has flown in from Kansas City and is staying with Debi.  Chip has a condition, not a bug or a contagion.  We call it his nausea, but his doctors have a name for it, and he occasionally is out of action for several days with his misery.  Well, Becky took me over to Debi's, and, to my intense delight, I got to see the Crystal Tree.  Also, we were joined by Christy, Tallulah, and Drake, up from Alabama, granddaughter and two great granddaughters.  Drake is 13 and in the 8th grade.  Tallulah is 19 and in college in Auburn.  LOVED catching up with them.
 We were also joined by granddaughter Melissa and her three:
 Annabelle, Willem and Miles.  Willem is incredibly tall at 16, and we share a passion for flying.  Will belongs to the Civil Air Patrol, while I did my flying years ago.  Young Miles, at eight, is irrepresible.  His main loves are sailing (he has his own small sailboat), his computer and his set of drums.
 We are all astonished at how good he is on those drums!  My head is still ringing!  Bella and Lulu talked up a storm together and new best friend cousins were formed.  Altogether, I was enchanted with them all and really stoked up Big Time.  The sense of sparkles within my veins kept going long after Becky brought me home and right up until I fell asleep for th night!

Mary Page,  So sorry to learn that Chip has been so sick again.  Wonderful that your daughters and grand-daughters all came quickly to help him, and to be with you.   You have such great family support!  The only good thing was a chance for you to see so many of your great-grand's!  That was an unexpected Holiday treat for you to enjoy - even though it was brought about by unpleasant circumstances. 
I will be thinking about Chip, and hoping very much that he will be feeling better soon.  Please keep us posted on how he is doing?

Thank you very much, MARILYNN.  We will go with the flow, here, and keep as calm as possible; but it helps considerably to receive such good thoughts.

TOMEREADER, I lived your visit with your daughter vicariously and enjoyed every minute of it.  So glad you shared your fun with us!

Just an update on those "garden gloves" I mentioned.  I know that is probably a seasonal item, but I got mine at the Dollar General store, and they are absolutely priceless @ $1.00 pair! Wherever you buy them, whatever the price, make sure the entire palm is covered in the "silicone" material, as well as all the fingers. Makes a wonderful grip! I use mine to remove the cover on my Ring doorbell to replace the battery, as I can't seem to hold onto that cover.  Hope everyone is healthy enough to be looking forward to the New Year. At 2 minutes after midnight, I shall attain the age of 85. Do we have any other New Year's babies here?

Not I, I'm a Maybird.  I'll bet you're the only one. TOMEREADER!

Nor me Tomereader, i'm a " Marchbird "

MaryPage...
...have we conjured up a new expression...if so, i rather like it...

After all, It WAS the " Stork bird " that delivered us, right 

Yes, JACKIE!  Why not!!
 I have been a "Maybird" all of my life, and I have NO idea where it started, or when.  But I like all of the OTHER birds, as well and all;  so I vote we go with the new expressions!

August birthday here . . .  however, I have a granddaughter who was born two or three minutes after midnight in 1982, so she will turn 42 tomorrow! 

Joanne - I haven't looked for the gloves yet, but plan to visit the Garden Center next week.  They have a whole wall of gloves to choose from, so I can take a good look before buying.  All of our "Dollar Stores" have closed in recent years, and also my long time favorite, "Tuesday Morning".

I'm going to try to stay awake tonight, to watch the Waterford Crystal Ball, slowly descend.  Times Square, will be an exciting place tonight!   Wishing all who post here in Bait & Tackle, a  HAPPY NEW YEAR!   Hoping and praying that 2024 will be a better year for America, and for the entire World as well! 

So, Marilyne, wish your Granddaughter a Happy New Year's Birthday from me.  I only found out last year that my darling neighbor and friend also celebrates her Birthday on January 1st.  I had no idea that a "First Bird" lived right across the street. Hope your Garden Center has some of those good gloves.  FYI, just about the time I got into the habit of shopping in Tuesday Morning, they closed. I am so glad we still have most of our Dollar General's and even a Family Dollar.

Happy New Year to you and yours and to all our Seniors & Friends!

Happy New Year to each of the Bait and Tacklers!

Watch Ball Drop and celebration at Times Square.
https://timessquareball.net/

Click the little box toward the lower right

Happy New Year all

HAPPY NEW YEAR WISHES to ALL. I certainly hope to have MUCH better health this coming year and I hope you ALL do too. 

Bob and both have some kind of a respiratory bug.  Seems most around here do.....but we hoped to not be one of them. 

Very concerned about the possibility of me not being able to pass my pre-op surgery physical on the 4th the way I am currently feeling 🤧🤧 My surgery is scheduled for the 10th.  🤞🤞
Nothing I can do about it, darn it.

I have heard nothing from the doctor about my Shoulder MRI.  It is doing better and better everyday but still can not lift my arm up or out to do anything 😩😩😩

MARYPAGE, sorry to read that your boy is suffering again with this ongoing issue.  So pleased you got to be with your family.  The crystal tree is beautiful.

Have a good last few hours of this momentous last day of the year 123123‼️‼️

  Happy New Year Everyone