Jenny, thank you for your colorful greeting.  Merry Christmas to you and your family and may 2020 be a better year for your family.

Mary Ann

Wishing you all a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

shirleyn
(~_~)!

Hi Shirley, it's good to hear from you.  I hope you and Danny have a Merry Christmas and a healthy Happy New Year.

Mary Ann

 

Merry Christmas to all the friends here in the Bait and Tackle shop. Hope everyone will have a good day no mater what you do.  I hope that the New Year will be especially good for all those who are dealing with health problems,  or just any unusual problems, or don't have any problems at all.  Wouldn't that be wonderful if we could just wish all our problems away.  Have a wonderful holiday with your family and friends.

Joy

Thanks, Joy.  I'll make this my last post of the day - unless someone posts something unusual - and wish everyone a Merry Christmas and a Happy Healthy New Year.

Mary Ann

Let us please spare a thought for all the recently bereaved and or lonely people out there on this Christmas Day which is full of families and loved ones celebrating together...Christmas Day is not always the joyful day it is made up to be...yet maybe once was the happiest, most cherished and most looked forwards to day of the year, yet now has become the loneliest day of the year for many, even if celebrating amongst a large group of strangers, still can be the loneliest place to be if the one person that matters ( that empty chair ) is not by your side to enjoy it with you...please do let us remember all those missing people from our lives today...

Jackie,  my thoughts are with you today, as I know it will be a very difficult day for you.  I hope you will try to remember all the happy Christmases'  you and Richard had together.  And, hopefully the coning year will bring you some peace.

Joy

Merry Christmas to all you Bait and Tacklers.  It's pretty chilly here in Auburn this morning.  I'm going to my son's home in Opelika (the next town to the east) for Christmas dinner.  He's a good cook and I'm looking forward to spending time with him.

I hope the weather is good where you are and that you all have a lovely Christmas holiday with your family and friends.

Sue

May your day be merry and bright 

No "white"  in Wisconsin.  We don't even need heavy coats!

Merry Christmas, Callie, and anyone who follows.  We are not having a White Christmas in Michigan, either, and it does not look like we'll have the white stuff for a few days.  It is not beginning to look like Christmas or even winter now - present temp is 45.  I am playing Christmas music to make it feel like Christmas and it's not helping!!!

I'm happy for you that you are with your family today.

Mary Ann

I'm home and I had a good time; I'm glad I went to Jan's.  It turned out there were six of us.  Erin and Andrew fixed the meal since Jan cannot do any cooking right now.  Plans were that we would eat and Jan would take a nap before they opened gifts.  Plans were changed so gifts were opened, then we chatted and finally I asked to be brought home so Jan could take a nap.  I think they were glad to have me there. 

Tom is with Robin at her niece's and he will not return until late.

I hope everyone has or had a nice day.

Mary Ann

It's been a very nice day and I'm ready to call it a day.  Nothing exciting happened, I didn't get an unexpected Christmas gift; it was just a very quiet day.  I enjoyed my time with Jan and her family. 

I have to tell this about Jan.  She was married to Terry and she did not take our last name, keeping her maiden name of Lancaster.  Norm was very upset.  After they were married several years, they incorporated each others names into their own - Terry became Terry Lancaster Tock (had been Terrance Willis Tock).  That upset Terry's mother because Willis was her father's name.  Any way, of Norm's three sons, Tim and Tom both were divorced.  Their wives had taken the Tock name.  Jan and Terry remained married to each other until Terry died almost three years ago - 35 years.  Tim remarried and was married to Gina for 21 years.  Tom and Sue were married about 22 years.  Norm and Jan got along famously, but it was the initial shock that disturbed Norm. 

Time to hit the hay!

Mary Ann

I did enjoy my three hours of Christmas Day...I was collected by a lovely mid age couple of volunteers in their car, taken to and brought back home after an enjoyable couple of hours in a hospital canteen restaurant ( i did cringe when i thought, " in a hospital canteen of all places " it did get me thinking when i was peering out the window of the unfortunate in patients as we were tucking in and having our fun, ) even though many were in wheelchairs or some looked very lost, almost sad, with several other lonely and invited guests, some returning from last years Christmas Day meal, we were all looked after well by our several volunteers floating around, it was well organised, we were all enjoying the fun....I have to admit this was all free, ( i will make a donation ) we were even given a wrapped gift a raffle prize which i was one of many to have won which had at least three or four items inside plus i-we were handed a goodies bag which was loaded with small items -jars marmalade-tins, packets soup-biscuits-a book-boxed chocolate mints on our way out, oh and we also had a small choir singing carols and a harpist, they really put on a good Christmas Day meal-get-together...all this was free from the Dorset volunteering...But then i was brought back home to my empty place, no Richard to come with me ( he would have enjoyed it ) nor no Richard to come back to to tell him what a good time he had missed, yes back to my reality world of not the Christmas days of the past 20 years spent together with the three dogs inside our previous home, which i would give anything to have all back again...

Oh almost forgot to mention, i found myself sitting next to a man who was there with his mother who lives in America, his mother has recently come back home and told me she wont be going back again, they are British but he will be going back to America as he has been living there since the 1980's, i did ask him where in America he lives as i told him i post on S & F's and they would be interested in knowing, he told me Snellsville - Laurenceville ( he laughed and said everywhere is a ville ) which is in Georgia, google map is showing Georgia Atlanta...

Good morning everyone!

It sounds like everyone had a good Christmas day. We had a lovely time at the buffet, but I can't say that it was anything special like it used to be. The Grantville Holiday Inn used to put on a rather extravagant Christmas menu and was a bit pricey, but worth it. This time the menu did not really stand out from other buffet offerings in the area and was actually a bit less than I expected to pay. The scrambled eggs were nice and buttery tasting and the Crab Imperial was super great, other than that, the vegetable choice was less than I expected and so was the dessert selection. George was please with the tenderness of the braised brisket. The coffee was the worst I ever had, worse even than those K cup coffees. The real kicker was the mix up when I went to pay for the meal. The first ticket came out with the correct price, but she took it back with some excuse that it wasn't wrung up correctly to accommodate the tip. Off she went to re-do the ticket, and lo and behold when she came back it was $50 more than it should have been. It turns out that when she redid the ticket, she put in the wrong table number. Off she went again to fix that. Sue seemed to think the meal was a little better than the Thanksgiving meal we had at Red Lion (also a Holiday Inn subsidiary). I disagree. 

I almost forgot, Mary Ann. If you didn't catch it, the closing days for the canals was posted last night on the Port Huron site -- Welland Canal, January 8 and Soo Locks less than a week later (of course I forgot the exact day since I saw it last night, the 13th or 15th I think. Been seeing some fishermen out on the river at Port Huron/Sarnia again the last few days. Day before yesterday I did get to see Calumet at Marine City just as the sky started to brighten and the moon hanging low over her as she passed. Saw her again at Port Huron after the sun had risen a little. Lovely sight. There was a tug boat the other night going upriver at Marine City. Too bad it was dark. I think that is the first actual tow tug I have seen on the river as opposed to the pusher tugs. It reminded me of Hubert Harner and his posts. Hubert, you may recall, operates a tow tug on the Mississippi.

Now off to see what kind of trouble the cats and I can get into today.

Merry the day after Christmas.  I hope everyone returns today.

Jackie, I'm happy that you had an event you enjoyed for a change.  It seems they went all out for you and the other seniors.  I hope your New Year is a better one.

MarsGal, your meal was more than would be offered here, at least I think so.  I remember being in the Detroit area with Terry and Jan when we went to the Mayflower Hotel and they had an elaborate spread for Sunday breakfast.  I'm not used to such, so I don't know how to compare them, but it was nice for me.  I'm sorry your meal disappointed you.

MarsGal, I knew about the dates of the lock closing from having read the same as you did.  I knew the Soo date from previous years, but not the Welland.

I was all set to get ready to start my day when Kendrick jumped on my bed.  I knew he would like some petting, so I obliged and after a few minutes left him to sleep by himself so I could leave.  I slept good last night.

We have no sun out yet but it is light and there is no precip expected.

Mary Ann

Good almost noon time, Bait and Tacklers.  I've been busy taking ornaments off my Christmas tree and finally getting it back into the box.  I still need to put the box back into the Utility Room.  If my son doesn't get back over here today, I'll see if my neighbor across the street will come over and put it in the utility room for me.

I hope everyone is having a nice day!  And perhaps resting after the holiday!!
Sue

Good morning from the slightly warmer Interior where it's now minus eighteen. It's certainly an upgrade from minus thirty-three to minus thirty-five, our previous temperatures.

Nothing new here. I did spend time yesterday with Dora and Alan, along with several others. We had a very lovely spiral ham and multiple side dishes and pies for dessert. The company was the highlight of the evening as we played charades and then truth or dare.

 I had so much fun, laughing until I practically cried! Alan's brother was there from Knoxville, and he and Alan played off each other all evening. George will be here until just after New Years'.

Today will be a relaxing couch type of day.

Patricia, it did me good to hear that you had such a nice time yesterday.  It isn't that you don't have a good time when you go somewhere, but you haven't reported laughing so hard you nearly cried!  I haven't had a good laugh like that in years even though I usually have a good time.  My problem is that I often do not want to go somewhere, but go out of a sense of duty, then I have a very good time. 

I'm surprised, our temperature is in the high 50s.  In 1932, my dad went golfing on Christmas Day just to say he could as we had no snow.  He was not a golfer, but we had a course near us; I don't remember who he went with.  I have a picture of Norm and me taken that same day; Norm was three. 

Tom just brought in the mail and there are three more cards - people to whom I sent cards. 

I think it is time for a nap and I'll see if Kendrick is willing.

Mary Ann

MaryAnn, Alan, and George are in their late seventies, the brothers closest in age from a large family. They have been playing off of each other for a lifetime, know all the silly secrets and it showed. They hadn't seen each other in several years, so there were lots of silly outrageous truths or dares.

I have the same issue as you. It's easier not to go then to arrange pickup and returning home. Often I feel extra in a family gathering. However, I have friends that are determined to make me get out and about. And that is probably good for me.

Hello to MaryAnn, Patricia, and Sue. Looks like all three of you had a nice Christmas Day, as did I.

Patricia & Mary Ann  -  Pleasant coincidence here, as far as having a good laugh is concerned.  On Christmas Eve Day, Shelley and I were talking about something - (reminiscing) and she mentioned something that we both remembered, and we both started laughing and couldn't stop!  What my mother used to call a "giggle fit" . . . the kind of laughing that you just can't control.   Afterward, I was exhausted, but it felt so good.  Oh, how I remember laughing out of control like that when I was young.  My Dad or my brother could set me off!  Also, my cousin Kay and I could just look at each other, and start in laughing all over again.   Seems like everything grows more serious, as you get older, doesn't it?   Ah, for those carefree, happy days! 

Yesterday, was wonderful, seeing our oldest granddaughter Ashley, and her beautiful family!  Our great grands are, Virginia, 16, Steele, 15, and Maryanna, 12.  We had a perfect Christmas dinner together.

Christmas Eve, we spent with Brad and Jackie, and our two grandkids - Jake and Jessica.  Jessie brought her long time boyfriend.  Sandy, Shelley and Claire were here too, of course.  Sandy usually brings someone, but didn't this year.  All in all, the two days were just about perfect.

This is for MarsGal, an admitted train buff!

2018 Awesome Lego Train Set through the Garden, Pool and House

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1K6OwUakNGA

Good train ride.

I had to watch it twice. Just had to. 

What a ride Angel.  Aviv will love that... He will demand one like that for Hanuka!

They also had a lego train that shoveled snow off of its train tracks on the same page!