Have a blessed Christmas Eve and Merry Christmas 2023

[MauEvig]

Just in case I am busy for the rest of today and tomorrow, I hope you all have a blessed and wonderful Christmas Eve and Christmas Day!
May you all enjoy the spirit of Christmas and have a wonderful holiday season.
Feel free to share how you all's Christmas Eves and Christmas Day went here.

[Andybev01]

Merry Christmas to you as well.

[Murfreesboro]

Just got back from church. Merry Christmas, my friends!

[Andybev01]

I love this liminal period between Christmas and New Year's.

I revisit the holiday season, Halloween and Thanksgiving included.

[MauEvig]

I feel a little let down after Christmas, I think mostly because I spend the entire month of December excited about it and then when all the anticipation is over, I feel sad.
But then I have to remind myself that New Years is around the corner, and I got some great gifts I can enjoy now.
I don't quite get the left down after Halloween and I think it's because I know Christmas and Thanksgiving are coming after that.
But after the holidays it's like...back to business as usual. The magic's gone.
I had a great Christmas though. My boyfriend got me some nice stuff, stuff I'd been wanting for a while too (like the new Blaze the cat figure I'd been eyeing by Jakk's Pacific especially since she's my favorite Sonic character and we're both Sonic fans.) He got me some great surprises too.
I got him some great stuff too and made our yearly holiday lasagna.
Overall it's been a great Christmas. I'm just sad it's over now.

[Murfreesboro]

A few years back, I told my husband that I think one reason I find January so drab is that it follows all the sparkle and excitement of December. He's the one who suggested I should leave our (artificial) tree up as long as I liked. I took him up on that. Some years I don't take it down until March. I strip all the ornaments from it and just leave the lights. The draperies are drawn, so no one outside knows it's there.

Otherwise, I look at gardening catalogs and amuse myself with incipient signs of spring on my morning walks.

Not this week, though. This week we are spending several days at a cabin in a nearby state park. And then we'll be thinking about the New Year and what it might bring.

[Andybev01]

Same here.

My focus is on springtime and the anticipation of blooming trees and flowers.

[Murfreesboro]

I haven't finished exploring that whychristmas site, but after New Year's I may start exploring the same group's whyeaster site. If they have crafts and recipes, it would be nice to look ahead.

[MauEvig]

That's not a bad idea at all.
For now I'm going to focus on the next holiday, New Year's. Which is coming up fast. But I see it as Christmas Part II, but I think it's partly because it's in close proximity to each other and people still like to get together for that holiday as well. We'll be getting together with friends from work on the 30th so I think that'll be fun.
Then I'll be looking forward to Valentine's Day, then St Patty's, and then Easter.
But I can agree on looking forward to spring. After Christmas is over, I would just as soon prefer not to get any snow at all. I'm going to be thinking about my spring and summer plans.

[Andybev01]

Amen to that.

[MauEvig]

I hope you all have a blessed New Year's Eve and a Happy New Year.
May it be chill and relaxing.

[Murfreesboro]

Yes, Happy New Year to all!

I think I can count on my ten fingers the number of times I've been to New Year's Eve parties in my life. Not a high priority to me. Once, half my life ago, I was in NYC on New Year's Eve, even in Times Square. But it was in the morning. I was catching a train back to Virginia from Grand Central Station. By the time it was crowded with revelers, I was back home in VA, watching it on TV.

My older son, who lives out of state, always spends Christmas with family, but he always spends NYE with friends. He is up in Nashville tonight at some party or other. I'm glad he is being social, but it's not my thing.

[Andybev01]

I am not a going out and doing things person either.

I'll watch the ball drop on TV at 9:00 local time, then go to bed.

Happy New Year everyone!

[MauEvig]

Didn't watch the ball drop, but I was up at Midnight to ring in the New Year.

[Murfreesboro]

I was asleep well before the ball drop, although people in our neighborhood were shooting off fireworks before I went to bed.