G'day all,

It has been a lovely cool day. DS rang to see if dh would come and play billiards. His fiancee being a police woman works shift work and was at work till 4. I went as well and had a bit of a shop in a shopping mall near his home.

DD is leaving Melbourne tomorrow morning and will be arriving late tomorrow afternoon. Christmas Eve ds and fiancee have invited many of their friends to a hotel near their home for Christmas drinks, we will go for a little while.

It is strange with dd's wedding I was a nervous wreck but with ds's wedding I am quite relaxed and calm
Mind you the day has not quite arrived yet, all could still change.
DS is having the most incredible cricket season and made headlines in the sports pages today. It was very hot yesterday and all games were quite low scoring, ds made 147 runs, which for the uninitiated, is an extremely good score. After the game there was a bit of a Christmas dinner and also a time to bid farewell to two Canadian cricketers that joined the club for a little while. I understand that cricket is a minor sport in Canada, these two lads are representing Canada in the World Cup and joined ds's cricket club to get some more game practice, it being winter in Canada.
The Canadians fitted in well and were well liked and everyone was sorry to see them go.

Lily the fires around Sydney are all under control. We did have a bushfire in the Adelaide Hills yesterday but luckily it was reasonably quickly extinguished.

I am off to have a shower and get ready for bed.

Cheers
Maria

Good Morning Maria I noticed your festive avatar. Not only does your little birdie have his own little hat, he even has his own bell.
Christmas and then your son's wedding, that sure is going to be a couple of BIG days for your family. Your posts "sound" like you are calm.
I must head for the shower too. Hope you all have a nice day.

Thought I would check in and let you know I didn't leave this world. For a few days I thought i might! Turns out that I had pneumonia and was down for the count. Had to cancel a lot of my WW meeting as there is no one to take over for in this area. We didn't really cancel them , my receptionist's held a free weigh in. But I am now on the mend and feel real good again. Don't have any meetings until Dec. 26. Still have to take it slow because I still get tired easy. I did go out yesterday and got my shopping done. We are now prepared for Christmas Eve here at my house.

Sounds as if every one is busy with Chrismas preparation. And Maria with wedding stuff too. Good for you staying calm. Never good to panic when it comes to holiday's and weddings.


Slavika those little GS are really a big help.

It looks as if my oldest son's National Guard unit is going to called up and shipped out. We just don't know when. Sounds like soon. Not looking forward to that. He was in the Navy when the Golf war was going on. He was on the first ship to go over there. The USS Independence.

Well Enough of this stuff. Don't want to think about it until it happens.

In case I don't write again untill after Christmas. Every one have a Merry one.

Karen

Maria your holiday avatar is really cute. Wish I was creative like that with the computer. Karen sorry to hear you were so sick. Hope you are better every day. Got the 2 shirts painted today for my friend's twin gd's. Now on to the rocking chair for another friend. Wish they would give me this stuff a lot earlier than this past Friday. Feel stressed and then do not do my best.

A quick note to say weigh-in wasn't as bad as I thought. Only up .4 That gives me the incentive to be more careful for the rest of the holiday season.

Karen: glad you are feeling better.

Maria: You do sound calm and cool, and I expect you don't have to do much of the planning as the DIL to be parents are the ones that are nervous. As the Mother-of-the Groom, you sort of get to sit back and relax.

Slavika: The meal sounded absolutely decadent. Just what one needs for a special Holiday treat.

Peggy: Hang in there. You will get the orders done just fine.

Lily: Thanks for the sight. They are very pretty, and useful. At our meeting they had the bracelets, in pearl. $9

Merry Christmas everyone, and Happy New Year.

Ann

G'day all,

Karen so sorry you have been so ill, look after yourself, good to hear you are feeling good again.

Peggy don't get too stressed though I must say I really hate having to do things at the last minute, I am a bit of a planner and like to have everything organised well ahead of time.

Sounds like everyone is just about organised for Christmas.

It is a beautiful day here today, 27 degrees for Christmas day and 30 degrees for the wedding, just perfect!

DD is on her way and I just rang her on her mobile to see how they are progressing. She is very excited about coming home and was up at 4.30 this morning to leave for Adelaide. Leaving so early means she will probably be here about 2 pm.
I have made her favourite dinner. DS is here going through some last minute details for the wedding.
It is all getting very exciting now but I don't feel teary like I did with dd's wedding.
DH has been sitting outside writing his speech, he spoke really well at dd's wedding so I am sure his speech for ds's wedding will be equally as good.
Must do a bit of a tidy before dd is home, she has put me a bit behind schedule by coming home so much earlier than I thought.

Ah life is good, it is wonderful having all the family together for Christmas lunch.

Have a great day all
Cheers
Maria

KAren: SO sorry to hear you have been so sick. Glad you are on the mend now. SOunds like it was pretty bad.

Peggy: Sounds like you are getting last minute orders. Dont feel stressed. I know its hard not to do. Just do what you can!

Ann: Glad your meeting got them. They are nice. Find them a little to annoying to move the thing tho. If it fit over the bead it would be better in my opinion. They gave us one as a gift, I would of never bought one.

Maria: Bet your excited for DD to get there! Only a few more days thil the wedding! I would be a nervous wreck already.

Went for a ride up in the hills today. Went to a New winery:
http://hollyshill.com/

The view they had from the place was so awesome. We could actullay see over to the Bay area Mountions. Clear beautiful day!

Have a great night!

I had a lot of reading to catch up.
Sorry you were so sick Karen. You make 3 people I know who had Pneumonia so far this winter. Also a lot of people are down with the Norwalk Virus. You take care of yourself.
Maria I love your little avatar.. he is so cute. I send best wishes to your son and DIL to be. I am sure it will be a wonderful wedding.
Lily I like your little bear avatar too.. too cute. That winery looked like a nice place to spend a few hours.. did you get any samples... hummmm??
Glenda I think you will be having a lot of fun with your family sleeping over.
Slavika you are the only person I know, who can bake all those delicious desserts and not sample, just take them to the freezer. I have to taste everything.
Ann it is so hard to lose weight over the Christmas holidays, I think if we can stay about the same weight we are doing great.
Peggy You are so creative already. You make the most wonderful crafts.

We are waiting for the arrival of our Grandbaby. My DD is feeling just great and is really glowing. She is having a wonderful pregnancy... they are so happy

My friends, I wish all of you a very MERRY CHRISTMAS. I hope all of you have a wonderful time with family and friends....

bye for now...

Trudy: Yes we got samples Brought some home for Christmas dinner to

Gonna be busy cooking and stuff tomorrow.

Wanted to come in a say Merry Christmas to all!
Hope you all enjoy the Holidays!

Lily the winery looks so nice and peaceful. Can imagine myself sitting there and enjoying a glass of wine. After the holidays I am going to order a few bottles. What is your favorite? Trudy hope you are soon a grandma and that everything goes well. Are you having fun buying baby things? Maria enjoy your time with your family and the wedding. We have a saying here that the mother of the groom wears beige and keeps her mouth shut. Hope the weather is perfect. Can't wait to see pictures. Slavika how do you manage to get things to the freezer without tasting? Glenda are you getting a white Christmas? Is this unusual for Oklahoma like the newscasters are saying? Karen hope you are all better. Ann is your family coming to you for the holidays? Merry Christmas everyone.

MERRY CHRISTMAS TO ALL YOU GREAT GALS
Peggy my body tells me that not ALL the stuff I bake gets to the freezer without tasting. YIKES....
Karen I know how sick DH was and how long it took him to feel 100%, so don't do too much, just take it easy if you can.
Maria you will have all your family with you for awhile, and I know how much you will enjoy them. I look forward to hearing all about the wedding.
Lily I checked out the web site you gave us and that sure looks like a nice spot to visit and sample a glass of wine.
Ann your weigh in went much MUCH better then mine will go. Good for you.
Glenda you didn't say, but I am thinking you might have extra days off during Christmas seeing as you work at a university.
Trudy any day now I will be getting a call from you telling me you have a new little grandbaby . I am so happy that your daughter is doing well and soon you will be a Grandma.
Well my friends, I have my family arriving at 4:00 for appetizers and I still have lots to do. I am planning dinner for around 6:00.
I hope you all have a wonderful Christmas.

G'day all,

Well it is early Christmas morning, lovely to read all your posts.

Happy Christmas to you all

It is a beautiful day here and I have everything ready for lunch.
We had drinks in town last night with many of the guests that will be at the wedding.
DS and future dil are getting very excited about the wedding and dil would really prefer to skip Christmas and get on with the wedding

Again have a wonderful Christmas all

Cheers
Maria

Peggy: Its the first time I have been there so I cant really recommend one. I like white wines, and I did not like there Chardonay. It was good but I wont not recommend it. If I were to send you to a place for some good wine I would send you here:
http://www.windwalkervineyard.com/

I will buy anything they have even the reds. They have excellent wine and would highly recommend.

MAria: Im sure your DS would pefer to skip christmas! Its so close to the big day! Cant wait to hear about the wedding!

Slavika: Are you cooking Christmas dinner to? Enjoy your holiday!


MERRY CHRISTMAS!

Merry Christmas!! Hope you all are having a wonderful day full of surprises. Lily I will check out that winery. Thanks. I like whites too. Time for the kids to come and do some opening of presents. It is snowing so it is a white Christmas. Now let's hope for some peace on earth.

G'day all,

Well THE day has arrived!!!!
Been up early again and all the 'boys' (using the term loosely )have left for golf, dd is still asleep.
We had a lovely Christmas Day, ate and drank far too much.
DH's 89 year old father was not too well yesterday but he still insisted in joining the 'boys' today to play golf. It will be a big day for him, at least he can have a bit of a snooze this afternoon before the ceremony and the reception.
I took lots of photos yesterday, particularly of dh's father with grandchildren etc. etc.

It promises to be a beautiful day with a forecasted temperature of 28 degrees.

Don't know what I am going to do from now until they all return from golf
It is going to be a long but enjoyable day.

Have a great day all,
Cheers
Maria