Hey and Hi everyone! waves

Thank you to my Sharky Santa! I love what you gifted me!!

Love your beautiful HA ❤

To all the Secret Santa Shark participants:

Have any of you not gotten your presents? If so, please smail me! I think everyone did but just in case, ideally, contact me today (Fri) or tomorrow (Sat)

Otherwise... Happy Lumi, Happy Hanukkah, Merry Christmas & may the New Year bring health, peace, & happiness ❤

Thanks! I love yours, too!

I still need to gift my fellow sharkies, so y'all update your wishlists! (I've already gifted my Secret Sharkie)

Thanks to my secret Santa Sharkie!

Dear Secret Santa Headhunter - I mean Shark, thank you so much for the crowns and how lovely that they came with some reddish curd.

Thank you so much, I already put them in my security vault - I mean my wardrobe and will ewar them, once the red curd dries up.

Welcome and thanks :D

Hey and hi everyone waves I can't believe it is almost Christmas!!! Seems crazy!

popping in from the crazy busy that is my life Thank You to my Secret Santa Shark! <3

                                                             
 [item=Dappled Unicorn] 
                                                             
 [item=Great White Shark] 

Hey Hun hugs Ready for Christmas? I am getting there slowly lol. At least I have all my present buying done!

I've had a few occasions where I thought I forgot to visit Melody. I've been visiting her every day on my phone in the mornings since I haven't been on the computer lately. It's really nice living out in the country and not having a neighbor right next door. The only downside is the hour drive to do any decent shopping. Yeah. I would think that the filter would just get nasty faster as it sits in the water and would need to be replaced more often (at least with our water it would). The gifts that she has given Chris and I have been pretty cheap, like under $20 for each of us. Most of what I've gotten in the past feels like it came from a Facebook ad. Chris told me to just expect that they aren't going to follow our wishlist because his mom asked him if I needed new floor mats for my pickup. The ones I have are just fine, one has a few holes, but they still work for me. I told Chris, if get gifts that I can't use again (or heaven forbid I get pink floor mats), I'm leaving them behind. I'm also reaching the point that I might not even go to their place for the holidays anymore because they just stress me out too much. I love Christmas, it's my favorite holiday, but I'm not looking forward to it this year because of the in-laws. Chris did say that he knows he is their least favorite son because he's the one who got caught being more rebellious, so that could maybe explain why we don't get as great of gifts as the other two siblings. MIL needs to accept a lot of things, the first being that she is now no longer a priority in Chris's life since he is now married. It just seems like that hasn't totally clicked yet. I think waiting to get Disney+ would be the best thing. There are quite a few movies that aren't on there yet and they have to wait until the licensing deal with Netflix is done to move everything off of there. Gamestop has pre-orders available for a plush Baby Yoda and they also have a Baby Yoda pop figure. There were a few times where I rolled the window down on the long drive home from college and then regretted it when I got a headache from the pressure and noise. The in-laws live in the same town where I went to college. Chris hates driving there to only spend less than half a day in town and then drive back home, but if we leave the dogs at home we have no other option. I hate staying with the in-laws because I the bedroom we sleep in is in the basement, so it's cold even with an extra blanket. I'm glad she has a better home now too. Chris told me if I find any other abandoned dogs, we have to find them other homes unless its an Australian Shepherd. Chris and I have been together for 7 years and in those 7 years, I have only spent Easter with my family twice. One year my parents drove to his folk's place and the other time both Chris and I went to visit my parents. Whenever MIL asks about when everyone can come for a specific holiday, she never asks if we have other plans. It's just always, I have this day off, we'll eat at 1 p.m. so be here before that.

Just about. I am waiting on one more gift and then I am done. My mental health has been dodgy lately, but I'm stable and getting by. :) hugs back

                                                             
 [item=Dappled Unicorn] 
                                                             
 [item=Great White Shark] 

my secret shark has gone above and beyond and i thought i was shocked before at what they'd managed to get me but now im just FLOORED HOW ARE YOU THIS KIND

I am pretty sure I visited her every day this year, but I wish there was a way to know for sure. Too many broken things around here :( Yeah a little isolation is good, but I want to be close to things too. I might try to find one of those that attaches to the faucet, but ours is really old. It might not help. I hate renting and not being able to replace things. It is my favorite holiday too. I would deff consider going to your family's place or staying home. No one should be stressed for the holiday! Hopefully things will get better for you hugs I am deff going to wait a little while to see if I really want it. OMG I have to check it out. He is so freakin cute!!! It is a long drive just to get there and not be happy. I don't blame you for not wanting to spend the night. Lol I guess you need to look for one :P Maybe for Christmas you can give her a calendar with all the holidays marked with where you are going to be, or is that too snarky? lmao

I have all the gifts, but I still need to wrap them. I am almost finished decorating, but I have to finish the tree. I pulled the lights out of the closet and all 3 light strands are messed up. Only a small section of each strand actually lights up 0_0 now I have to go get more lights.

I think I'm done with gifts, but I got cute and bought some things ahead that ended up not working, so I had to send them back. D'oh! That's what I get for trying to purchase in advance. Love your HA! I may have missed a day for Melody, too. And my wishlist is all messed up.

How's everyone doing?

Normally there is an achievement for visiting Melody for 31 days, but I haven't noticed on for this year. It always seems like something goes wrong with the site in December every year. I don't think things have gone smoothly during Lumi for the past 4 years at least. I wouldn't mind being closer to stuff, but it's really nice not having any neighbors right next door. That was the main thing I hated about living in an apartment or duplex, there were people on the other side of the wall or the ceiling being loud. I dislike not being able to change anything in a rental as well. I would love to tear down the wallpaper in this house and paint the walls something besides beige and tan. I dread the day the stove or fridge die because I don't know if we will have to then supply our own or if our landlords will replace them. We are staying home for Christmas Eve so we can start our own thing (watching movies and working on a puzzle) I pushed for that a lot this year, that we need to start doing our own thing for the holidays to have them in place if we have kids. Then going to the Christmas Eve service with my parents and looking at the lights around town. On Christmas Day, we will go over to my parents for breakfast, opening gifts, and lunch. My brother, sis-in-law and nephew will be there as well. Friday we are going to the in-laws in the morning and hopefully, we will open gifts once we get there then have lunch at Texas Roadhouse and go our separate ways from there. I think Chris is going to try to get a reservation for a certain time so that we have to have everything done before lunch. I agree stress is bad especially around the holidays. It also throws my body off and things get out of whack. hugs I know they have all the Star Wars movies listed, but I don't know if all of them are available to watch on Disney+ yet since some of them were on Netflix. I know Marvel has some TV shows in the works, one for Loki, one for Bucky and Falcon, and possibly one for Scarlet Witch and Vision. There are older Disney cartoons and some National Geographic stuff on there as well. I haven't looked into it too much, but it is nice to watch some movies I own without having to put the disc in the PS4. I put links to Baby Yoda products in the spoiler. Most of them look like they won't be released until May of next year and the one I found on Walmart doesn't have an actual product photo yet, just a mock up. I also found a jumbo Simba plush that Emily might like.

SPOILER (click to toggle)

Gamestop Baby Yoda Gamestop Baby Yoda Pop Figure Walmart Baby Yoda Jumbo Simba

It is, and most of the time I'm in a bad mood when we get to the in-laws because they don't eat until 1 p.m. for family get-togethers. The bedroom we sleep in at the in-laws is also right below their bedroom and every time you move in the bed, the headboard bangs against the wall. So if I move in my sleep, the headboard could wake me up or the in-laws moving around or talking upstairs. I do, but the rescues that have them will only adopt them out to indoor homes, which is so stupid for that breed. And buying one is out of the question because people try charging an arm and a leg for them. I don't think it would be too snarky of a thing to do, it would be right up my alley anyway. Trouble is, the dates for the extended family Christmases aren't decided until they all meet for the current gathering. The Christmas after I got married, I actually made MIL a custom calendar with all birthdays and anniversaries already marked down. If someone had a birthday during a certain month, I tried to use pictures from our wedding that included that person if I had any. I don't think she ever used the calendar. I know she never hung it up anywhere, which was the whole point of me making it. I hate when strings of lights randomly stop working in the middle of the strand, and the LED ones now don't really let you change out a bulb. It probably took me three weeks this year to completely decorate the tree, normally I have it done in a weekend.

Hello dear Sharks,

wishing you all a very, merry lumi seasone may you all get what you wish for

and may you all stay healthy (get healthy) and have time with your beloved ones.

Merry Christmas everyone!!! I haven't forgotten the pings. Today has been crazy. I will edit this later when I can relax!

Thanks Hun :) I must not have missed a day since I got the essence of Melody.

I guess I got the ach for the 25 days. Did you get it? Maybe they just gave it to everyone? Yeah they have issues, but I think this time they are worse then ever. I hate not being able to keep track of things. I am not a big fan of being surrounded. At least on one side we have the laundry room, but my apartment stays hot because of it too! I want to paint the bathroom for some reason lol. It just looks ugly right now. If it came with the house, then they should have to replace it. Oh yay that sounds like a fun night! Hopefully you got to do it. I have never been to TR. I am going to have to try that one day. The food looks really good. We love to go around looking at the lights. Last night I took Emily and my niece around town and some of these houses just went crazy with lights and stuff. There was even a Star Wars house. Obviously it was my fave lol. I think the only one I would want to see is a Loki movie, We love him! Thanks for the links :D Baby Yoda is so cute! I have to get them when they are released! Simba is super cute too :D Is there anyway to move the bed away from the wall? That would bug the crud outta me. I probably would not be able to sleep at all, Awe that is too bad hun hugs I hope you get one some day. Maybe when you get your own home! Oh geeze sigh I would love getting a calendar like that. It is a shame you put that much thought into something for her to not even use. There were a ton of lights on each string. There was no way I could have gone through each light. I would have lost my mind lol.

Hope you are having a great holiday!

The past couple of days have been crazy! I finally got my money in the bank at around 2:30 am on the 24th so I had to rush out to Walmart and buy lights. Then I went to Meijer to buy the ham. I came home and finished decorating everything. By the time I was done with that it was breakfast time. We had breakfast (biscuits and gravy :D). I had the brilliant idea to go to the grocery store and beat the crowds. NOPE! I had to go to two grocery stores (how did the first one run out of mashed potatoes?!?!?) and both were crazy crowded! I took the food home and ran back out to do my last minute shopping (bags, tape and few more presents for Emily). By this time it was lunch time. Had lunch and it was around 2:00. I tried to nap for a couple of hours but that did not go very well. I could not relax. I had to hurry up and straighten up the apartment, wrap all the presents and get the food ready for my yearly Christmas Eve get to together. My niece came over with her two kids (Alexia and Jermiah). I love the little one, but it is really hard to keep him out of all the collectables we have sitting around. Not his fault though. They do just look like toys lol. After Ashley took Jeremiah home, I took Emily and Alexia to look at lights and then I took her home. We were wiped out by the time we got home. I had to grab a drink and try to unwind before I finally managed to get something to eat (hadn't eaten since lunch). I came on here hoping to do more gifting. I was going to go through my list and see if I missed anyone and also gift more gifts (that sounds odd) to people I had already gifted. I had run out of funds pretty quickly and had to build them back up again. That didn't happen. By the time I got on here it was 12:05. For some reason I thought we could gift until they were openable. I was wrong :( Sorry to everyone if I let anyone down. :( I was just so rushed and stressed and run down. I finally got to bed around 2. Sleep at last lol. Today I am just trying to veg and enjoy the day! Already ate a big lunch and watched Emily play her new Crash Bandicoot game. I hope you all are having a great day!

Apologies, I won't be able to gift under trees for most (unless you're an A or a B). I'm in too much pain and the lag is making it impossible. I'll have to try and surprise you another way. I do wish everyone a wonderful Christmas (for those that celebrate) ❤

edit: I'm dealing with food poisoning, hopefully when health starts to cooperate I'll be able to send thank-yous and gifts.

Not only is Christmas over but the whole decade is almost over 0_0 that is just crazy! Anyone have any good NYE plans? I always want to go out and do something, but I usually just stay home lol.