Most Commented Family Blogs (545)

In my family, we have a tradition. Every Christmas Eve, we get together and enjoy some good food, some good conversation and some good times together.

In my family, Christmas Eve starts at noon on the 24th, and can sometimes run until midnight. Some of my family members attend church, but I am not really interested in attending church, so I just stay home, and usually I am watching tv or preparing something for later on in the evening. Once people are home from church, the table is filled with candy, cookies and drinks. Either soda or water for the kids, and beer for the adults. The food is then prepared at about 2.30 - 3 pm, so it'll be ready for 6 pm, when we sit down to eat.

Usually, the food is traditional Danish Christmas food: roasted pork, roasted duck, two types of potatoes (regular and caramelized), pickled cabbage, thick gravy and sometimes, we also have heated potato chips, as a side dish for the gravy.

After the food, we bring each bring out three small gifts, and place them in the middle of the table. It can be everything from a small toy to candy. There is a catch, though: All the gifts has to have a maximum value of 30 DKK, which is just under $5. Then, we bring out a dice and a raffle cup. We then take turns rolling the dice. If your dice lands on a six, you get to take a gift. Once all the gifts have been taken, the timer is set. Usually for about 15 minutes. For those next 15 minutes, if you roll a six, you are allowed to take a gift from someone. The aim of the game is to have as many gifts as possible, by the time the clock rings. It's always good fun, and it's always a huge hit.

Once we have distributed all the small gifts, it's time for the thing that no other country has: Risalamande. It is a dessert made of rice pudding mixed with whipped cream, sugar, vanilla, and chopped almonds. It is served cold with either warm or cold cherry sauce. Just to demonstrate how cruel/brilliant us Danes are, there is a tradition to the risalamande: a whole almond is added to the dessert, and the person who finds it wins a small prize such as a marzipan pig, a chocolate heart or a small board game. The finder may conceal their discovery as long as possible, so that the rest of the company is forced to eat the entire dish of risalamande, even after they have already devoured a large Christmas dinner.

If people are still awake by that time, it's time for the Christmas gifts. At this time, more candy, cookies and drinks are brought out. Usually, we have enough drinks to fill a swimming pool, and combined with what seems like about 30 kilos of food and snacks, most people go into a food coma. I am usually not hungry for the next few days after a Christmas Eve in my family.

Everyone is welcome - even friends. If someone doesn't have a place to celebrate Christmas Eve, they are welcome to spend it with my family. The only demand is three small gifts, and if they want to bring Christmas gifts for everyone, they are welcome to do that as well, but that's not a requirement.

I am looking forward to this years celebrations! We are going to be seven people, so it's gonna be a lot of fun!

I lost my younger brother on 23rd December 2021. He was 37 years old. He died of a heart attack. I am not happy on new year, I miss him a lot. Now life seems depressing and boring.
How uncertain is life. Everything you did, everything you thought was over in an instant.

I have heard people say that sharing reduces sorrow. That's why I'm trying to share my grief here.

My Mom is a super 84 yr old woman, SUPERwoman! Against all odds and the nursing home that did not want to release their cash cow, I mean my Dad - she got him home.

What a nightmare she went through with all the beuracracy and redoing her house to make it wheelchair friendly. Fighting with doctors and insurance companies. Getting home health care lined up while fighting her "falling" which bruised and cut her up, she succeeded. Dad is home. He sits in a wheelchair during the day and is put to bed fairly early in the evening. He still spends most of his time doing what he enjoys the most, SLEEPING. He likes to sleep as much as dogs do.

My mother seems happy to have her husband home even if it is making her look a bit more frazzled. Between 12 hrs of home health care and us 5 brats, we will make sure our parents are happy. I heard my Dad say once that he wanted to be "carried out of his home" (of 50 years) when the time was up. While he spent two years during a pandemic in that nursing facility - those words haunted me. Just maybe he will get his wish.

The time may come when us siblings come together and have to put them in an assisted living facility but not today.

I saw my Dad take a few steps with his walker, the nurse behind him with wheelchair. In my life I never thought I could write a blog about see my father take a few steps. Impressive a few steps are when young and learning and just as impressive when old and dying.

He also responded to the excited praise much as a child does. It was a cute moment.

The one thing I have to say about my itty bitty Mom is she went against all the medical systems to get him home and I assure you they put her threw the typical government red tape but Dad is better, much better. More alert with a tad bit better memory than in the facility but his memory over the last 94 years really sucks, not sure where it went but it is mostly gone. Flashes come and go.

In my heart I can't imagine what this is like on Mom besides the fact that she has turned into a skeleton with a bit of skin draped on it.

Tag. } L O..} Ladies Only...) No kidding.

Sum future punk will feature himself / herself
As a bi- Romantic, A s*xual unit.
But as long as McBob has Range
The soldier of Fortune has bravo
And the spy-- that is, [ U $ spy.
Has one good eYe.
..the time & the situation & the music
Will collide into perfect whimzee..id est, let me
Show ya the way $he accents the color of her hair....
054. .father of abundance
4986. Pleasant discourse.
5040....)...u s. S py. // . .pu**y.
McBob.) .. despite the change of tempo & or mass..
..the energy is continuing...per law One.
( The system ) scroll is rolling up...and
...winding down...law 2, entropy.
1517..a thong...............3395. compassion
3523. a mattress..........1645. produce*[ tion.
5040. .the w0wman...*.the number of sub-Ordinates
.. increase at a fixed rate despite the means of production....the Work expanding...so as to fill up
..the time available for Completion..- Parkinson
1576.. good service.) Benefit
3464. ..
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5040...
- 1619...scratch.) & standard deduction
3421. The people pour forth....[ Logic by Dr.Strong
........ 1581. Labor | work............1890, Madison NJ.
..........3459. El hears..
1593..garden
3447.. extend......) ..thus, his dictionary goes on &
...on in perpetual Energy of relevant discourse..viz.
2446. Darkness of yah.
2426. Army x rampart
4872. Moshe. ) From the water...
...the doctrine shall fall as rain...
...( The full spectrum rainbow UN disclosure..)
Gen. 9:11.... rainbow covenant
Deut. 9:11...2 table covenant
Job 9 : 11....eYe see him NOT.
1 Sam 9:11 ..is the seer here ?
Numbers 9:11... Passover signage..
Enoch 9:11....Yah ] .knows Everything.
Mark 9:11...why do the Scribes say, Eliyah comes first?
McBob 11:9...) Just establishing the warp speed preface to 20 / 20 vision...
..11. mystic eYes / them
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Greeted by freezing temperatures and 1/2 inch of snow, it was good to see my brother, nieces, nephews and their kids. Flurries, not enough to stick today, the sun came out for an hour this afternoon. Food, shopping, more food and more shopping. Two concerts lined up and indoor soccer with the kids tomorrow.
I bought a 5G laptop so I can keep up with work correspondence and personal email. Hopefully, I'll finish drawings and making a parts list for the next project going into production. Yes, I'm on vacation...

I saw an article where Ivanka expressed her desire for her father not to run in 2024. It's been hard on her and Jared as their personal lives still require security. Media follows their moves and they don't enjoy the continues stress of questions by news asking about their future. It's kind of a "Just leave us alone, we want to return to a more normal lifestyle" sentiment.
Melania is right behind her with the same sentiment.


Blog tagged family as it's family that's affected.

Link:

Remember that I inherited a dog named Lucy when my friend passed. Bella nor I saw that coming. Getting a spoiled dog with no instructions has been a small challenge on both ends of the leash.

Lucy had to give up canned dog food because that stuff scares me. Bella ate so little but Lucy is five times her size so I've had to figure out how much she eats and buy larger amounts of organ meats to mix with veggies, fruits and quinoa or brown rice. At first Lucy resisted but gobbles up her food now.

The only thing is her name. She doesn't come when I just call "Lucy", she doesn't come until I call her a third time then she bolts to me. So she doesn't know her name is Lucy.....she thinks it is Lucy, Lucy, Lucy.

She cracks me up. Sometimes she will sit and stare at me while making a small growl in her throat. I'm still trying to figure out what she is telling me. If she needs to go outside she makes that sound then goes sits at the door staring at it, then I know it is time for a walk. She is training me.

Those that read my blogs may remember that I'm dealing with aging parents. Dad with alzheimers is in a physical therapy rehab, Mom goes three times a week to her physical therapy appointments for her dislocated shoulder and back. Dad is late eighties Mom early eighties. Both are very frail. I'm watching Dad change from a proud Godfather dictator of this Italian family into a pathetic reflection of a "no-one" who can sit in a wheelchair, stair at a wall and be content. It hurts the heart deeply. He is different every day but the latest consensus is he has grown comfortable in the facility and is NOT trying to get stronger to come home, all he wants to do is sleep. A big part of me wishes he would pass peacefully in his sleep but he has good insurance so the doctors will keep him alive like a vegatable.

My very pretty friend in her sixties was diagnosed with Lukemia about 4 weeks ago but she passed last night. Holy smoken shit, that's a harsh toke. So damn fast. A couple of us girlfriends have agreed although too soon this is a blessing in disguise to go so quickly rather than suffer the indignities of trying to cure Lukemia. It too can be a brutal disease.

Here one minute, gone the next. You never know