I know Thanksgiving is looming in the US, but we are in full swing for Christmas.
Philip friend Henry arrived during the week armed with wrapping paper and gifts so he could wrap them and store them with us. He has completed his shopping! His brother is Autisic and every year he finds the presents and opens them whether they are for him or not, so no one gets to open a present on the day because Roger has done it.
So this is the new plans to keep them wrapped!

He is going to get them Christmas day when he pops in to check on Eskie our hamster.

We are going The Jurassic Coast!
It was really lucky I called the Tourist Board and they put me in touch with a lady who rents a cottage on the cliffs with a view of the down and the white chalk cliffs from the kitchen, dining room and lounge.
Other people had cancelled so we didn't have to pay the deposit so it was a £70 saving and the Piggies can come too and they have wavered the £20 pet fee, if they stay in their play pen.

My parents and I drove over to see it and make sure it was ok for Mum and Philip and Mum just fell in love with it. Using the ferry crossing to get there will make it feel like we are going further than 15 minutes down the coast.
Dad said he could nip home if we forgot anything!

That sounds great! Can I come?

We've been in full Christmas swing here since before Halloween! The economy has pushed the limits of my Christmas tolerance I tell you! I am dreading the holidays this year. I wish we had enough money to go visiting Matt's family or better still, take a trip somewhere even at the cost of becoming the enemy for it.

I just don't enjoy them anymore and feel forced to visit people / family for reasons that are theirs and not mine.

We are heading down to FL on Wed. for Thanksgiving this year. We are going to stay with Mom and get home cooking!
Hope to get the beach or pool for a day or two. I'm sure Mom will want to go do some fun things too.
We will have 4 full days down there with her. It should be fun.
Then I'm sure she will be coming up here for Christmas. That should be fun.

What part of Florida Kim? East coast? West coast?

Is there any chance in Hell you can get me a yellow pages? Bring it home and ship it to me when you get back? I keep trying to find one but they want to make me pay $50 because I don't live in Fla! They used to be free.

Can't you get a Yellow pages in the library?
Or an online, we have Yell.Com, but then the UK is much smaller!

Try AnyWho.com.

http://anywho.yellowpages.com/

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We don't travel for the holidays any more. We used to go to Barb's parents but it became a hassle for all involved so we stay home and host friends.

Since we're the cooks of our circle of friends we generally put on quite a feed for Thanksgiving and Christmas. Normally we host a party for New Year's Eve and a subsequent pork and sauerkraut meal for New Year's Day.

As a matter of fact, we just went to the store and bought ingredients and supplies for Thanksgiving this morning. We got everything EXCEPT the turkey. Seems there was a rush on them and the store is out of birds till Monday. We could have bought one of the fresh ones but they are at $1.29/lb and we have a store promotion reward for a frozen bird at $.28/lb!

Seeing as we get a bird in the 20 - 25 lb range the price is damn sure right!

We are going to the Tampa area. Will that help. I will see what I can do if it will.

Let me know

Yes Kim!

I just got a new Yellowpages yesterday too and it had a link in it to order more online. So, that's what I did! I posted before I looked through the book.

It's Verizon's yellow pages that want fifty bucks a book! Highway robbery is what that is!

LK, you do NOT want to know the insanity of my holidays. I'll probably post a good long whine after each one. I gotta say, my misery makes good reading for you all!

I have been trying for what? 10+ years now to get them to come here to eat but it just isn't going to happen. She even insisted once when I just was a week out of major neck fusion surgery that I travel the hour to her house to eat for Thanksgiving. Said I can lie on the couch all day and I don't even have to help with the meal or clean up! How kind of her considering I was supposed to be bedridden and no cars for a full 6 weeks!

OK Twitch......

How the hell do you keep yourself from going postal on that lot of yours?

I have no idea. Honestly I do not. There is drama brewing lately with the restaruant at this time and now insane bro managed to get himself involved.

Thursday is going to be interesting. Which reminds me! I have to finish restoring this computer for mother.