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 Posted: Sun Dec 16, 2018 7:45 pm
Emalthya I'm working on my Hogwarts Crest embroidery so it's done for when I go to Melbourne to see the Cursed Child and dealing with severe rainstorms. Favourite tradition includes opening presents whenever you want, it irks me when people feel like they have to wait until after lunch. Kids want to open gifts, let them when they wake up and they'll have something to play with to keep them away from you when you need to be doing other things. These days I'm not massively fussed about presents and am happy to open them whenever but kid me was always very very happy that I could lug my sack into my mum's room when I woke up and open my presents with her. She was chill because she didn't have to get up. The air conditioning is out in the lounge room of our house so we low-key had Christmas entirely in her room with the aircon on last year, it was fine, so probably do that again. If I could spend the holidays with anyone... you know, I wouldn't mind spending the holidays with anyone who would be happy to spend holidays with me. That sounds like I didn't put any effort into thinking about it but I really did and all I could think about was 'yeah that person is awesome, but would they want to be here? Would they enjoy themselves or would they be unhappy and make others unhappy?' Everyone has a different perspective on what a holiday means and for me, the person disowned by my paternal family because my existence became too irritating after I stopped being a cute child (cuteness can cover up a multitude of 'my existence is disappointing') or because my mother got a shiny spine after being treated badly because we're always treated as afterthoughts by her side of the family and finally had enough (I was always in camp 'spend holidays well with people who treat you well and if they don't, stay home, sans pants, all good, too hot.') and disowned them, the willingness of others to spend a good day with me is the most important thing. Otherwise, I know a person willing to have a good day with me. Me. And if it's only me, that's sad, but sadder if you're treated like a pity invitee by your own family. That sounds sad, but honestly, I love this time of year. I love looking at the lights other people put up (we never have) and watching Santa Clause, drinking egg nogg and (when I can find it) the fizzy apple juice made in the state I grew up in, making my favourite food for lunch (egg and bacon pie) because I don't like turkey or ham or stuffing, but my best day has my best food in it. Also my best food can be prepared the night before so putting it together in the late morning is like *cracks eggs* *lays out defrosted pastry* *mix in* *watch 35 minutes of Toy Story* (I'm kidding. I watch Toy Story Christmas eve while I dice the bacon) *pie cooked* *eat pie* I'm sorry relations are difficult between you and your mom's side of the family - sorry for them. They're missing out on knowing some terrific folks! The food sounds great! I'm on my way! (I wish - I get cold much more easily than I get hot) As for spending time with someone who wants to spend time with me, yes, that's assumed that whoever you pick actually does want to be there and enjoy your company. I'm incredibly lucky because I get to spend the holidays with my family who loves me (and my parents are great cooks, so we eat well, too!).
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Posted: Sun Dec 16, 2018 10:14 pm
JoyRose Emalthya I'm working on my Hogwarts Crest embroidery so it's done for when I go to Melbourne to see the Cursed Child and dealing with severe rainstorms. Favourite tradition includes opening presents whenever you want, it irks me when people feel like they have to wait until after lunch. Kids want to open gifts, let them when they wake up and they'll have something to play with to keep them away from you when you need to be doing other things. These days I'm not massively fussed about presents and am happy to open them whenever but kid me was always very very happy that I could lug my sack into my mum's room when I woke up and open my presents with her. She was chill because she didn't have to get up. The air conditioning is out in the lounge room of our house so we low-key had Christmas entirely in her room with the aircon on last year, it was fine, so probably do that again. If I could spend the holidays with anyone... you know, I wouldn't mind spending the holidays with anyone who would be happy to spend holidays with me. That sounds like I didn't put any effort into thinking about it but I really did and all I could think about was 'yeah that person is awesome, but would they want to be here? Would they enjoy themselves or would they be unhappy and make others unhappy?' Everyone has a different perspective on what a holiday means and for me, the person disowned by my paternal family because my existence became too irritating after I stopped being a cute child (cuteness can cover up a multitude of 'my existence is disappointing') or because my mother got a shiny spine after being treated badly because we're always treated as afterthoughts by her side of the family and finally had enough (I was always in camp 'spend holidays well with people who treat you well and if they don't, stay home, sans pants, all good, too hot.') and disowned them, the willingness of others to spend a good day with me is the most important thing. Otherwise, I know a person willing to have a good day with me. Me. And if it's only me, that's sad, but sadder if you're treated like a pity invitee by your own family. That sounds sad, but honestly, I love this time of year. I love looking at the lights other people put up (we never have) and watching Santa Clause, drinking egg nogg and (when I can find it) the fizzy apple juice made in the state I grew up in, making my favourite food for lunch (egg and bacon pie) because I don't like turkey or ham or stuffing, but my best day has my best food in it. Also my best food can be prepared the night before so putting it together in the late morning is like *cracks eggs* *lays out defrosted pastry* *mix in* *watch 35 minutes of Toy Story* (I'm kidding. I watch Toy Story Christmas eve while I dice the bacon) *pie cooked* *eat pie* I'm sorry relations are difficult between you and your mom's side of the family - sorry for them. They're missing out on knowing some terrific folks! The food sounds great! I'm on my way! (I wish - I get cold much more easily than I get hot) As for spending time with someone who wants to spend time with me, yes, that's assumed that whoever you pick actually does want to be there and enjoy your company. I'm incredibly lucky because I get to spend the holidays with my family who loves me (and my parents are great cooks, so we eat well, too!). Oh it's everyone. I got disowned by my father's family for reasons I do not know. I got hung up on at Christmas in 2005 after spending Christmas 2004 with them, that'll have been the last time I saw them. Happy... anniversary? (That's also the year I got Pokemon LeafGreen and I still have my pokemon from that game whom I love very much so that's still a decent Christmas) And my Mum disowned everyone in her family though she has defrosted against her dad, hopefully that lasts, I still talk to him but it's only mum and Pop that I talk to. But yeah Pop's issue is that the rest of the family says things and he's a bit blind to the nastiness so he gets used a lot by the other side. I just want to chat to him about cool books we both read. Mum was actually going in to get a gift card for him for a liquor store (he lives on the other side of the country so a gift card is best, though he also got a signed book by a favourite author of ours) and saw her sister there, buying four bottles of wine. Mum's noticed 'you got a new car very similar to mine -_-' and left because they had no gift cards (she didn't say that) but when she told me all I noticed was 'she saw you in a bottle-o buying nothing- she used to judge you so so hard whenever you had anything to drink! And she bought four bottles!' she looked at me and went 'You're right! She WOULD have judged me for buying anything!' And we laugh because she didn't feed the narcissist and we no longer have to deal with them XDD Christmas on your terms is better than a horrible christmas on someone else's terms. Insert any holiday. I'M ABOUT TO WATCH THE NEW CHILLING ADVENTURES OF SABRINA CHRISTMAS EPISODE AND AM SO HYPED!!!! Lol my mum is the best sweets maker- tim tam balls and white christmas and rocky road and FUDGE OH THE FUDGE. She used to get treated like crap because she made all the lovely treats people expect and it's expensive to make but it was treated like it was a small thing? Everyone enjoyed them TO DEATH but she never got respect as if she had made 'the meal' (which I don't really like anyway- her sister always burned the meat and I just wanted to go home and have a sandwich) which is cruel because so much love goes into making them. NEAPOLITAN FUDGE! IT WAS A LAYER OF STRAWBERRY FLAVOURED WHITE CHOCOLATE FUDGE, WHITE CHOCOLATE FUDGE, AND THEN CHOCOLATE FUDGE. *Sob* so beautiful. Lol you're welcome to our weather. It's so humid. Oh yum, I would love to be somewhere with great cooks ^^ Mum's the best sweet maker but she doesn't cook much and so I never really learned. I don't mind, I just have bland tastes now. I do remember you have a large, imposing, cuddly bear of a husband, I bet he's great for leftovers XD
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Posted: Sun Dec 16, 2018 10:27 pm
The(Sic)nessWithin This is my first year home with the family now that I have a baby (well, toddler. He turned 1 in oct lol). My husband is deployed though so that's crummy sad But at least I don't have to spend the holidays by myself. I'm not sure what traditions I'll start with my little nugget. My husband mentioned I should do some new things but I'm not sure what to do! Maybe I'll get some ideas from this thread. I did try out the advent calendar of books this year, where you wrap a book for all 24/25 days, or the 12 days of Christmas if the whole thing is a bit much. Thankfully Goodwill has lots of kid books so it was very cheap to do and now he has a good little library going. He won't remember it but at least he enjoys opening presents and ripping the paper to pieces haha. As he gets older the advent books may be unrealistic/too expensive, but cute to do when they're little! I guess one tradition we do have, food wise, is my mom (and then I) always made sausage balls (They are literally just sausage, cheese, and bisquick rolled into little balls and baked for 15 mins) for Christmas. Since my siblings usually stopped by in between visiting their inlaws and such, we would have mostly finger/party type food and then a ham for dinner later on. Sausage balls, BBQ little smokies, a veggie platter, etc to snack on throughout the day. Can't have dairy at the moment so I'm going to attempt using vegan cheese for the first time. Most people don't like it, but I've been dairy free for almost a year now so maybe it will be more bearable haha. I hope it works out because I would really like to have the food at least be the usual. My mom passed earlier this year so Christmas will already be different enough as it is sad But we are managing! That's a beautiful idea with the books! You never know what he might get out of them even if he isn't interested in reading; I was reading about a little boy who loved 'reading' books to his stuffed toys which was him turning the pages and making up a story, which is still lovely book manners (my grandma was a teacher, so 'book manners' was important to her).
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Posted: Mon Dec 17, 2018 1:58 pm
Emalthya Oh it's everyone. I got disowned by my father's family for reasons I do not know. I got hung up on at Christmas in 2005 after spending Christmas 2004 with them, that'll have been the last time I saw them. Happy... anniversary? (That's also the year I got Pokemon LeafGreen and I still have my pokemon from that game whom I love very much so that's still a decent Christmas) And my Mum disowned everyone in her family though she has defrosted against her dad, hopefully that lasts, I still talk to him but it's only mum and Pop that I talk to. But yeah Pop's issue is that the rest of the family says things and he's a bit blind to the nastiness so he gets used a lot by the other side. I just want to chat to him about cool books we both read. Mum was actually going in to get a gift card for him for a liquor store (he lives on the other side of the country so a gift card is best, though he also got a signed book by a favourite author of ours) and saw her sister there, buying four bottles of wine. Mum's noticed 'you got a new car very similar to mine -_-' and left because they had no gift cards (she didn't say that) but when she told me all I noticed was 'she saw you in a bottle-o buying nothing- she used to judge you so so hard whenever you had anything to drink! And she bought four bottles!' she looked at me and went 'You're right! She WOULD have judged me for buying anything!' And we laugh because she didn't feed the narcissist and we no longer have to deal with them XDD Christmas on your terms is better than a horrible christmas on someone else's terms. Insert any holiday. I'M ABOUT TO WATCH THE NEW CHILLING ADVENTURES OF SABRINA CHRISTMAS EPISODE AND AM SO HYPED!!!! Lol my mum is the best sweets maker- tim tam balls and white christmas and rocky road and FUDGE OH THE FUDGE. She used to get treated like crap because she made all the lovely treats people expect and it's expensive to make but it was treated like it was a small thing? Everyone enjoyed them TO DEATH but she never got respect as if she had made 'the meal' (which I don't really like anyway- her sister always burned the meat and I just wanted to go home and have a sandwich) which is cruel because so much love goes into making them. NEAPOLITAN FUDGE! IT WAS A LAYER OF STRAWBERRY FLAVOURED WHITE CHOCOLATE FUDGE, WHITE CHOCOLATE FUDGE, AND THEN CHOCOLATE FUDGE. *Sob* so beautiful. Lol you're welcome to our weather. It's so humid. Oh yum, I would love to be somewhere with great cooks ^^ Mum's the best sweet maker but she doesn't cook much and so I never really learned. I don't mind, I just have bland tastes now. I do remember you have a large, imposing, cuddly bear of a husband, I bet he's great for leftovers XD I never understood people "disowning" their family - I mean that's the only family you get, so treasure them while they're here! But of course if they're abusive I don't think you have a choice but to get as far as possible from them. What an amazing memory you have! My husband is indeed big, imposing, and cuddly! But he hates leftovers, so they're all for me! xd
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Posted: Mon Dec 17, 2018 7:25 pm
JoyRose I never understood people "disowning" their family - I mean that's the only family you get, so treasure them while they're here! But of course if they're abusive I don't think you have a choice but to get as far as possible from them. What an amazing memory you have! My husband is indeed big, imposing, and cuddly! But he hates leftovers, so they're all for me! xd I honestly don't remember the day half the time, but I remember important things, which would seem to be unimportant things. But yay for leftovers all for you! I dunno about abusive. Neglectful. I still don't know why my father's family stopped talking to me, most bets are on 'mum had a fight with them' but she doesn't remember what it was about and she wasn't well at the time. That's not an excuse lol, it's like 'eh, I believe she doesn't remember, and in the end, if you have a disagreement with a non-family person and you take it out on your only daughter/granddaughter, you're not nice either.' But yeah it's been an eventful almost-decade-and-a-half for my father! He got married, had a daughter and a son, all of which I have found out because we used to live together in a tiny state where he still does live and everyone knows everyone. The thing is, though, that people have forgotten me, even people who used to know me very well. When people say (and this happened when I went to visit in 2016) 'I have [Em's Dad's] daughter coming to visit!' they reply 'Oh, really? How old's she now, 4?' 'She's [age much older than that].' '?????' I could say 'the worst part' about so many things because neglect isn't like beating someone up, it's beating them down. Being treated like you don't matter (I got hung up on at Christmas trying to call and thank my grandmother for the gift she sent me <- pretty bad) crushes you down until you accept terrible treatment because you're used to it and don't know you deserve better. But I deserve to be treated kindly and have a Christmas spent in good company, even if only my own ^^ Like everyone else (though I hope everyone else has company for Christmas ^^) I have been watching so many Christmas specials! Chilling adventures of Sabrina, the Simpsons, Extra Mythology and I'm sure there were more but I forgot XD I'm super psyched XD I love not having any worried for Christmas, only I'm a little concerned about getting my favourite apple juice, but if I can't get it it's not a big deal. I WILL DRINK TWICE AS MUCH NEXT YEAR TO COMPENSATE! What are you up to?
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Posted: Tue Dec 18, 2018 4:14 am
Emalthya JoyRose I never understood people "disowning" their family - I mean that's the only family you get, so treasure them while they're here! But of course if they're abusive I don't think you have a choice but to get as far as possible from them. What an amazing memory you have! My husband is indeed big, imposing, and cuddly! But he hates leftovers, so they're all for me! xd I honestly don't remember the day half the time, but I remember important things, which would seem to be unimportant things. But yay for leftovers all for you! I dunno about abusive. Neglectful. I still don't know why my father's family stopped talking to me, most bets are on 'mum had a fight with them' but she doesn't remember what it was about and she wasn't well at the time. That's not an excuse lol, it's like 'eh, I believe she doesn't remember, and in the end, if you have a disagreement with a non-family person and you take it out on your only daughter/granddaughter, you're not nice either.' But yeah it's been an eventful almost-decade-and-a-half for my father! He got married, had a daughter and a son, all of which I have found out because we used to live together in a tiny state where he still does live and everyone knows everyone. The thing is, though, that people have forgotten me, even people who used to know me very well. When people say (and this happened when I went to visit in 2016) 'I have [Em's Dad's] daughter coming to visit!' they reply 'Oh, really? How old's she now, 4?' 'She's [age much older than that].' '?????' I could say 'the worst part' about so many things because neglect isn't like beating someone up, it's beating them down. Being treated like you don't matter (I got hung up on at Christmas trying to call and thank my grandmother for the gift she sent me <- pretty bad) crushes you down until you accept terrible treatment because you're used to it and don't know you deserve better. But I deserve to be treated kindly and have a Christmas spent in good company, even if only my own ^^ Like everyone else (though I hope everyone else has company for Christmas ^^) I have been watching so many Christmas specials! Chilling adventures of Sabrina, the Simpsons, Extra Mythology and I'm sure there were more but I forgot XD I'm super psyched XD I love not having any worried for Christmas, only I'm a little concerned about getting my favourite apple juice, but if I can't get it it's not a big deal. I WILL DRINK TWICE AS MUCH NEXT YEAR TO COMPENSATE! What are you up to? I hope you can find your apple juice. For me the drink that is often mysteriously absent and missed those years is apricot nectar. We love it, but for some reason it doesn't show up in the stores some years. Ah well, at least I still get my egg nog! I love Christmas specials. But I've never heard of "Extra Mythology." Sounds like one I'd enjoy!
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Posted: Tue Dec 18, 2018 4:23 am
JoyRose I hope you can find your apple juice. For me the drink that is often mysteriously absent and missed those years is apricot nectar. We love it, but for some reason it doesn't show up in the stores some years. Ah well, at least I still get my egg nog! I love Christmas specials. But I've never heard of "Extra Mythology." Sounds like one I'd enjoy! Thanks ^^ It's juice from the island I grew up in and the mainland and it tastes so much nicer than any other kind of juice- they don't call it the Apple Isle for nothing (probably because of lack of imagination). I hope you find your nectar. I also have my egg nogg! Normally I go through it but it's very expensive and I've had one carton and put another away for Christmas day. One carton is only about two full mugs. Some people don't like them, but I loved Supernatural's Christmas special. Well Extra mythology is an offshoot of Extra Credits which is a Youtube channel about all the stuff you never thought you didn't know about games. That's not to my taste, but they have 'Extra history' which IS it's really interesting and talks about all kinds of periods of history with flash animation so you can see people doing stuff rather than just looking at some ancient vase (nice, but, do you remember what the vase was about?). Extra Mythology is pretty new but it's pretty good, they only released the Christmas one today. I think there's only about 5 episodes of Extra mythology, but they're also continuing with extra credits and extra history.
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Posted: Tue Dec 18, 2018 7:53 pm
Thanks! I think I saw the idea on Pinterest or Facebook haha. Right now he is too distracted for books but I still read them to him anyway. I'm excited for the day that he will bring me books and want me to read them instead of wanting to grab them out of my hands and throw them 😂 Great idea! And we are definitely going to see see lights! smile We may go to a big thing this weekend, where you drive through a few miles of lights. I went a couple years ago (and before when I was little) and it's always fun. Also need to get a pic with Santa. I took him last year and he had a "why did you wake me up for this" face haha! Also I saw it mentioned earlier about watching Christmas movies. It's a guilty pleasure of mine too. I watch them all even though many have the same predictable plot. Seems there's several involving princes, kissing in elevators, or if you're lucky you get both in one movie 😂 I really enjoyed The Christmas Chronicles and A Christmas Prince, both Netflix movies. Also the one about the Christmas tree farm and the woman comes home to take it over when her dad dies. An Evergreen Christmas or something to that effect. She plays the violin. Cute movie.
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Posted: Thu Dec 20, 2018 6:49 pm
classified_northkittenstar Whatcha doin' for fun these days?
classified_jet Favorite traditions?
classified_northkittenstar Who would you spend the holidays with (dead, alive, fictional) if you could?
classified_northkittenstar Mostly the same as always~ hangin' w/ family, cats, husband, and doing crafty stuff for people for the holidays!
classified_jet Making cookies and watching christmas movies
classified_northkittenstar My deceased pets, and great aunt. Miss them a lot! Wish my brother would pop byy once in awhile but idk if he will ya know :/ lol he's alive tho
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Posted: Sun Dec 23, 2018 7:55 pm
Hoot hoot! An owl flies around in the Festive Playground. JoyRose gaia_spoons Whatcha doin' for fun these days? Composing music and writing original stories. JoyRose gaia_spoons Favorite traditions? Decorating the Christmas Tree. JoyRose gaia_spoons Who would you spend the holidays with (dead, alive, fictional) if you Stan Lee. I want to discuss the comic and character creation process with him. So I can get ideas from him for creating my own comics. Too bad he's dead. Hoot! sad
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Posted: Sun Dec 23, 2018 9:13 pm
Maddy-Mazey classified_northkittenstar Whatcha doin' for fun these days? classified_jet Favorite traditions? classified_northkittenstar Who would you spend the holidays with (dead, alive, fictional) if you could? classified_northkittenstar Mostly the same as always~ hangin' w/ family, cats, husband, and doing crafty stuff for people for the holidays! classified_jet Making cookies and watching christmas movies classified_northkittenstar My deceased pets, and great aunt. Miss them a lot! Wish my brother would pop byy once in awhile but idk if he will ya know :/ lol he's alive tho Same - love hanging with my friends and family. I let my mom and daughter bake, but my kid and I enjoy movies together. I'm the one who really likes the Christmas ones, though. Good luck with the brother. Maybe some day he'll realize he only gets one sister like you and one life to connect with you in.
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Posted: Mon Dec 24, 2018 12:40 am
Achilles the Red Hoot hoot! An owl flies around in the Festive Playground. JoyRose gaia_spoons Whatcha doin' for fun these days? Composing music and writing original stories. JoyRose gaia_spoons Favorite traditions? Decorating the Christmas Tree. JoyRose gaia_spoons Who would you spend the holidays with (dead, alive, fictional) if you Stan Lee. I want to discuss the comic and character creation process with him. So I can get ideas from him for creating my own comics. Too bad he's dead. Hoot! sad Writing is a fun thing for me to do, too! What kind of stories do you write? I used to love decorating the tree, but my family doesn't really care to, so the tree is still in its box because the place where it goes up isn't clear. sigh. Stan Lee would be a wonderful person to visit with, I agree!
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Posted: Mon Dec 24, 2018 4:06 am
So my mum and I went to get a photo with Santa today (Christmas eve) and oddly, I don't think I look too bad (normally we are both hesitant for photos but I try and have one taken every year).
We are all prepared- the horses have christmas carrots, the birds have bird treats, and the dog will have a new toy to destroy ^^
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Posted: Mon Dec 24, 2018 4:44 pm
JoyRose Maddy-Mazey classified_northkittenstar Whatcha doin' for fun these days? classified_jet Favorite traditions? classified_northkittenstar Who would you spend the holidays with (dead, alive, fictional) if you could? classified_northkittenstar Mostly the same as always~ hangin' w/ family, cats, husband, and doing crafty stuff for people for the holidays! classified_jet Making cookies and watching christmas movies classified_northkittenstar My deceased pets, and great aunt. Miss them a lot! Wish my brother would pop byy once in awhile but idk if he will ya know :/ lol he's alive tho Same - love hanging with my friends and family. I let my mom and daughter bake, but my kid and I enjoy movies together. I'm the one who really likes the Christmas ones, though. Good luck with the brother. Maybe some day he'll realize he only gets one sister like you and one life to connect with you in. Awww! Christmas movies were always such a highlight I bet that's so fun! emotion_kirakira I hope he does sometime, thank you!!!
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Posted: Mon Dec 31, 2018 7:51 am
lol Our avatars could almost be twins. Same vampire skin and triangular beat hairstyle.
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