Plans for the Holidays?

sapphire12 • 6 December 2022 at 1:37 PM

Hey guys,

What will you all be doing over the holidays? Apart from the daily logins on the Advent Tree of course 😊

I'll be visiting home for the first time in 3(?) years! I've just booked the flights before checking on the Cave so I thought maybe it'd be nice to know what everyone's plans are.

Hope you all have wonderful holidays

okami • 6 December 2022 at 3:53 PM

@sapphire12
I'm glad you're getting to visit home for the holidays, that's so special and exciting! ❤️

I left my old job in animal caretaking a few months ago due to extreme burnout, so this will be the first Christmas I haven't been working in about 5 years. I'll be spending time with family and doing holiday things that I haven't been able to in years. 😊 Times are currently insanely stressful since I'm still unsure of future career plans, but I'm thankful to be able to really experience the holiday season again. ❤️

heatherm19 • 6 December 2022 at 4:23 PM

I'll be spending a nice quiet holiday with my mom. We kind of want to go to the Christmas Eve service at our church, we went in 2019 but haven't been since (stupid pandemic). It was really nice when we went and all the kids perform this bell-ringing thing... Just not sure if we'll be going due to concerns over health stuff.

We normally open a few presents Christmas Eve and then the rest Christmas Day (yes, I'm 30-something years old and mom and I still do the big exciting fun 'gifts under the tree' stuff). My dog will play with the wrapping paper and I'll try to get him to 'open' his own gift but he'll lose interest until I show him that it's treats... Just small little traditions like that.

I haven't been to San Diego for the holidays in years, that's where the majority of the family still lives and we used to go visit for Thanksgiving or Christmas. Definitely not doable this year, maybe possibly next year.

hikanu • 6 December 2022 at 4:26 PM

I'll be having the usual celebration with my parents and brother. It's a small, unhurried, and cozy family Christmas. 😊

Mom doesn't work this Christmas, so we'll get to celebrate on the correct date this year, so that's always nice.

I don't think we'll find time to bake Christmas cookies this week, though. Might have to wait until next week. ^^'

cranberrycat1 • 6 December 2022 at 4:47 PM

I'm going to spend time with friends and family 😊

sapphire12 • 7 December 2022 at 5:25 PM

@bluewolf - Congrats on you for having the courage to leave the job. I think it's great that you're prioritising your wellbeing.

Enjoy the break 😊 It'll really be good to have a mental holiday and just let yourself be relaxed - surrounded by family too!

I left a job that was burning me out 7 months ago and I've been happier since. It's better on the other side.

@heatherm19 - That sounds lovely and sorry to hear about the health stuff. You're truly never too old for gift opening in my opinion and family traditions are always great to continue. It makes the time spent together special

I hope you get to go to San Diego soon - I'm sure the family all miss you 😊

@hikanu Family is always always nice - I'm so excited to see my extended one this year after so long.

Maybe you could sneak time this week to make 'regular cookies' before the xmas ones next week haha

@cranberrycat1 Sounds lovely to hear 😊 I hope you have an exciting and warm time together!

Thanks all for replying - it made me happy seeing the notifs earlier today but couldn't reply because I had to be in the office 😃

hikanu • 7 December 2022 at 6:12 PM

@sapphire12 A good thing about my parents living about 3 miles away from me, I do go bother them quite frequently. I ran into my aunt a week and a half ago at a local Christmas market. The last get together of the entire extended family was 3 or so years ago just before everything got locked down.

I can wait, I do like the cookies, but it's the tradition of spending an entire afternoon baking cookies with my mom and little brother, while dad attempts to eat them faster than we can make them. He is the certified taste tester. XD

lilybloom • 9 December 2022 at 11:16 PM

i'm probably going to spend the holidays with my mom

sapphire12 • 10 December 2022 at 7:43 AM

@hikanu Oh that sounds really nice - I think ever since the pandemic I've really tried reevaluating what I want in my life. Being able to live near my parents is one of them. Hopefully in the future ^^

Haha that's dads for you - mine does the same thing when my sister and mom cooks anything

@lilybloom Sounds nice 😊 Doing anything special?

hikanu • 10 December 2022 at 12:00 PM

@sapphire12 Yeah, the pandemic was good for that, I suppose. I moved out during the pandemic. I just simply realized it was time to leave the nest when we were all stuck at home.

Absolutely. And when we tell him off for eating everything, he has the audacity to tell us that the next one may taste different, so he has to taste that one too. XD

snowywinter • 12 December 2022 at 10:26 PM

I butted out since it's too sad to say "absolutely nothing" when that isn't the plan itself. (Or the other way of wording it... avoiding family I absolutely can't stand - and not bothering my friends who actually like their relatives.)

But then I remembered tonight... I DO have a tradition... Late December for about a decade now I watch 'A Home For the Holidays.' A show highlighting the joys of adoption, and the need for foster and forever families. ^^ < 3
Look forward to it every year now (unless there's a really annoying host or lead musical guest ...but I still watch the story segments.)
This year it's airing on the 23rd.

spottledmutt • 2 December 2023 at 1:27 PM

Most likely nothing lol After exams I just want to relax

trekie1701 • 2 December 2023 at 5:17 PM

The holidays have been hard for my daughter and I since we lost her dad in 2019, I've tried to do what I can for her, but It has been very hard for us.

discordia • 3 December 2023 at 5:55 PM

Drinking egg nog, eating homemade delicious food and doing nothing but being absolutely lazy.