A (Belated) Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

First, I want to wish you all a belated Merry Christmas. We just got back from a 16-night Hawaii cruise and with internet on the ship costing $35(!!) a day, frugal me couldn't, on principle, cough up that kind of money just to write a blog post  :)

The cruise was actually one of the most meh cruises we have done. We only had four port stops so lots of sea days (meh), lots of people were seasick because we bounced from Hawaii to the US on rough seas, the food was just OK, the entertainment just OK, and hubby and I (along with many other passengers and crew) picked up some kind of respiratory virus that had us coughing and sniveling during a majority of our cruise (meh again). To top it off, there was really no "Christmas vibe" which made for a pretty meh Christmas. I don't want to sound too whiney because many people would love to go on such a long cruise, but for us, the cruise ship "experience" over the years has gone from great to just OK. Of course, the staff was still wonderful as always.

Needless to say, we are happily home and settling back into our routine before the new year. I wish you all a very happy and prosperous New Year!

Merry Christmas!

I just want to wish you all a very Merry Christmas!  Although I don't comment much on blogs (I'm usually scrolling through with breakfast in the other hand!), if you are on my sidebar, I read all of your posts and it feels like I know you so I want to wish you, my "blogging family", a wonderful Christmas!

 

Merry Christmas!

I hope you all are having a very Merry Christmas today!

Merry Christmas!

I just wanted to take a minute to wish all of you and yours a very Merry Christmas!  You all make for a fantastic blogging community and I look forward to reading all of your blog posts (sorry I rarely comment but if your blog is on the blogroll in the right side column, I definitely read everything you write!).  Here's to wishing you all a Merry Christmas as well as a happy and prosperous New Year!

Merry Christmas!

I want to wish you all a very Merry Christmas!  Thank you for reading this blog and commenting and overall being wonderful, kind, interesting people!

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Merry Christmas!!!

Just a quick note to say "Merry Christmas!" to all of my wonderful blog readers.  I hope you and yours are having a nice holiday and are enjoying the Christmas festivities today!

Merry Christmas!!

Christmas wishes from Las Vegas!

The cousin took us out for a wonderful buffet to celebrate the holiday and then we walked the Las Vegas Strip for a couple of hours with a million strangers to walk off the meal a bit.  There were literally wall to wall people up and down the entire Strip--who knew Las Vegas was so popular for Christmas?  It was a fun day nonetheless.  I hope you and yours enjoyed the day as well!

And a few links:

• 10 Tips for Building the Perfect Budget
• The Fussy Librarian Finds You Books You'll Love
• Organization Wants to Lure Writers to Detroit
• 7 Truths of Location Independence
• 5 Tech Things You Can Do for Your Family Today

Merry Christmas!

I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas!  The hubby and I exchanged cards (he always makes me a card, I'm not artistic at all so I bought him a card) then we went out to lunch with one of the cousins at the Palms Buffet.  The food there is really good but of course we had to financially analyze the meal and the special Christmas buffet cost $14.99 each (after a $7 discount with a players club card) while the regular lunch costs $7.99 and the food was exactly the same (we blame it on all of the tourists who think the special Christmas lunch is special so the place gets away with charging double for the same thing that they will have for lunch tomorrow).  We came back home and enjoyed homemade pumpkin pie (mine was swimming in whip cream of course!) and are fortunate to be holed up in our warm home while much of the country is covered in snow and weathering storms.  And thank goodness for FaceBook--we get a peak into everyone's Christmas  all of our friends and relative post minute by minute photos of their Christmas events online. 

Merry Christmas to you and your family! 

Merry Christmas Eve!

I got a few things accomplished on my "to do" list today...we went to the Bellagio to check out the Christmas display in their conservatory (thus the bear picture above), I finished a work project for my friend so I can email it to her on Wednesday along with an invoice, I got hubby a Christmas card but told him that his Christmas gift will have to wait until I get paid (I want to get him a new cell phone), I did my good deed for the day (I don't think I can do 26 random acts of kindness by the end of the year but one a day is do-able.  Today I went to Baskin Robbins to get a Blast--my caffeine fix--and I had an extra coupon for $1 off any ice cream there so I gave it to the lady behind me in line which seemed to make her happy).  Now I am updating my blogs while I am baking.  So far I've made a chocolate cake (it was supposed to be brownies but didn't have any brownie mix so chocolate cake it is), a cassava cake, and next up is banana bread then pumpkin pies.
The only thing missing this Christmas--besides the big family dinner; we decided to go to the Palms buffet tomorrow and bring one of the cousins.  She hates holidays so I had to bribe her to meet us there by telling her she needs to meet us in order to get the cassava cake and banana bread that she loves...and it worked!--is snow!
I hope you all have a wonderful Christmas and if you live in an area that is having a white Christmas, enjoy the snow for me!

Merry Christmas Everyone!

Before I keel over on the couch in a turkey coma, I just wanted to wish you all a very Merry Christmas!  We had a wonderful Christmas eve dinner with the cousins and about 20 of their relatives last night, then we were up early again this morning for a big Christmas lunch with the same group.  We get a couple hour;s break then we are off to play in the cousin's annual Christmas day bowling tournament (which should be fun because nearly none of them actually bowl but they make a big deal out of this tournament which comes complete with actual trophies and everything!).  I hope you all are having a wonderful day with your friends and family!