My Quarterly Post

January leaves me thankful that the holidays are over. I spent my first holidays completely alone. Christmas Eve the girls were with me during the day but left for the night to go to their dad's. As I sat staring at empty stockings lining the roaring fireplace, I lost it. I cried because my girls had never slept anywhere but here for Christmas Eve. I realized that no children would come bounding down the stairs at 4 am for the first time in 17 years. I wouldn't have to worry about negotiating with them to go back to sleep until at least 6 am.

So, I pulled myself together and decided to quit feeling sorry for myself and went to bed. I woke up with a brighter outlook and felt better for having made it through the night alone on Christmas for the first time in my life. Christmas day was filled with family and the girls were once again with me for a while.

My brother in law, sister, me, and #2.

My birthday was the week before Christmas and I had a great day. I got to see many friends who proved their love to me. I had an excellent dinner with family and friends. After dinner, the girls bought the cutest little cake. It was delicious!


Midnight on New Years Eve found me alone as well. Some plans fell through at the last minute. So, I decided why not spend yet another holiday alone. Several of my friends called me just after midnight which was awesome. Thank God I have friends or I'm not sure how I would made it.

My girls keep me going. They are everything to me. I'm really sad that #1 will be going off to college this fall. She was accepted at Michigan Tech but is holding out for University of Michigan. U of M hasn't denied her, but hasn't accepted her either. Oddly enough, she was happy to get this news. We should find out this spring whether she will be accepted.

Financially I'm still in a terrible position. Mr. Sign lost his job in July and I lost half my income when child support stopped. Honestly, I have no idea how I've made it this far. I am thankful daily for all that I have, but most thankful for my girls!

#2, me and #1 at a birthday party

Ugh

I can't wait to get back to a normal eating schedule today. Three days in a row of doing nothing but eating has taken it's toll on me. Surprisingly, I haven't gained any weight but I'm not sure how when all I've eaten is carbohydrates.

We had a relaxing holiday this year as I felt little pressure. Here are some pictures from the last few days.

Sunday we attended a birthday party and later another get together.
Here is the cake:

This is me with the birthday girl:

Christmas eve I slaved away all day on the meal.
Here is one of the tables. There's a lot going on with all those patterns, but my friend bought all the table linens for my birthday. I felt compelled to use everything at once. I'm not sure why I couldn't put the table cloth on straight.

My mom bought all of us soft fuzzy socks:

My grandparents made it this year:

Here is Gramps with size 56 underwear. We play that game where you draw numbers and everyone picks wrapped gifts. Some are good and as you can see, some are not so good. You can totally steal people's gifts. My uncle ended up with these babies.



This is the whole famn damily at Gramp and Grams'. I was feeling really fat until I compared last year's picture with this year's:

Finally, we have the Sign family on Christmas morning:

Hope you are all recovering well from the holiday debauchery. I'm working today so I'll see you slackers on the other side!

Overcompensating

Somebody needs to stop me. I just made another batch of fudge. That makes 9 pounds I've made in the last week. I don't even eat the stuff. I think I want to see others happy eating what I know made me happy before weight loss surgery.

The sugar free cookies we made turned out really well. I've got quite a knack for rearranging ingredients to suit my post gastric bypass needs. Now, if I could just figure out how to remove the calories and fat, I'd probably be the wealthiest person in the world.

I have spent every single Christmas Eve with my dad since I was born. When I got out into the world on my own, he has always come to my house to celebrate. This year will change that since he had hip replacement surgery a few weeks ago and the doctor will not allow him to leave his home until he finishes in home therapy.

We celebrated with him last weekend but it just wasn't the same. The worst part is that my step mom is leaving today to go to Florida, leaving my dad alone for the holidays. She didn't inform me of this until my dad was in surgery. I was very torn about whether I should change plans or just forget the whole thing. I don't feel comfortable cooking in his house and he lives a ways away.

I decided today that I'm still going to make dinner and celebrate with my sister, mom, step dad and grandparents. I'd have to cook anyway and my house is all decorated, so on with the festivities!! My dad said that he has a whole line of people that will be visiting him during Christmas Eve and Christmas day, so he won't be lonely.

I would like to wish you a
Merry Christmas
and hope that you are able to enjoy these precious days with your families.

Christmas Tree HNT

(Clicky, clicky)

Happy Half Nekkid Thursday!!

Go see the King and his tree.

Christmas Slacker

This past weekend we put up our inside Christmas decorations. Mr. Sign put the outdoor ones up before Thanksgiving because of the warm weather. I haven't bought one single Christmas present yet. Normally (when am I normal?), I'm totally done and have everything wrapped by now. By this time of the year, I've begun my annual cookie fest. I haven't made one batch. I suck.

How far are you with your holiday preparations?

P.S. This is last year's tree.