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Thinking of everyone today. Love the picture of baby Murphy and everyone’s Xmas photos. Debbie glad to hear surgery went well. @seagarsmoker sorry you have the flu. Hope you feel better soon. @kazuplease be careful with ice and your hilly driveway. Safe travels to all. I think I caught Gks cold I was up coughing most of the night so just taking it easy today. I hope it is just a cold. I read you can’t test early for Covid since test will come out negative. If I get fever etc I will test but for now just staying home. Sandy again love those pictures brings back such great memories. Thank you to everyone who keeps this thread going.

Hello to everyone. Another cold rainy day in South Florida. For those planning on coming here soon please bring a jacket and some rain gear. Our weather report says we will have the iguanas dropping from the trees. GKs and DD left last night. Our local airports are having major delays due to too much air traffic. It is a mess so be sure to check your flights vs sitting at the airport for hours and hours. DD had an early evening flight which didn't take off until 9 PM so not home until midnight. An exhausting day. I am doing multiple loads of laundry and my house looks like a tornado hit it. My next set of GKs comes next weekend (not for New Years) so I have a bit of a break. I do need it. Debbie good luck on your surgery tomorrow. I think it is outrageous how we are not notified of the surgical time until the day before. I hope you are scheduled for a decent early morning hour and home to rest and recuperate quickly. I thought the quote was very apt today as so many in the daily are having sad memories. Please know that we are all thinking of you and sending you healing thoughts. Sandy I love your pictures of Antarctica - we did this trip on a Silversea expedition ship. We had such great weather that we were able to go south of the Antarctic circle. Our captain said we were one of the only ships that got that far south and even our expedition leaders had never crossed the circle. It was the trip of a lifetime for us. Our pictures are like yours but my husband is the photographer so I have very few on my Ipad or phone. We have been to Dubrovnik. In fact on a cruise in the very early 2000's we were one of the first ships to dock there due to a port change. We were supposed to go to Turkey but all the ports were cancelled due to unrest there so we ended up in a totally different location. Walking into town the walls were still full of bullet holes and the squares also showed significant signs of damage from the war in the 90's. We visited the synagogue there, but almost the entire Jewish population was killed during the Holocaust including many of my family who lived not far from this area. Sadly it was not only the *** who did most of the killing, the right wing government that took over this entire area were happy to participate in the extermination. My ancestors had lived there since the Spanish Inquisition. It was a very sobering experience for me. I have no desire to go back. On a lighter note, I hope everyone enjoys the day and has safe travels.

@SusieKIslandGirl Happy Anniversary today. Terry: I hope you are feeling a bit better today and that you reached your doctor so you could know what to do with your medication. I loved all the pictures everyone posted of their families. It looks like so many had a great holiday. Sandy - hope you are having an easy ride home. @RMLincoln Glad you are enjoying your new home and you are closing on your condo shortly. I am sure it will be nice being closer to your family and not having to cook if you don't want to. I just hope your DH eye issues get resolved soon. @kazu I hope the weather is not too awful when you go out today, but glad you don't have to drive in ice or rain. My DD and GK are leaving later today. I am facing a mountain of laundry to do before the next group comes to visit. We had a very large gremlin appliance attack. The kids take baths and when one finished the other had no hot water. The plumber came yesterday and the water heater coils and thermostat needed replacing - it is an 8 year old unit with a life span of about 10 years- so instead of a hefty repair bill to fix it we bit the bullet are getting an even more expensive new water heater. Knowing my luck we would pay to fix it and the water heat would flood. Luckily yesterday we had enough hot water so everyone could shower. Vanessa glad you slept more and had a nice holiday. I am glad your BFF is with you. I wish you felt better. I do hope you can schedule the recommended procedure quickly so you can be pain free. Graham I can't believe the beautiful meals you have. Sorry about the rain. It looks like quite the storm is hitting your area. I hope everyone on a cruise is having a great time and those who are coming home today have safe travels.

@ger_77 Happy Birthday. A very Merry Christmas to all who celebrate. In our tradition we are having Chinese food tonight but no movie today we are going tomorrow instead. The GC have a birthday party today to attend this afternoon. @Cruzin Terri I hope you are feeling better today.

@Cruzin Terri Hope you feel better soon. Wishing everyone a very happy and peaceful holiday.

@StLouisCruisersSo sorry to hear about your granddaughter. What an awful experience. So glad she is leaving tomorrow morning to be with family. Loved all the cross stitch they look so intricate I doubt I could ever do them. I used to do needle point but now my hand swells if I do fine needle work for more than a few minutes. Hats off to all of those traveling. I hope all of those who are feeling poorly feel better soon. Busy with grandkids. So not much time to post. My house looks like a tornado was here.

Greetings to everyone. @grapau27 what a beautiful table and I love the crackers with gifts inside. I am sending healing thoughts to all and Bon Voyage for all who are traveling either cruising or visiting family. I am off to pick up my grandchildren and DD in 10 minutes at the airport. Their flight is 30 minutes early as opposed to last year when they were delayed a few hours and came in around 11 PM. We are looking forward to a fun holiday, though the weather here leaves much to be desired. We are wearing our coats!! @Haljo1935 wow glad you made it - what a mess.

So sad to hear about the crash outside of Philadelphia. @JazzyV I hope you can get approval from your insurance company to see the only doctor that does this procedure. @Cruzin Terri - I am glad to hear you are feeling better and have an earlier appointment. I hope all your DH's procedures go well. @ger_77 safe travels tomorrow. It sounds like everyone is busy baking and writing Christmas cards. We don't do the latter, and I will be baking when my grandkids come to visit. They love to help and it is one of the fun activities we do together. We make quite the mess and so far I haven't gotten them to participate in the clean up part of baking. We are hoping they will arrive tomorrow night but both were sick with fever yesterday. Today so far no fever and the antibiotics seem to be working. Our weather this winter has been back to the more normal Florida winter- not the heat we have had in the last winter. I like the cooler weather much better but not the awful rain and wind storm we had over the past weekend. I don't have much on the agenda, except work and some errands. Bon Voyage to all of those enjoying cruises or heading to cruises.

@grapau27Sorry to hear about Pauline's friend. Glad she can be there for her family. @JazzyV I hope you get some answers soon. I wouldn't worry about Xmas dinner I am sure your friend will understand. I wonder if you can get meals on wheels - my friend did that before she moved into assisted living because she couldn't stand up to cook. The weather yesterday was on and off rain squalls but not as bad as we thought it would be. It is very windy today, it seems worse than yesterday for the wind, but the sun it out so that is a +. Not much on the agenda - my DH will be watching football shortly and I will play online mahjong with some friends. We have played together online since Covid and continue our game online since we all live in different places now. I hope the rocking and rolling on those cruising out of FLL isn't too bad. I hope everyone's luggage makes in on time to San Diego - what a great trip you will all have.

Hello everyone. Sorry to hear that some are still not feeling well. I hope upcoming doctor appointments resolve the issues. @JazzyV sorry the epidural didn't work for you. I hope the neurosurgeon has some solutions for you. @57redbird I hope you are feeling a bit better. Post op I also had pain - it was from the nerve being manipulated and the PT and doctor, swore to me it would get better as long as I did the PT. I used ice packs to address the pain, especially at night and that helped. The PT was correct, it did get better over time but it took awhile for me to be totally pain free. I was not expecting that reaction at all to the surgery as my DH had it a couple of years before and had no pain the day after the surgery. The one thing I can tell you is you must walk and do the stretches that you get from the PT - even though you may not want to, in the long run it does work. Yesterday was not so bad for rain but very windy. I managed to get a walk in before it started drizzling on and off for the rest of the day. Today has been rain squalls with wind on and off again - with a heavier rain. For some reason where we live we don't get as much rain as other areas of Florida, it goes south of us and north of us. It looks like Fort Lauderdale is getting hammered with the winds and rain. I am glad I am not on a ship today as I do get sea sick. I was sea sick on our September trip to Alaska when we were in the Gulf of Alaska with a huge storm which caused us to divert our path. Luckily the Dramamine worked for me but it was not a fun time. Going outside did help a bit but it was too cold to stay on our balcony or on the outside decks. Not much on the agenda today. My DH is happily watching multiple football games and plans to do the same tomorrow, which should be another rainy day. My DD and grandkids come later this week and the weather should be better. We are looking forward to having them for the holidays. We have a full house for the remainder of the month and into January with various family coming. It is a fun time but exhausting. My DH and I have a cruise planned at the end of January to recover - it will be nice to be served and get a break from cooking, cleaning and laundry. Love the quote, no on the meal, drink and wine. We have been to Sydney on a cruise but no digital pictures. It would be a place I would love to go back to but the flight was so long I don't think we will be going again. I know we could cruise there but right now we can't do that long a cruise- I can only take long vacations in our summer and the cruises all go in the winter. I still work and have no plans to retire anytime soon.

Please a hold on the cabin and then call Hal on Monday they can take the hold to a booking and then you can transfer to your travel agent.

@seagarsmoker Sorry you can't leave today- I hope that the trip down tomorrow is fine for you. It looks like the weather is going to be wild here tomorrow. I know FLL is always worse than us and they are predicting terrible flooding there. We are already getting weather alerts.

I would consider leaving today vs tomorrow. The weather is supposed to be awful with torrential rains and wind - today it is only very windy with drizzle. We also have a flooding alert for tomorrow. Just be safe whatever you decide to do.

@Sharon in AZ Have a wonderful anniversary today. Awful weather in Florida today and for the weekend. I hope everyone who is coming to this area to cruise makes it in - Saturday is scheduled to be the worst day. My son was supposed to be visiting today from the NY area but we told him to re schedule since there really is not much to do in the pouring rain and wind. @StLouisCruiserssorry about the passing of your cousin. It is hard to lose family members even if we didn't see them often. @RMLincoln Glad that you made it to Texas have a wonderful time at all the celebrations. @Cruzin Terri Sorry to hear about your medical issues. One of my closest friends has the temporal arteritis and the treatment is the steroid you are on. She is much better now and was weaned down from the steroid and is now totally off - she was put on a new medicine which has been controlling everything for her. I hope that you don't have to go this route but I did want you to know that there is a treatment for it that works. I have PT on the agenda for today and not much else. Work has been slow - given what I do which centers around the school calendar. I imagine most people are busy planning for the holidays. Sending healing thoughts to all and a Bon Voyage to those with cruises. How exciting for those with long cruises coming up.

The turnpike should be fine since it is west of the areas that usually flood. I wouldn’t park in the lot though as torrential rains are predicted for Saturday and the area around the airport floods. I think the cruise port lot has high levels for parking so I would do that. My only worry would be if it is full. Another suggestion is to stay west of the port and take an Uber to the port. You can even stay in palm beach there is a nice Hampton inn on military road and gateway Blvd and across the street from loads of restaurants. Then Uber to the port, it is about 45 minutes away. I think there are also some holiday inns as well but we haven’t had guests stay there. I hope this helps.

Bring long underwear for Antarctica - very lightweight and an easy layer to pack. Also REI sells a great low turtle neck top that is windproof - so layer is long underwear, the turtle neck (you can use any one but you need to cover your neck) fleece and rain proof/wind proof shell to go over it all. Hat and gloves are critical. Water proof hiking shoes - this takes the place of sneakers so make sure they are comfortable. In Antarctica it is the wind more than the cold that you must be concerned with in their 'summer'. I had bought hiking pants that converted into capri's so no need to double pack. I also wore them for casual nights with a nice button down sun shirt - long sleeve that I wore for 'cold' and warm weather. I wore my long underwear underneath the button down shirt if I was cold. It was also nice that I could take it off if the weather changed when we were out - and stuff it in my backpack.

One other note - I don't want to post the links - but for those of you in the NY/NJ/CT area there are three fabulous exhibitions at the Metropolitan Museum of Art- one is on women designers and the two others are about impressionist art and the fauvists. For the latter two there are great you tubes posted on the Mets web site that take you through the exhibit and I highly recommend them. I wish I could visit but we can't manage a trip to NYC right now having just been there for my granddaughter's baby naming. Now all the family is coming here for the holidays.

I sincerely hope everyone is feeling a bit better. @JazzyV I really feel for you having suffered with back pain. My doctor - who did the surgery - referred me to a pain specialist last year and the pain specialist helped me survive until I had my surgery. Perhaps you can get a referral to a pain specialist from the neurosurgeon since even if the doctor recommends surgery it often takes time to have the procedure. So glad to see so many packing for long cruises. I hope everyone has a fabulous time and posts about their travels, assuming you all have internet. Jackie- glad to hear that you are all fine and the weather has passed. It looked like quite the storm in your area. Terri- sorry to hear about your medical issues. I hope your doctors can help you get back on track. Terry - I am amazed by all you do for your family. I also think you should take some time for yourself as the caregiver also needs care and a break from responsibilities and time to mourn as well. It is okay to spend the day 'in bed' so to speak - I call them pajama days. @cruising sister I feel for you about your niece but can't you tell her this is not a good time for you and you would love to facetime vs an in person visit? When I read the advice columns the advice they give is to be able to say no - not that I am good at this but it is an aspiration. Not much on the agenda today. I am still suffering the s/x of the RSV vaccine - my arm is very swollen and I feel 'off'. I have to drive my DH to the eye doctor, do a few errands and then home for the day. Luckily I work remotely (P/T) so no office to go into and I can work my own hours. Like you @Cruzin Terri I have to do the driving now. We also sold our 2nd car last year since it was just sitting in the driveway. The only time we need a car is when our kids come to visit but renting a car is a lot less expensive than maintaining a second car for their short visits. I had better go and get ready to start the day. Sending healing thoughts to all.

If you want a lot of activities and large production shows then I don't think Holland America is for you. We sailed Celebrity for years and years but really didn't like their newer ships. I did not like having to walk in the sun vs a promenade deck and having no forward area of the ship that I could actually get to. I also find the new non veranda - verandas absurd. I do not want a large glass window that opens in my room vs a separate veranda. Also prices on Celebrity for these non veranda rooms are much higher than HAL's real veranda rooms. I will also say as someone with food allergies I found HAL staff to be much more accommodating. On my last cruise with Celebrity I had to send back my food multiple times and I ended up eating way after everyone had left the dining room. This was the last straw for us, and this was pre Covid.

She is beautiful. Hope Mom is also doing well. Sorry to hear that Murphy has more issues - please let this baby have a break!! Sorry to hear that so many are still in pain.

Glad to see that you had a job interview - hope you get this job if that is what you want. For parking at the cruise terminal rather than worrying about there being a spot you can make a reservation to park at a number of places near the airport and they have a shuttle to the cruise port. https://parkbytheports.com/port-everglades-parking/. https://www.bookparkngo.com/

@StLouisCruisersCongratulations on Ren's acceptance. @rafinmd glad to hear your are on the train and on your way home. @JazzyV I hope you get treated for your pain. I don't know how you live with this pain every single day. Hopefully the MRI will answer the questions and get you a good treatment plan. @marshhawk glad to hear your oxygen finally came but sorry your cruise wasn't what you wanted. @Sharon in AZ Glad that your surgery went well.

@rafinmd Glad you are on your way home. Wishing you safe travels and hope you are feeling a lot better. Baby Murphy looks adorable and what a fighter she is. I hope her journey to health and getting home continues. Sorry to hear that people are still waiting for needed medical things. It seems that our health system is getting worse and worse. A 3 week wait to read a test is inexcusable - these tests can reveal life threatening conditions!! Also @marshhawk I can't believe you still haven't gotten your needed oxygen. Today was a busy day with work in the afternoon and loads of errands in the morning. I work remotely so I can make my own hours. I usually walk everyday but today I just couldn't get it together so instead I made a nice meatloaf (haven't had one in years) and my DH made home made mashed potatoes. It turned out great. Tomorrow we have a repair person coming for our front door and then some additional errands and then work. @JazzyV I hope you get a good sleep tonight and may it be pain free. Safe travels to everyone. @Nickelpennyyour trip to Hawaii looks fabulous.

@kaku thank you so much.

Sorry to hear so many people are having issues and the awful weather doesn't help. We are back from our trip to NY/NJ - it was a quick trip to go to our newest granddaughter's baby naming. It was fun but I find traveling exhausting now even though our planes were on time. Our next trip will be a bit easier since we only have to drive to the port. @rafinmd I hope you get discharged from the hospital shortly. I know you don't like to fly but did you consider it and perhaps ship your car to MD. A lot of people use car transport companies so if you need one post here and if you give me an email address I can send you the name of the companies we use. @kazu - hope all your visits went well - a favor to ask- we are going to Amsterdam this summer and wondered if you can share the name of the canal trip company you used. I can't seem to find it. I thought I had saved the link but I guess I didn't. Glad to hear that heating and electric got fixed. @JazzyV I really don't know how you do a house with so many levels given your back/leg pain. I hope that you find a solution and that the house gremlins stop!!