Barb23

She should have gone with a lighter color or anything else to help the coloring mishaps. Maybe John David was unavailable to do them. (I typed John "Boy" at first and had to fix it.)

Why is it when these people want to move, all of a sudden their lease is up? It may be just coincidence but I thought Buddy gave the reason of his lease coming up to move in with Twit. How convenient.

@Jynnan tonnix Remy is beautiful & thank you for sharing her picture. She is really going to be a knock out when she gets older. Her conversation with her daycare teacher was priceless and definitely tops Spurgeon's sayings. I know I'm early but Happy New Year. Once again you all have helped me through another wild year and just not pandemic related. I don't know who I would talk or vent to if I didn't have all of you. We are very lucky to have found one another through a crazy source - the Duggars.

I was just reading about the Steve & Terri Maxwell family Christmas celebration. They did mention how great it was that Christopher & Anna Marie & family were able to attend the celebration after her battle with (breast?) cancer **. I'm not so sure I would have attended if I were her. This is the most aggravating & upsetting part - SHE WASN'T WEARING A MASK!! (at least in one of the pictures she wasn't but I doubt she wore any because of you know --God & Jesus.) I did a rough count of how many adults attended their celebration & the total was 15. That's not including the large number of children. So she is roughly being exposed to the germs of the 15+ members of her husband's family (and whoever they were in contact with) by not wearing a mask. I'm not even getting into other safety measures like social distancing. (**I don't remember exactly but I think Anna Marie had a rare type of breast cancer and/or one that was hard to treat.) I am also a high risk person. I've only been out to doctor's appointments, my nephew's outside wedding in September and a small Christmas brunch at my mother-in-law's Christmas morning. Safety measures were practiced, mainly mask wearing at all the functions. My MIL's birthday is tomorrow & our small family of approx 10 members (same group as Christmas) will be celebrating with a pizza & ice cream cake party at my BIL's house. I really would like to go but have decided to stay home. Mainly for the reason of who every one has been in contact with. My grown son who lives with us feels the same way. He has been working at home & has barely been in contact with anyone else and is my protector. He is very worried that I will catch it so I guess we'll be enjoying our take home pizza and cake at home. We have no problem with that -- it's not worth the chance of us catching it. Sorry, I don't mean to be rambling on about how I've tried to protect myself from Covid. I just used it as a comparison with the Maxwell family (and the other goofy families) and how little they take Covid and observe safety procedures. For example: We saw Jana & the other Duggar girls make masks for members of their family but I don't think we've ever seen them wear them. Or how upset they are to have to wear masks in a store.

I agree about the noise level. I would have one massive headache when I left. Just a few observations: The photo album Lauren gave Michelle was a very thoughtful gift. Someone up thread commented on using Amazon shipping boxes to wrap a gift in. My opinion is it all depends on the gift. I don't think it's a problem if it is a heavier gift. I had to use a cardboard shipping box for a heavy gift I gave my MIL this year. It would have definitely ripped thru a gift bag. Even a regular gift box was too thin. So I just left it in shipping box & wrapped that. Why do they have to tell us their bacon is turkey bacon? They mentioned it in describing a breakfast casserole. (1) Is it to remind us they do eat healthy food? (2) Or are they just used to saying turkey & bacon together? I'm going with choice #1. Speaking of food, that lunch Buffet looked rather ________. (I can't think of word I want to use. Maybe someone can help me.) I'm thinking "bla-sa" (?? Spelling) would describe it. First of all, can't they remove the cooking bags from the brisket & whatever other meat they had? Yes, the bags are great to cook in but please remove bag to make food look more presentable. Who wants to eat something that is floating around in gravy or cooking juices along with a plastic cooking bag? Just yuk!! Did they show the plates & utensils they used? I wasn't paying attention but I'm sure it was their usual cheap brand of paper plates that couldn't hold much before collapsing. Why didn't Jim Bob put the melting ice cream back in the freezer to firm it up? It would probably be at least a half an hour before it would be eaten for dessert. Plus it looked like he placed it right in front where it could be knocked on the floor. I grew up in the 60's and loved playing with baby dolls and Barbies. I think me & my friend played with them til we were 13. It seems that trend has gone by the wayside. I'm always happy to see the Duggar girls get baby dolls and their accessories but I keep thinking they probably get them just to prepare themselves to be a real Mommy at 19 and not just to play with them. Well my final observation is we didn't need to see Jim Bob & Michelle kissing at the end. It was probably under the mistletoe but I don't care where it was. It was just gross and put a damper on my Christmas spirit.

I still can't believe how Jim Bob continues to "hold onto/grasp" Michelle. I know this is their thing but can't he change it up once in a while by putting his arm around her shoulder like most couples do? We know she's your property Jim Bob. ETA - that is one big Christmas tree.

Happy Birthday @iwantcookies. As my former coworker used to say - I hope you get lots of presents!

"Meet Me in St. Louis" is one of my favorite movies & I don't dare remove it from my saved movies & shows. I love the acting of the youngest daughter Tootie Smith played by Margaret O'Brien. I love all the costumes & dresses as well. I think I may watch it again this afternoon. I agree with the poster who said she has had enough of the Hallmark Christmas movies. I'm with her. I had a great Christmas. Our family was able to have its traditional brunch & gift exchange at my mother-in-law's. My adult son really didn't want me to go since I am high risk. I told him I really needed to see everyone for my mental health. (It was ten of us total.) I have not been out of the house except for doctor's appointments & my nephew's outside wedding in September where we practiced precautions. I told him we would be safe as we could be at my MIL's. Our family consisting of me, my husband and son sat on one side of the room which is where we usually sit anyway. I was pushed back in a corner sitting in my wheelchair with my son next to me. We wore our masks. The other family members sat on the other side of the room, over six feet away. I agreed with my son on Christmas Eve that we would take our food home & eat it there. He was worried we could catch something when we had our masks off. As you can tell, he is very overprotective of me (which I appreciate) but there comes a time when you have to bend the rules just a little bit. So after opening gifts which was so much fun this year, it was time to eat. I really wanted to stay so I told Son I would like to stay and eat there instead of going home. We could stay right where we were in the living room instead of being around others in the two dining areas. I could tell he wasn't gung ho with the idea but agreed to stay & eat where we were seated. We left shortly thereafter. They also didn't have trouble lifting me in my wheelchair up & down my MIL's front steps. Usually I'm able to stand & hobble my way up the steps but this year I'm wearing one of the foot boots because of sores on my feet. I'm not supposed to put any pressure on it so there's no way I could have done the steps. So the guys each took a side and lifted me up & down with no difficulty. My MIL came to our house later in the afternoon to enjoy our seafood Christmas dinner put together by my husband. We had delicious Maryland crab soup, crab cakes, steamed shrimp and sides of scalloped potatoes, biscuits & rolls. We got everything from a local carryout seafood restaurant we go to often. I also enjoyed the restaurant's homemade sweet iced tea which I think is the best around (besides my mother's.) We got a gallon of it & since I'm the only one who likes it, I've really been enjoying it. Plus we have plenty of leftovers. Needless to say, we were all stuffed. It was so nice to see & be with my husband's side of the family. Some of the gifts caused plenty of laughs. I got three jigsaw puzzles so that will keep me busy for awhile. Santa also brought me gummy bears, my favorite. It really hurts that they are one of Jill Dillard's favorites as well but I try not to think of that while enjoying mine. My husband was also happy with the "old time" candy Santa brought him like Beeman gum, Bonomo Turkish Taffy (vanilla flavor) and Goetzes caramel creams in the flat trays. He enjoys them more than a box of chocolates. Son of Barb got some of his old time favorites like Pacifier Candy Pops and the hard candy sticks in his favorite flavors. So it ended up being a great Christmas, Covid precautions and all. (Anything beats when I was in the hospital on Christmas a few years ago.) Now I'm off to watch "Meet me in St. Louis" with a glass of sweet tea.

Merry Christmas everyone!!🎅🤶🍪🎄 It will definitely be a different one for our family from wearing masks & social distancing to gifts that haven't arrived yet. But we'll make the best of it as well as we can.

Boy this talk of childhood vaccines has brought back memories for me & add me to the group getting the vaccines in a different place other than a doctor's office. I remember getting an injection in school. They lined us up in the gym/cafeteria. For some reason I'm thinking it was circa 1972 when I was in the 4th or 5th grade, around 10 years old. I remember it was given by a gun-type injector & it seemed huge at the time. The only excitement was one girl's arm wouldn't stop bleeding. I don't remember what they did with her re: the bleeding - this was before our old elem. school had an official health room. All we had was a desk outside the school office loaded with basics like band-aids & was manned by volunteer moms. They called your mom or dad to come get you if the they couldn't handle things. I don't know remember how they handled medicine distribution. There was no privacy- the area was located in the main hall/area of the school so everyone passed by it. Boy things have changed since then. We were so happy to get a new health room when our new school opened a year or two later. It had 2 cots to lay down on and a separate bathroom. This may have been when they got school nurses to man the room. I remember getting the sugar cube at a local health center. My mom took me & my sister. I don't remember when this was but it was on a Sunday. (Was Sunday the universal day of distribution?) My sister is 5 years older than me & I'm not sure if she got it as well but I'm thinking she did. I also remember stopping at a store afterwards to get a treat or two. @lookeyloo So glad to hear from you & sharing how you & your family are handling things. I'm sure Christmas will be tough but we are all here for you.

I was getting popups from this company over the summer. There was an anniversary band that was beautiful & caught my eye. I guess I forgot about it when the pop ups stopped. Maybe Santa remembered but I doubt it. My good news for Sunday is my sister & brother-in-law's Covid tests both came back negative. They had been to a 20 person allowed, mask wearing family funeral last weekend & one of my BILs sisters (who was at the funeral)tested positive even tho she was asymptomatic. She is a nurse & evidently was tested for Covid before getting vaccine. (Not sure how that worked.) She did get the vaccine but got a call the next dayo telling her she was positive. Her husband tested negative & luckily they have a vacation home so they can separate from each other for 10 days. Not sure what their Christmas plans were but they will definetly be celebrating by themselves. She is an ADHD type of person & can barely sit still so hopefully she won't drive herself crazy. Her husband did drop off some "essentials" incl a case of wine so I think she'll be OK. I hope my sister has learned from this. She was one that didn't believe it was as serious as it was when Covid started. "Its just like having a bad cold." By the summer she finally realized it is serious but still went out with friends or went to family gatherings. She does wear masks as required & follows the rules for the number of people allowed at gatherings but I think she could have been more careful & stayed at home more than she did. I think she realizes now how easily Covid can be passed unknowingly from one person to another. There are so many places her SIL could have picked it up & not just from being at the funeral. I'm high risk so we have stayed away from one another from almost the beginning. We had already decided to do our own thing for Christmas so luckily no plans had to be redone.

I agree that Ben's outfit looked like a leftover Halloween costume from the thrift store and Joe's was the ugliest. I thought Abbie's outfit/hair style was cute & it looked like she came right out of Whoville. Gracie is adorable as usual. On the picture of some of them sitting on the sofa, it looks like one of the J'slaves (think it's Johanna) hair is receding as bad as her brothers. I think we discussed this before & someone said it could have come from the hair being pulled back tightly in ponytails. She's only a teenager- she'll barely have any side hair left by the time she is in her 20's. I wonder what food was served at the party. Pot luck /bring your own & catch Covid and other gastro maladies in one spoonful?? I keep thinking about the younger ones (well the older ones too) touching & picking up various types of finger foods, deciding they don't want it & plopping it back on the serving plate (which is probably just another paper plate.) This family doesn't have many manners to begin with so I'm sure Covid hasn't made them any more aware of how they are handling food. Just Eeeww!! That looks like a huge Christmas tree. I wonder if it came off their property? I was going to comment that the Duggars have gone from a little table top tree to a huge evergreen but I'll give them a pass. They did have many little ones toddling around back in the day so it probably would have been difficult to have a normal size Christmas tree, especially when no one was watching what the little ones were doing. Except they have plenty of Grands there now during the day. I guess Mack has Christmas tree duty.

My sister said that once everyone in our family gets the Covid vaccine, we are going to have one huge party. It will be to celebrate all the holidays, birthdays, anniversaries and other celebrations we usually do but put off due to Covid. We can't wait & are really looking forward to it.

My young niece was scared to death the first time my mom took her to the movies. They finally ended up leaving during the movie because the loud sound scared her. I don't think Jill's clothes are that bad either especially if she's going for comfort.

I had a dream last night that Lauren was pregnant.