Kris

7. Purple iris, and linda how did you know the simple yet beautiful, happy daisy is my favorite.My husband took awhile but finally figured it out. When I really need it I go to the florist and get myself a big bunch of daisys and babys breath. They are really the flower that will make you smile when you walk into a room. I guess it was from as a child they were always growing at our home.

Nope...Let's get this party started. Thank you very much, Thank you very much. This is the nicest thing anyone has ever done for me. I think those are the right words from a Christmas Carol movie Scrooge. It took all his life to figure out what is important. All of you are telling this is to another everyday. I thank all of you each day for keeping me safe. For teaching me I do not have to smoke. For teaching me to value the things I should love and appreciate everyday. To embrace the joy and happiness that I have been given. Although many of us have been given so many challenges we have to overcome, that we have been given the chance to do better. We can love ourselves, our family and friends in our time on this earth. We can choose not to give up, we can spend many more years being the best we can be. I think these are all worth while things for giving up smoking. I hope you do to!! Merry Christmas!!

Friends whoops I mean Roses.

3. Okra

Congratulations, he is beautiful, just another thing we share, my daughter in law has Japanese family background., her grandmother came here after the war with her American husband. I had the honor of meeting this woman before she passed. She was the one of the most beautiful, graceful people I have every had the pleasure to meet. These things were passed on to her grandchildren. K

I will warn you when try these you will find a favorite. I would ask @Boo for Sugar Britches recipe. I don't have one as my husband was a little of this and that, but always great. There are so many ways to go. Some people use regular mustard and mayo, my husband used powered mustard, sometimes, pickles, olives, balck and or green, of course there was mayo involved. The only thing I know for sure is he always sprinkled with paprika as the finishing touch.

Love it, one year there was a family fiasco, husband decided he must smoke a turkey at the last minute. I told him he would never find a fresh not frozen turkey. Guess who lost, that would be me and I hate to eat crow but that is what I did(as per Andy Griffith) We also love deviled eggs, mine will never live up to my husband's, I was allowed to boil and peel, then step aside and let the magic happen.

@Boo When my son was small (mind you, he is now 33, with a family of his own) Our city would do such amazing things at Christmas, they would bring in a company that made snow and give the kids a white Christmas to build snowmen. make snow angels and have snow ball fights. The parents enjoyed it just as much. Other years bring in musicians to play Christmas songs and people that made true kettle corn at the tree lighting. There was a church that did a live nativity, with all the animals and the children were welcome to come up and pet them. They also had nights at the church for the whole community regardless of religous affiliation where their choir preformed. Those are things you should seek out for your daughter and son. And you Mr. Boocluase can still go to the hardware store and build all the brilliant things that come to you!

Hello Mr. and Mrs. Sal I am writing this to both of you. I hope Mrs. Sal will join the board as well. She is going to deal with quitting that are not the same as you. She may feel things diffrent than you do and need support in a different way. It is an individual journey and I see that women handle things in a different direction that she might need. I have just made it to the six month mark. I quit upon having a cat scan of the chest that showed the beginning signs of emphysema. When you know there is no choice then there is no choice. That is what made it real for me. Most linsurance offer this under preventative care. You should see if that is covered under your insurance. If it is, get the scan. I used nicotine replacement therapy in the way of lozenges. I had used chantix, gum, patchs without sucess in the past. The lozenges helped me thru the first part. Knowing I was making permanent bad things really sealed the deal. You can lie to yourself all you want but that is what you are doing. You are more important than any craving. For me I just accepted I could not pretend any more. That helps everytime I get a crave...do I crave to live or do I crave to die. That is the simple truth. You can do this!!

Thank you to all of you. I must admit I might look funny volunteering at the senior center as I am one. I have been meaning to join just to spend time with others. I know it would be a great social place to meet others and not feel so alone. I do know I need therapy to get in a better state of mind. It is not healthy to be alone and fearful all the time.

Vowed for life v

artichoke a

Just for now, let everything go, focus just on you and your goal, you are the most important person you know.

Heard the news

Send notice about Katgirl's excellence. Awake

Doritos

Here I go again, been really strugglng with the panic attacks. I hope it is just the holiay season and that we are all subject to the Covid panic and the fact that for now we should not be out and about. I have realized tonight that is not the only problem, the fact that I have quit smoking is not the problem. The problem is me again. I am tired of fighting it, that I have lost my husband, My Mom got so sick I could not care for here and keep her safe. My son, his fiance and her son were living here for 3 1/2 years, but they have married have their own home. I had to place my mother in care and then right after that our best family friend lost a leg below the knee. I brought him home here to take care of him until he recovered.That was about 3 months until he could go home. My Mom and the friend have both passed now. I have no purpose anymore. I have no one to take care of. I am alone all the time. I am scared all the time. I am just sick of trying to hold myself together. I am going to see my GP and let her know how bad it is right now.. I think I need to go into therapy again or I am going to have a breakdown. I have tried to handle this on my own and it is just not working. K Thanks for listening

I send a thank you to all three of you!! I am also grateful to everyone that takes the time to help everyone on the board. The struggle is real and we all would suffer without each other. I can't imagine trying to do this on my own with no one to to talk to. I know our main purpose here is to quit smoking but to have a connection here that we can share our happy days or sorrows keep us on the path no matter how hard it is. I think that makes all the difference.

NOPE

3. dog treats

I was sick before I quit and lost about 30 pounds, I am more than happy to say I have gained it all back. Funny how carrying around forty years of smoke weighs so much more than 30 pounds. I feel physically better now than I have in along time. K

Tony, sorry about that. I was not sure how to answer your question about Christmas. I can tell you are still grieving the loss of your wife. I wanted to be truthful in my answer but I did not want to say things that would cause you further pain. I feel bad that I don't know how to help you. What I normally do is decorate the house, do lots of cooking and baking. Used to spend a lot of time shopping.trying to find the right thing for everyone. We would go to a lot of parties, We would be at his folks every Sunday so my husband could watch football with hiis Dad. We got married when we were 20 years old, we were married for 31 years and 3 weeks at the time of his death. The only thing I can tell you is she would be proud that you made the decision to quit smoking. Is it easy, no, but she would want you take care of yourself. If we have survived losing them you would think this would be easy. I am six months in and it is still hard. The people you talk to here understand how hard it is to quit. They give me strength and courage everyday to keep going, they will help you. Just have faith, we have to get thru the holidays and I expect to be challenged. I also expect to be in charge, I will not smoke and you won't either.

I hate to tell you but I really don't celebrate Christmas anymore. My husband passed in December and I lost his Mom 8 days later, so I get pretty sad this time of year. I lost my Mom in 2019 and my best friend in 2020. My son is married with a family of his own. I usually see them at Christmas time but last year my DIL Dad got very ill right before christmas and passed on New Years Eve. My DIL tested positive for Covid a few days ago, they are all in quarantine. My son is getting tested again today. The truth of it is we are all different and very much the same, some are outgoing and some like me are introverts. Neither one is bad, I used to be outgoing, now I prefer to be at home. K

@Linda I am doing fine considering what is now my life and I know you can relate to the struggles we both face. I am concerned about you and your health. I just had all my check ups, everything good, just normal getting old stuff. Have you been feeling physically unwell? Please feel free to send me a private message if you need some extra support. K

Tony, I feel your pain! I am facing my 11th Christmas with out my husband. I lost him after a five year fight with cancer. The sad truth is that some people think we should be over it after a year. That is not the case, you need to greive as long as you need. There is nothing wrong in the fact you still miss her. There is nothing wrong with the fact you struggle still. Most of all your should all your fellow widowers and widows get it. It is always harder at holiday time, she would not want you to be so unhappy but we know we can't change how we feel. I wish I could say something that would make you feel better but I can't, we just have to take it a day at a time. Talk to your family and friends and let them know you need some extra support now.