raging vortex, thank you so much for sharing. I had created this thread not just for me, but as a place for others to share about their notable times. I really appreciate that you did that. I know some times are very hard or not possible to mention on forums like these (or sometimes anywhere).

I'm sorry you had to stay in the hospital during Christmas. I was once in the hospital on my birthday, and unfortunately there weren't visiting hours on that day. I have to say that my fellow patients and the nurses made it as pleasant as possible. I hope your hospital did something special on that Christmas day.

The naked photo shoot sounds fun. When I was still dating my husband back 22+ years ago, when I was 26 years old, my hubby took nude photos of me in a beautiful wooded area with ferns. They were beautiful photos because my husband is a great photographer and the nature there was so lovely. I don't know if my mood was elevated or not. Back then I was usually rather prudish. What got me, though, was that my husband shared a few with his friend in Prague, Czech Republic (my husband is a Czech). I was so embarrassed and scolded him for doing that, but he insisted that they were artistic and beautiful. Nudity is not as big of thing there as it is in the US, or at least my area.