Ho Ho Ho and all that!! Wishing you a pleasant, if not perfect, Christmas day!
My Christmas miracle was sleeping till 5:30, uninterrupted!!! < cue celestial choir > I’m having a little pre-breakfast because if I wait till we’re at Daughter’s house, I’ll have a full-blown screaming headache, or at a minimum, I’ll be out of sorts. In a few minutes, I’ll start baking the casserole, then I’ll shower and dress. It’s nice and mild at the moment, but by sunset, it’s supposed to be below freezing again.
Meanwhile, join me for a virtual smooch under the virtual mistletoe! Help yourselves to virtual Christmas cookies and check under the virtual tree for the surprise virtual present I wrapped for you! It’s a Mumper Christmas!!! MWAH!!!
Merry Christmas, happy Friday, and happy whatever else you might be celebrating! It’s cold, frosty and bright over here - weather app says “Too bad the sun is doing shit today. What a fucking waste”. It also promises 1C/34F, predicted high is 2C/36F so a perfect day to stay in.
Plans for today involve waiting for 'im indoors to get up, he had wine last night and I did not, thus I was in bed at 00.30 and he finally made it off the sofa around 6am. CSI Kitchen says he had hotdogs at some point in the night, so I’ve washed up the dirty plates, cleaned the worktop and picked up bits off the floor. I’m doing breakfast soon (bacon, sausages, eggs, mushrooms, tomatoes and toast), then it’ll be opening gifts and watching films this afternoon. Big dinner this evening (turkey, roast potatoes, stuffing, veg, pigs in blankets, Yorkshire puds and gravy) which will no doubt induce the food coma. There’s a trifle in the fridge but that may have to wait tomorrow.
At some point there will be calls with his family, and we have some champagne in the fridge that begs to be opened later. So, big day of cooking for me!
It’s my first xmas without mum, it feels really strange not to have called her first thing, or be driving over to hers for the day. It’s also hard to think that it’s been almost a year since she passed away, but I’m trying to remember the good times rather than the bad. My dad’s been gone nearly 35 years and I’ve learned to deal with that one, I’m sure I’ll get over this as well.
Blurf. Up at 0700, having gone to bed around 0330. Don’t plan to stay up much longer. The wind and rain have died down, so it should be easier to get back to sleep. (I can sleep through almost anything – the problem, of course, being that I have to be able to get to sleep first…) Currently 55, with a predicted high of 60; it was in the low 60s yesterday, but the highs for most ot the next week will be in the 30s.
It will just be the four of us today. I will finish my coffee and then start the prep work for the pomodoro sauce that will simmer all day and then be a delicious dinner.
MERRY CHRISTMAS!
If you celebrate
T.G.I.F
if you are off on the weekend
Friday. meh.
If you are in retail ,or other industry where you are gonna be working the weekend.
Up, caffeinated, and sheveled. Off today. I shall sloth and graze on Day 1 of my three day weekend.
Gordie pooped this morning, after holding it in for 48 hours(he will not poop if the ground is damp). Good luck on getting Dad to go.
In that case, can you unload that Amazon 53 footer?
Went for a walk, and decided we didn’t want to wait for the meat sauce to be cooked and then put together the lasagna, so we had leftover chili. Then I made the sauce for the lasagna, and we’ll have that tomorrow.
Trying to coordinate a zoom call with my mother (at home) and my dad (in the hospital), when he’s never used the zoom app on his phone before.
That’s the thing with this whole pandemic. We had access to a lot of these apps (Facebook Messenger, Whatsapp, Zoom, Facetime, etc.) but never used them with my parents. And now that they don’t have anybody to help them (they are very strict about having people in their house), they are trying to navigate tools that I sometimes find confusing. So I can imagine they find it even more so.
Select one or more: Merry Christmas! Joyeux Noel! Nollaig Shona! Fröhliche Weihnachten! Bah! Humbug! All of the above.
.
Yeah. I ended up spending ten days in hospital last year instead of the expected five, because of that…
FIL wants to do one of those Zoom things today with the whole family – the two of them, the three of us, and presumably the six who are spread out across three other states. I know nothing about Zoom other than that I will presumably need to don what Swampy calls “going out in public” clothes instead of sitting around in my bathrobe all day.
The sky appears to have stopped falling. We actually had four weather advisories in place when I was up earlier – flooding, coastal flooding, high wind, and something else – but those have all expired by now.
Howdy, Mumpers. I’ve had an … uneven … coupla days. But I had a few presents to unwrap this morning (courtesy of our own Secret Santa exchange, which is an absolute godsend for my mental health) and I got a nice voice message from my dad thanking me for their little package. He noticed that I’d painted the box and had some kind words for me about the forethought & effort that showed.
The fact that my mother berated me for years about my inability to wrap gifts in paper - and thus, I now just paint them - is a topic for a different thread in another forum.
In weather news, it is SNOWING WITH A VENGEANCE here in western Mitten State. I stuck my broom handle into the snow when I swept off my car, and got a thoroughly unofficial reading of 2.5 inches. Still comin’ down out there, too.
Went for a brief drive this morning (hey, it’s Christmas morning, the roads are practically empty … plus I absolutely had to GTFO for a second) and saw some impressive fishtailing from the local idiot contingency.
Morning, all. Broke my fast with a bacon quesadilla and am contemplating hitting the egg nog early. The birds got their feeder refilled, the outdoor cats got breakfast (and are going to get a spread later in the day) and the indoor kitties have been fed, skritched and spoiled rotten. I have at least 3 video calls scheduled for the day, so it won’t be too bad. Last night wasn’t great, but I powered through with a little help from Brewer & Shipley.
Here’s hoping Mumpers everywhere have a safe and happy Christmas. OK, the rest of the world, too.
We’re back home. We’ve had flurries on and off - Roxy got to go outside and see snow falling, so she was happy. She was also really happy with the easel we gave her and the kitchen set my brother gave her… and the sticker books… and the markers…but the socks, not so much. Daughter and SIL seemed to like the fire pit - we’ll see how soon they get it set up.
FCD and I were just out in his shop talking about what he wants done out there. I’ll get started tomorrow. The rest of today is for chillage and such. I will try to do my hour walk since I skipped it yesterday. Mostly, lazy afternoon and evening ahead. And fortunately, the flurries are light and not expected to last or accumulate, but freekin’ cold is moving in. Personally, I’m tired of winter.
My dad started throwing up and there might be another blockage. Tubes are back in. And it’s Christmas day, so everything is that much more difficult to get answer from the medical team.
At least my mom’s getting the hang of technology and better understands how to use the different tools to contact people. One of her neighbors texted her and then ghosted her. Which may be because he also has his own medical emergency to handle as his wife is undergoing chemo for breast cancer.
1030 in the ayem, so it’s time to make breakfast. Mrs. L.A. only wants scrambled eggs, so I’ll have scrambled eggs too… with a sausage patty that’s in the oven, cheddar cheese, and a couple of low-carb tortillas.
The ‘prime’ rib is prepared. ($65 for a 5.5 pound, two-rib Choice roast, vs. $113 for a similarly-sized Prime roast.) I mixed up some olive oil, kosher salt, freshly-ground black pepper, minced garlic, and some rosemary from the bush outside. I cut the boned off and put some of the mixture on top, then put the meat back on and slathered it with the rest before tying it back together with string. I’ll start cooking around 1400 so we can eat around 1600 or so.
Presents have been exchanged. The cats gave Mrs. L.A. a card and two $10 scratchers. I gave her that Beach Cat Brewing Company hoodie with the Beach Cat wearing a mask and a Santa hat, a Beach Cat COVID mask, a card, and that $100 gift card I got from irk. She was excited about the card, as she wants a new pair of pyjama bottoms. She can also get new clippers for her nursing business. She gave me some new, dark-red plaid pyjama bottoms and a Navy blue ‘Wallace Beery’ shirt.
I had to get up to urinate at 0330, and I went back to bed wondering how and when I was going to wrap presents. (I mentioned how difficult she made it for me to sneak out.) I just delayed going back to bed and wrapped them so that they’d be ready in the morning.
A bottle of Ardbeg single-malt whisky, from my youngest sister-in-law. Never had it before, but it’s an Islay, and my two favourites are both from Islay, so I’m sure it will be good.
And I found where Boo had hidden the chilies – stashed between an ear of corn and a cucumber…
Merry Christmas all! Here’s my last carol~offered from the frozen wilds of Nebraska.
I’m holed up in my robe and slippers, interneting with you Mumpers and watching ‘Outlander’ on Netflix. My Christmas Day with Harriet (COMU) won’t be til Sunday so I’m pretending it’s not really really Christmas, except with you all. Getting ready to make my second coffee for the day, some brandy may spill into the mug. A fair amount of brandy…
It started snowing here about 9 or 10 this morning and shows no sign of stopping, but we don’t have anyplace else we need to be, so we’ve got a burning fireplace on the TV and Alexa (Althea) is serving up holiday type music. We had BLTs for brekkies and filled the bird feeders so they’re having a good day. They don’t seem to notice the snow coming down.
Gifts have been exchanged and appreciated.
I still need to give Wifey her gift. I promised to put up a couple of ceiling light fixtures upstairs to replace the bare bulbs up there. That’ll happen sometime today.
Corned beef is defrosted for dinner. Plenty of veg to go with. It’s not a tradition, we just had one in the freezer from Saint Paddy’s day I thought we oughta use. I love corned beef and think it’s weird that people don’t have it more often. Same with turkey. I be weird, I guess.
D_C, hope your dad’s troubles get sorted soonest.
Boo, some Kahlua spilled into our coffees last night. (What can I say, we’re lightweights.)
You are on my list for special hugs too. Those ‘withouts’ are hard. {{{{{{{ infinitely refillable }}}}}
** Moooomm**, need I use festive coasters for my mug of magic brandy coffee? I’m a little vague on coaster rules. At least my shoes are off the furniture. I must admit though, my slippers are up on the couch, curled under my robe and blankie. It’s coooold here on the windy snow swept prairie. Sounds like Rox had a good Santa morning. My Hattie has a kitchen set she plays with for hours at a stretch and her art easel is a big thing. I’m envious of the big kid’s fire pit. My back yard could use one of those. I got a fake fireplace log and the roomies and I will find a day to burn it in the old wash tub out back tomorrow or the next day. Best I could do on short notice and no access to firewood. We will make merry with it and be grateful dammit!
Agreed. Get good and gone, never to be visited again. Hope your dad is better next you hear and the Zooms work for him.
Nothing lightweight about that at all-sounds delicious. I just don’t have any on hand or I’d be doing it too! I do have some dark rum sitting next to the brandy that may spill into my eggnog when I need a little beverage variety today.
And stay home safe and cosy. Eat hearty, drink warmly and think of distant loved ones. Cheers!
The wind and rain have died down, so it should be easier to get back to sleep. (I can sleep through almost anything – the problem, of course, being that I have to be able to get to sleep first…) Currently 55, with a predicted high of 60; it was in the low 60s yesterday, but the highs for most ot the next week will be in the 30s.
Merry Christmas!
Daughter and SIL seemed to like the fire pit - we’ll see how soon they get it set up.
