Happy Hanuholichristkwanzaavus- A Holiday(s) Week MMP

Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
21

Good morning.

It’s dark, 38°F, and partly cloudy. It’ll remain partly cloudy until late afternoon/early evening, and then rain will move back in. The expected daytime high is 47°F.

FCM, I’m glad FCD is reaching out to a doctor. My kids used to get nosebleeds out of nowhere in the winter if the air was dry in the house.

Metal Mouse, I’m glad you’re feeling a little better today, but I hope you stick to your plan to rest today.

All the pups have always slept with us. Buster and Maisie slept in their crates and pen when they were wee pups, though. They got to start sleeping with us once they got through the night without an accident.

We celebrate Christmas and Easter in a secular way. Growing up, “Christmas” was Christmas Eve for us, and we celebrated with a small meal and opening presents. On Christmas Day, we ate a goose. After my parents split, we still celebrated Christmas Eve, but ended up spending Christmas Day with close family friends.

When I married my husband, we spent Christmas Eve at his parents’, where it was loud, and there were lots of people. Once the kids were toddlers, I decided to host Christmas Day because there was too much running around, and they were cranky, although Christmas Eve was still at the in-laws’ place. My Christmas Day celebrations included family and friends, and there were years I had close to 20 people. Now, the celebrations are much smaller, and I’m good with that. As for holiday greetings, I take no offense at any type offered, and wish the same back.

I did not make it to the mall yesterday, but I am going today. Tomorrow, I’ll pick up the roast and the rest of the groceries for the Christmas meal. I will probably go to Costco when it opens and pick up a couple of ready-made deli dinners to get us through Wednesday night. I have an Executive membership, so I can pop in an hour early, although I have no illusions about how crowded it’ll be.

So, the day begins. Take care!

22

Got the last of my briefs done last week and then got a head cold, so not working for most of the week. Threw out my schedule for last minute shopping, so will do that today. Includes luxury items like a couple of prescriptions that I don’t want to run out of over the Christmas week.

No travelling this year. Been very busy so just want to stay home. SSR, FCM and any others on the road, drive carefully!

Swamp Bear, sounds like a busy two weeks for you. Hope you have a great 12 days!

23

Good morning!

Doggio, you forgot the equinox, celebrated by both Wiccans and Pagans. My daughter was invited to an Equinox party by some Pagan friends. I knew instantly who’d started this week’s MMP. :slightly_smiling_face: And I love the entry on Dec. 24th!

As a small child, I found religion confusing. We kids attended a parochial school. Other kids went to public school. I therefore decided there were two religions, Catholics and Publicans. Life is easier when you oversimplify.

I’ll be alone on Christmas. I’m OK with it, as I’ve done it before and try to make it a day of quiet spiritual reflection. My kids and siblings will call.

Swampy, my daughter came across a Facebook page called “Episcopal Cats with Problems” and thought my Whiskeypalian friend might find the notion funny. You have to apply to access the page, so we’re wondering what kinds of problems Episcopalian cats have.

FCM, I hope FCD’s nosebleeds have a simple, minor cause.

It would if I were to attempt it. Roxy has an excellent teacher and will zip right through it. Have you taught her to crochet or knit yet?

red, how are you progressing?

MetalMouse, I sure hope you’re 100% before starting the long drive. And I think sitting under a pile of dogs sounds like heaven.

My first thought was, “Wow, a bus for substitutes!”

24

I’ll celebrate anything that involves me eating lots of cheese and drinking stuff. My immediate family aren’t religious, so the celebrations in our family purely secular, go further out and it gets complicated.

Mum’s full sister converted Catholic, her half sister converted to Islam, (weirdly my grandpa, who never even met her, learned Arabic, used to keep Ramadan and actually did visit mecca, though not the religious sites, having been smuggled in by some local friends, though he never converted). Meanwhile Dad’s brother joined some new age church, then his oldest daughter went Jehovah’s witness (though she has quit now, her daughter hasn’t). Oh, and my tiny nieces are, technically, Jewish via their mother.

I said it got complicated.

Historically in Scotland New Years (aka Hogmanay) was much more of a celebration than Christmas- Christmas was actually banned as a celebration for a while back in days of yore, but now both are a pretty big deal. We still get the 2nd Jan as a public holiday up here, as well as the 1st, while England only gets the 1st. This is presumably to allow the hangovers to completely wear off.

I will be visiting family for Christmas at my brother’s and boxing day at a cousins’, but don’t actually have plans for NYE this year; I think it will just be me at home trying to teach the rats Auld Lang Syne. I’m getting the train most of the way cos it’s a 7 hour drive- my parents happen to live close to one of the train stations I’d be passing through, so they’re picking me up from there and driving the rest of the way.

I got my flu jab and I was a good girl and I didn’t cry, but I didn’t get given a sticker or a sweet :slightly_frowning_face:, so I went and bought a whole sticker book, cos I can.

I’ve taken some of the pages out for my small nieces to add to their main gift, but there were well over 2000 stickers in there and I don’t actually want my brother to murder me, so I am keeping the rest for now at least- I want some of 'em anyway. I’m maybe done with the last minute shopping now, though I’m still dithering a little about a few things.

I passed on visiting the wine shop cos the weather was yuck and I’d got the location of the clinic slightly out, so it was a longer walk there than I thought- and in the opposite direction to the other shops I wanted to visit. I could drop round tomorrow though, they are open and it probably won’t be too bad getting there.

Hope those that celebrate things have fun, and those that don’t also have fun.

25

Exercise leader called in sick today, so that leaves a grocery trip for today’s activities. Gotta go to maintenance and ask them to install the replacement bidet seat. I suspect it won’t be high on their priority list.

In the 30s today, which is pretty balmy after the recent cold spell.

26

the usual weekend happened. the christmas related stuffs are getting more scarce.

i finished advent calendar one last night. that was the one from the yarn place. lots of nifty knitting accessories and there was yarn. tonight will start calendar 2, which will be tack pins. some tidying happened.

celebrations are:

stockings on dec. 19th st. nicholas day.

family time on dec. 25th thanksgiving 2 with crackers and a pollyanna. a christmas story and die hard will be watched.

jan 1. new year brunch.

jan 6th christmas eve, very long church service, seriously vegan dinner.

jan 7th christmas, very long church service, yummy lunch, some presents.

27

So there were early callouts, so I ended up doing 100 Bottom Red. Which was loaded sort of badly Saturday(irregs under the shelves where the bulk stops would go, bulk stops taking up all the shelf space). The one car had 375 pieces, and a bunch them were big. I did manage to get it all in, although I made sure the toys that were probably seasonal gifts went in first(I’m not heartless, just cruel). I did my Aldi and Teeter runt oday, so I can avoid the mobs and most of the opportunities to get Whammed. I’ve had my oatemeal, and give Spot attention, so now it’s long naptime.
I spent 30 years in retail, so holidays are something dreaded rather than looked forward to. Although I tend to celebrate Christmas with weird and twisted decorations, and the tree that has been up since November 1st. Of 2002.

Does she do like Spot and repeatedly throw herself at your feet while screaming about being trampled?

Nothing like some fancy cheese, and a few slices of Unholy Jellied Cranberry Obelisk to take the edge off winter.

You would have thought they would have chiseled themselves a note to set the stones forward 6 inches to account for galactic drift. :wink:

Sensei, sounds like a good week so far.

I know Advent is supposed to be a penitent time, but isn’t that overdoing the suffering?

28

Just ducks in front of my feet while I’m walking, then gets huffy about accidental kicks (I wouldn’t kick her on purpose, of course!). Buddy does the same damn thing.

29

I celebrate Christmas. You do you. If you wish me a happy hanuholichristwanzaavus, that’s cool. As Sir Ringo says, peace and love.

30

Well, I proved once again that items that are invisible suddenly appear clear as day as soon as you replace them. In my case in was a couple bottles of Generic Day-Quil/Night-Quil that I picked up yesterday and couldn’t find anywhere when I went to look for them yesterday. So bought two more bottles this morning and not 5 minutes after getting home I looked around and there the previous ones were. At least I am ready for any future colds, at least through January 2027… Using the daytime stuff now and I must admit it seems to be helping a lot, I’ll stay on it and use the night-time stuff this evening and we’ll see how it goes.

Probably going to start packing, it’s only 3 days but I want to be sure that I have everything so probably will take more than I need and forget something I wanted to bring (SOP for me and travel).

Boofae and lily, also booked my train trip in April Nice to Barcelona with two changes (Marseilles and Nimes), about 8.5 hours but a chance to ride a train along the Mediterranean coast…well worth it. And thanks for the advice.

Dicey, glad the bus worked out and hope Hubby’s surgery goes well.

FCM, saw the sewing on Facebook…Neat!! She’ll be carrying that everywhere for awhile.

No problem with that, I assure you. Bladder has also calmed down some.

nellie, my parents were Catholic but didn’t want me going to ‘overcrowded’ Catholic schools so public education for me. And I still find religion confusing.

Well, usually it is just one 50lb basset or 90lb bloodhound, but they do switch on and off during my visit..

Nut, that’s some interesting religious history there. Was brought up Catholic, now agnostic and Brother converted to Lutheranism (very conservative version) after getting married, so not a lot of variation there.

And time to start packing for an early departure tomorrow. Rest of the day will be taken by sloth I reckon.

31

Same with us - there were Catholics and there were Publics. Which was odd, since there was a Lutheran church right across the street from ours. Kid logic…

She’s not indicated an interest in either, but her mom is teaching her cross stitch, which I don’t do. Her tote went well - she pinned and sewed everything but the straps, which I did just to simplify. She did very well for a 7-y/o.
Imgur
The fabric is from an old bed sheet. Not fancy but she’s happy.

FCD is napping - he’s just a mess. Roxy is playing with a couple of toys she brought after beating me soundly in a game of War. Otis has been kicked outside again. Supper will be ham, cabbage, and corn, and maybe pineapple. I’m going to go read for a while.

32

Groceries shopped! Toilet seat installed in record time! There’s some sort of internet sing-along in a bit, but I don’t sing in public unless I’ve been drinking (it’s a hang-up from long ago that I can’t get over for some reason). I guess I could just listen.

The extended forecast looks favorable for my planned clan gathering on 01 January.

33

Happy Christmukkah everyone from the Telemark household!

Imgur

34

On December 22nd 1978, I blew out my right ACL and suffered nerve damage in a skiing accident. (The top side of my right great toe is still paralysed.) On December 22nd 1979, I was in a car wreck and destroyed both knees.

December 22nd is not my favourite day.

35

I use my Yahoo mail address for my ‘professional’ address. i.e., It has my actual name in it, and I only use it for applying for jobs, emails to our tenant, etc. Well, here I am, looking for work, and Yahoo mail is down. :frowning:

36

My Yahoo is working - maybe yours is now, too? Or might it be dependent on where one is??

37

Yes, it came up a little bit ago. It was down for a couple/few hours.

38

Hag Hanukkah Sameach!

39

Me and Ms Peach are heading towards Maine in the AM, unless the weather doesn’t cooperate. The weather guessers are saying “wintery mix” for the whole drive. I dunno about 7 hours of wintery mix. We may just have a quiet day of chomping squeaky toys. Various levels of quiet.

40

I’m glad you’re improving!

What is an LED star?

It’s those bigguns who think they’re lap dogs. :slight_smile: Have a safe trip.

It’s been a roller coaster of a day.

I awoke feeling puny, then my day nurse (second day on the job) came in and announced that I wouldn’t be going home tomorrow. After a quick panic and a phone call to Sis, I requested the social worker. Looks like 1400 o[r thereabouts tomorrow, I’ll be sprung. I also have (had) the world’s worst CNA today and she’s working a double. Even my sister remarked on her ineptitude. I also made a formal complaint about her. With any luck, she’ll be off tomorrow.