I’m feeling all kinds of bad for Santa this year. Not sure why I can’t just get what I want… a foot of wet snow with temps hovering at 31 or 32 degrees. But no! We’re looking at almost hurricane force winds to blow around some dry snow over a sheet of ice.
I can promise you Santa prefers what I want over what Mother Nature has planned.
My favorite brother cancelled his flight and won’t be in Indiana for Christmas again this year. Tammy’s already in Ft. Wayne with her kids and grandkids so she’s going to share in the winter pain… but alone. Scott will be suffering in Vegas where temps are cooler than normal… highs in the mid-low 60’s. 😏
What if we lose power?
We have a generator but it’s one of the things that didn’t get moved from the Pesky’s garage yet. I guess we’ll be screwed here since it’s not like I could take it from them… they’re old and fragile. 😉 I guess we could crack a window and bring the solo bonfire stove inside… it’s not like it would hurt the floors and there aren’t walls anyway. Heh.
I worry more about outside dogs than anything else.
Dogs that are chained or kenneled outside are a huge concern when conditions are awful. Humans can be cruel and thoughtless. If you worry about that too, rest assured that the hounds around here have it made.
TIL (Today I Learned): The Earth is actually 3 million miles closer to the Sun during the winter (Northern Hemisphere) than in the summer.
Today was the yearly Walmart outing for Katie and I. She picked me up and I explained it was too warm inside the house for me to wear the sweatshirt she made for me. She was wearing hers and thought it would be great fun to wear shirts alike.
Katie: I didn’t make it for you to hang in your closet.
Ugh! I felt bad so I grabbed it up on the way out the door. I pulled it over my head in the car — the first time over the seatbelt. Glad I figured that out before we got there.
We ate at a fabulous Chinese restaurant — 88 King Buffet. We didn’t get booted for our attire. Of course, Walmart doesn’t care what you wear and we spent hours in there filling two carts so full we were lucky to get it all in the car. I picked up a couple things for the Pesky Neighbors and dropped them by.
Mom said I should be ashamed.
I wasn’t. I was more ashamed at the length of that receipt. However, I didn’t put on that sweatshirt while Colette was still at the house for some reason. 😉
TIL (Today I Learned): Dogs have much more expressive faces than wolves. They make an effort to make eye contact with humans and have notably high control over their eyebrows. Looking into a dog’s eyes has comparable results to a parent looking at their child.
I have an extra tree and even though Christmas is almost here, I’m still going to put it up. I think I’ll scale back on the LED lights though. The dining room tree is so bright even Dharma squints when she visits that room.
It’s going in the spray foam insulation room because no matter how jank it is, that’s the room everyone gathers in. Rarely does anyone go upstairs except for Colette.
No clue what I have left insofar as ornaments, but I’ll take an assessment as the decorating begins and pick up whatever I need tomorrow. That’s the day Katie and I are going to use Perry’s discount and finish up our holiday shopping.
What I would tell young me.
When I was younger I didn’t think it was cool to hang out with old people. It was embarrassing! Ben was the same — to the point he thought I should duck if he drove through town so no one would see me. Not Katie!
She showed up with a sweatshirt for me that says, “Dead Inside but Jolly AF” to match hers. If that’s not bad enough… she wants us to wear them like twinsies on shopping day. And yah, I’ll do it. Sadly, we’re going to Perry’s store in Madison and he’ll probably want to crawl under a cart. 🙄
I do think it’s awesome that she doesn’t care what anyone thinks about who she’s hanging out with. If I could chat with young me, that’s one thing I’d mention…
Don’t worry what others think. It doesn’t matter anyway.
TIL (Today I Learned): Aunt Bethany, from National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation, is played by the famous actress Mae Questel. Mae is best known for voicing Betty Boop, Minnie Mouse, and Olive Oyl.
I’m guessing a few of you are waiting to be called out as the topic today… but NO! The other fat man.
Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow!
Good thing Santa wasn’t rolling into town last night because we had some dense fog hanging low to the ground. He’d have missed our place for sure. Of course, I want snow for the holidays so I was pretty depressed after looking at the graphic below. Over an hour south of Indy and even their chances of a white Christmas are poor.
Ornaments and decor…
I have some ornaments that make it onto the tree every year no matter how ragged they’re getting. I have a dated ornament for every year since 1979. So many collected at this point they don’t all still make it to a branch, but some do.
This special one always make the cut too.
The ornament Ben made in grade school with Nanny’s photo inserted never stays in a box, and the one purchased by Jerilyn after the death of my Dad is also a constant.
And finally, the fat man is always there. The Santa in the photo below was gifted to me by my sister-in-law, Sheri, that passed away in 2005.
I look at beautifully decorated trees of friends that are all matching and have a theme and think that’s what I’ll do next year too. But next year, I’ll probably pull out that one box of ornament memories unable to let them rest through the holidays.
What about you? Do you have at least 5 special ornaments that always have a place on your Christmas tree year after year?
TIL (Today I Learned): The top 10% of drinkers in America consume an average of 74 drinks per week. (woah!!) About 30% of Americans never drink at all and another 30% only drink on special occasions, at most once every couple of weeks.
I visit Instagram about as often as I visit Facebook… maybe a little less. Over the past week or so I’ve noticed this dude recording himself telling a joke — every day a new joke video. He’s a little younger than I am (I don’t know how much) and is married to a gal that used to do my hair.
These videos of him are a closeup of his face looking at the camera and telling a short joke. I don’t laugh.
But then, I found his wife sharing videos of herself too!
I know her (him not so much), and she never struck me as one to engage in this manner. Not that there’s anything wrong with anyone doing it — I guess I just thought she’d be one of the people that never went online except to listen to a church service when she couldn’t attend. But there she was! Live and onstage for the masses. And what she shared was a whole lot better than her husband’s jokes!!
Ornaments made from the glasses of dead people!
Yah, yah, it sounds morbid — but I thought it was a pretty cool idea. After losing both parents and wanting to enjoy happy memories of them during the holiday season, she converted their glasses into ornaments. It sounds easy.
Paint the lenses white
Add a few snowmen (women) details like carrots noses and coal for eyes, mouth and buttons
Tie the earpieces back with ribbon to make a bow in front
Add a skinny ribbon for hanging
I wonder if Mom has a pair of Nanny’s glasses somewhere. The challenge here… as you’ve probably guessed… is that most people who wear glasses all the time are buried with them on their face.
It’s been a rough week…
Even though the past week (or three actually) have been a struggle – I’m finally getting used to the dance party lights on my dining room tree. I love the reflection on the windows from the inside tree as the outside lights filter in their glow.
TIL (Today I Learned): The reason you can see corn in poop is because corn kernels are coated in cellulose, which is strong enough to withstand the rigors of the human digestive system.
