and 'holidays' still happening, NYEve coming up (and then, daughter's birthday, HER first as a Mom! What should I give her?)

Looking forward to SOME movie soon, maybe NYEve.

So did Dad have a sandwich or 2???

nye is not a thing for us, we've been in bed before the ball dropped the last few years and may very well do the same this year. i've got a couple ribeyes in the freezer that i'll make for supper.

husband's birthday is at the end of january, so i'm hoping to combine it with valentine's day and be able to stay at the cabin we like outside estes park (they could sure use our tourist dollars).

dad had a sandwich and a bowl of baked potato soup and was very pleased.

i'd say get your daughter a gift certificate to a spa and an offer to watch the baby. she'll deserve a bit of pampering.

glad you had a good holiday

She's asked me to go up (up north from MD to NJ, ya know!) after her husb returns to work, Jan. 6, to help her. Don't know how long I'll stay, but maybe Spa while I'm there? Baby will have to be prepared to sleep thru, of course, and not be hungry!

But we do get along well with everybody anyway.

Glad you had a great time!

Nobody expects much Christmas from me anymore. I did cook breakfast for a house full of extended family. I also put up the Christmas lights.

Christmas is a difficult time for me in two ways.

First, I am anti-consumer. I don't like to buy "stuff" for myself or anyone else. So I don't. I pretty much boycott everything that I can't eat or wear. My car is salvage, my computers are salvage. The pants I'm wearing I found in a thrift store.

Second, and probably my deeper psychological problem, when I was a kid Christmas was often a time of family religious warfare and just plain Ezekiel-type crazy. My mom was a Jehovah's Witness until they kicked her out, and that's just the beginning of it. Too many people had a hotline to God, none of them making any sense. Christmas wasn't complete until someone left crying or bleeding. This is the practical reason people in my family are pacifists. The wars must end or people must flee before anyone gets killed. But all is forgiven later, even if it takes a month or a year or two..

Our holidays used to not be complete without tears but I think we've made it two years in a row now without them.

Peace and low stress in the coming year.