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Yesterday was good. It had it's shaky, clumsy moments but I think that is because my family is small and close. We are comfortable being clumsy and shaky with each other.
My daughter hosting her first Christmas as her own complete family in her own home that she owns. She did not want any help this time; we usually potluck.
The night before grandkid stated that she wanted to open gifts once everyone was there and she was true to that. She really loves the togetherness of the holiday and this year she was inducted into the society of secrets. That is to say, selecting gifts and keeping it mum. She couldn't wait to see everyone loving their gifts.
My son went a little overboard buying her nerf-style weaponry. She took two breaks from gift opening. The last item sparked a war between her, my son and myself. While mom, stepdad, and pa napped we ran all over the kitchen and living room shooting at each other.
A trip home to get batteries and upon our return pa joined the fray.

My daughter's dinner plan fell through and she avoided a meltdown. It was good to see how her boyfriend handles her aspie moodiness. Calm and affectionate, no hovering. She rebounded, we had dinner, and then parted company.

It was a good day.

It was a long weekend.
Yesterday we finally did the Christmas shopping.
I spent the last three pay periods making sure all of our taxes were paid in advance so that this week we could relax. It happened to be the paycheck for the annual profit-share bonus so we got lucky too. The first Christmas in over a decade in which we weren't stressed.

Yesterday morning we started out at Waffle House for breakfast. Someone surprised us by paying for our meal. It was awesome!
Then I found an old General Electric hand mixer and an Osterizer at a thrift store. Both work great so I am giving my modern small appliances to my daughter. Instead of Walmart or Amazon, we went to local boutiques and department stores in the mall. It was packed and there were new stores. That was nice to see because our mall is a dying mall and our local postal carriers are stressed under the everyday workload without the holiday packages. It has me thinking maybe I won't buy things through the mail anymore at all. I want the book store to stay open. I want my granddaughter to have the experience of going to a busy bustling local hub of commerce.

Today we finished up with grocery shopping and finishing touches on the gift wrap and stuff.
I hate commercialism but I am really good at gifts; it's a curse.

Next weekend my husband is taking me out for my present. A pinball and arcade game museum, so I can play pinball for free all day long. Pinball is one of my great loves and we... have been separated for far too long.

Crazy Samurai: 400 vs 1

Because sometimes you need an hour or more of swords clashing.

Rare treat. Got a phone call from an unknown number, it was a neighbor.
This neighbor I don't particularly care for. He is obnoxious and a criminal. I don't associate with criminals on the regular but besides certain character flaws he is a good guy to have around when shit goes sideways.
Fires his Harley up at 6am and uses load tools in his garage till late at night but if my house catches fire he will be right there with a hose.

He called because the dogs belonging to the neighbor between us got out and were raising hell. I corralled the dogs and went back to check out the fence, so we had a chat. It was good to catch up, the guy has no filter and knows everyone's business.
He doesn't even keep his own secrets. I got caught up on a lot of stuff including his not being keen on out local elementary school.

With any luck I won't hear from him again until spring.

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TheAbyss
03:59 Dec 20 2024

Interesting :)

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I still have a profile on Facebook. I just got a recommendation to add a 9 year old child.
Facebook doesn't know she is 9 but her parents do and they are on her friends list.
They know their daughter has been struggling with mental health issues related to body image since kindergarten but she has accounts on Instagram and Facebook which are accessible by adults...
and her Facebook profile image is provocative.

So damn disturbing.

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AlderxWolf
17:27 Dec 23 2024

Get it shut down and shut down all social media for her.

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Went out this weekend to take the kid Christmas shopping.
The idea was to inspire her to buy gifts for whoever she wanted with her own money.
It was tough because she kept forgetting why we were out. She finally wrapped her head around "a present for mommy".
We went for round two today with the intention of expanding on yesterday's success.
But no such luck.
It was exhausting and ended with a trip to BK and then home for a nap, all of us.

Making pancakes. I let the grandkid help with measuring and flipping.
A little too much soda, but she likes baking soda, and pancakes that look like clams.
It's good.

I don't think I have ever been so uninspired at this time of year.
I am not feeling it. My kids gifts have always been needs based or food because I was raised with this combination of poverty and Jewish great grandparents.
This year a new family member is commercially driven so it takes the joy right out of it.

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Vampirewitch39
20:05 Dec 12 2024

With you 100%. Or family, youngest at 57 ( me) stop doing gifts years ago. Now it- want to gather, make cookies?

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STABB666
02:14 Dec 13 2024

I've found that making memories is now the only thing I value at this time.

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Random archeology on the tv. I hear grandkid say dead and look up to see bones.
Yes dear, they died a long time ago.

The last few months have been interesting.
Beginning with my husband applying for a position he was qualified for, as a joke, and being passed over because although he was definitely the guy for the job he has no business degree.
That did not hurt his feelings.
His feelings were hurt when the position went to someone who has no experience as a mechanic. He is a supervisor in a mechanics shop; part of the management responsibility is training and supervision of mechanics.

He decided to let it go and maybe put his resume out there and then he got a phone call from the local tech college, asking him to apply for a teaching position in diesel mechanics. He got through the application and interview process. Now we are waiting for the offer letter from HR. He was told it would take several months.
It is frustrating knowing change could be on the horizon but not being sure.

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TheArtistRose
04:30 Dec 08 2024

Good luck!

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Trying to work my way out of the crankies.
We decorated the little kid's tree this morning. The year she was born we bought a live tree as our Christmas tree and then planted it in the early spring. We have decorated it every year since.
It is cold though and I am still a cranky butthead with no damn direction.

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STABB666
05:49 Dec 06 2024

that's too cute for words, but also, I find something to short circuit those crankies- for me, music works/ Get in the truck and drive. No direction, but with music I like to jive with. Loud.

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