Every thirty-first of December, I keep my next year’s calendar close. A long time ago, my mother-in-law told me that you’re not supposed to fill in your new calendar until after midnight on the first, and I have adhered to that every since. My annual ritual is to fill in all the dates that I’m aware of and begin to plan my year, both personally and professionally. I get comfortable on the sofa after all the cheering and kissing have stopped, and test out my best handwriting, and while others in the house are getting ready for bed, I stay until all my known dates are placed in their correct squares in their correct months. Of course, the first is almost always blank, and my daughter’s birthday is just four days later, so she’s usually the first name that gets written with a cute birthday sticker in her square. Then, after her birthday, I go through the whole calendar year and fill in the rest of my kids’ names and my husband along with our anniversary and then go back to find the appointments that I’ve made and listed in the front of the book. I know: very detailed and quite possibly a little silly, but it gives my year a place to start.
I often write about holiday traditions, and I lose track of what I’ve shared already. We have several holiday traditions for several different holidays. Usually when asked about holiday traditions, the expected reference is Christmas. We have those, and I’d guess that practically all of them revolve around food, but we also have holiday traditions for Easter, Passover, Cinco de Mayo (despite not being Mexican), St. Patrick’s Day, Thanksgiving, Chanukah, birthdays, and New Year’s, and I’m sure I’m forgetting some.
My birthday this year was meh, and it was barely meh. I was sick for days before, and I wasn’t quite right on my birthday, so everything went downhill. I didn’t want a cake because I couldn’t eat it. I usually spend the day by going to Starbucks for breakfast and a leisurely trip to Target to look at the ornaments and see what other treats I can find for myself.
I did go to Starbucks for my free drink, but I got it with no ice so I could save it for the weekend when I (hopefully) felt better. The rest of this month continues in slow motion. Some Christmas gifts will be late.
Since my son was working all week, I may light the menorah again when he comes for Christmas dinner.
Our usual Christmas morning tradition will be postponed to the afternoon since he will also be working an overnight and staying at work until mid afternoon. We usually have Dunkin’ Donuts and our favorite seasonal drinks and then open our gifts. I know the kids are littles anymore but I’m not sure how they’ll feel about not opening their gifts until the afternoon. Our traditional dinner is based on my husband’s family. His mother is from Belfast, and they always had roast beef for Christmas dinner, which is what we do. Roast beef, roasted onions, gravy, mashed potatoes, carrots, green bean casserole. The one thing we don’t have is her amazing trifle – I was never able to master that. Maybe one day we’ll give it a try. This year’s desserts are two pies – one apple streussel (from Cracker Barrel) and one Very Berry or Triple Berry from a local bakery. We have a nice vintage of whipped cream chilling in the fridge.
On Christmas Eve we get Chinese take-out and the day after Christmas I make a Shepherd’s Pie with the roast and mashed.
Our Christmas cards are hung up as of Monday, but our own cards won’t go out until the new year, and our tree isn’t up yet. It seems to go up later and later each year. We’re hoping for tonight. No Doctor Who this year, but maybe I’ll finally watch Fantastic Four and/or Superman on streaming. I also have half a dozen (or so) books to read, so there is no reason to be bored while waiting for present-time.
One of the traditions that we no longer do is a Christmas Eve gift. When the kids were small, they were given (wrapped) a new pair of pajamas and a book for bedtime. That way I guaranteed that they’d go to bed, and when they woke up, they would look nice for the Christmas morning photos. We do still bake cookies for Santa, and he’s kind and generous enough to bring us stockings with a nice selection of candy and usually a small gift card.
I think for the next few weeks, I’ll choose a holiday and write a small thing about how we celebrate and what our traditions are. I’ll probably start with New Year’s next week. What would you like to see after that?
Despite these last twelve months, I am trying to remain optimistic and positive and hoping that things can be better in the coming year.
Have a Happy Christmas, Happy Holidays, Joyous Greetings of the Season, a Blessed New Year, and longer light-filled days.
On a road near my house, there are two of the same sign directly across from each other. For months now, I’ve been trying to take a photo because I loved and agreed with the sentiment. I finally got that photo, which you can see in this post. Once I got the photo however, the more I looked at it, trying to decide where to use it, and the more I thought about it, I realized that it’s a nice thought, a way to absolve voters, and get them to speak out and stand up. I agreed that even people who voted for the current president didn’t want this to be the outcome. But I’ve only just recently realized that it’s a lie.
“Nobody voted for this.”
That is a lie.
People did vote for this, greedily, happily, with determination and glee at what the other side would get, and indeed “get what’s coming to them.” I don’t have to give them the redemption arc they so desperately crave because the bad things are happening to them, and they’ve suddenly decided that the monster in the room is actually the monster in the room.
I can’t possibly list all the depraved, petty, destructive things this president and his Congress cohorts have wrought upon us.
Just because they’ve changed their minds because their landscaper was deported or their cousin the farmer is going to lose his farm because of tariffs or your health insurance is going up, like we told you it would, doesn’t mean that you get a pass because you’ve joined the suffering.
What did they vote for exactly if not for this?
They voted for lawlessness, for terrorism in our streets, for pulling people out of court hearings when they’ve immigrated “the right way,” for canceling citizenship swearing in ceremonies when these almost citizens met every hurdle, for “papers please,” for higher taxes, for lies upon lies upon lies, for pettiness that would put a toddler to shame, for misogyny, transphobia, antisemitism, and white supremacy. Yes, even if you’re not white, you voted for white supremacy. You’ve allowed him to denigrate our press, and the press has allowed him to do the same also by ignoring his outlandish and despicable behavior and their complicit silence. You’ve allowed him to call our women journalists names, and ignore the questions he dislikes. You voted for war, and disrespect for our country, our military, and put our citizens here and around the world in danger. You voted for murder and the destruction of the East Wing of the White House, the paving over the Rose Garden because the dementia-addled resident of the White House can’t remember where he is or what he’s doing. His made up grievances are on repeat, his whines are pathetic, his falling asleep at the cabinet table would be cute if it was Grandpa at Thanksgiving dinner sated by the turkey, but not for the President of the United States.
He’s so narcissistic that he needs to deface a national monument, a memorial to a fallen President; yes, it’s sad, even for this joyless man, but it’s also pitiable.
His need to pull himself up by tearing everything and everyone around him down would be sad if he wasn’t also pulling down the future for my kids, for your kids. Will the next generation have a country to be proud of? Will they even have a country? Will we be able to recover from the nastiness he unleashed? Will the White House recover from the sad, gold accents that reduce this once great house, the people’s house to a tacky golf club?
Nobody voted for this.
Lies.
*I* didn’t vote for this. Many of the people reading this didn’t vote for this. But others, there are others who DID vote for this. They’re only upset that it affects them too and not just the brown skinned people they were “punishing” simply for not being white.
But make no mistake – this is exactly what you voted for, and for those of you who didn’t vote because “they’re both the same…” shame on you.
I, and many of us, won’t forget, and forgiveness is a long way off…if it ever comes.
I wasn’t able to publish my planned post for the first days of Chanukah, but here we are nearing the end of the eight days, and I thought I’d share a couple of photos from my week:
As someone who spends an inordinate amount of time online, it still surprises me when the people around me don’t know the pressing news of the day. I had to tell my boss this morning about the devastating loss of Rob Reiner and his wife, Michele. I mentioned being in a “Rob Reiner fog,” and she didn’t get what I was saying; she hadn’t heard. Part of me wishes I hadn’t heard.
I also don’t want to diminish Michele’s life by attaching her by marriage, but I didn’t know her, and I’m sure part of that was intentional on their family’s part – keeping their private life private, or at least as private as possible.
When my sister texted me last night with the initial reports of two bodies found in the Reiner home, I hoped, beyond reason that it was someone else; not that that would be a good thing either.
I was realizing this morning that (as a fan) I have known Rob Reiner for my entire life. I used to watch All in the Family with my father growing up. There was never a moment in pop culture that he wasn’t present for me. Even the movies I didn’t see had a cultural impact on me – like Stand by Me and Misery. The ones I have seen, like The Princess Bride and When Harry Met Sally are iconic cultural classics.
But Rob was more than his acting and directing.
During the pandemic, he participated in the lockdown version of The Princess Bride, and his scene with his dad, Carl Reiner and Rob playing the Fred Savage part was emotional and heartwarming and perfect, and it gave us in lockdown a bright spot to hold onto.
His activism can’t be ignored. He was on the top of the important issues, and didn’t concern himself with his personal consequences. From civil rights to women’s rights to LGBT+ rights, he spoke out for all of us, and remained on the right side of history. His standing up in these times gave us an example to follow with heartfelt examples of how to fight the fascism we still find ourselves in.
Whatever led to this tragedy is irrelevant to his fans mourning him and Michele. We should remember how they lived, how they worked, how they spoke out for injustice, and give the family room to breathe and grieve for however long it takes.
May their memories be a blessing.
And may we take as a blessing their example of how to live and be a part of the world, caring for and taking care of each other.
As it turned out, I was quite ill for my birthday last week. I did not want cake – no point if I’m not going to enjoy it, but some things were simply postponed.
Instead of cake, my husband got me Haagen Dazs White Chocolate Raspberry Truffle ice cream. It was delicious. 10/10 would recommend and would try it again.
(c)2025
My birthday drink from Starbucks was a bit more complicated. The birthday drink is only available on your birthday, and I couldn’t do that, so I got my go-to: iced chai latte, but with no ice. I kept it in the fridge for three days, added my own ice, and drank it when I was feeling better. It was excellent, and I’m glad that I opted for that.
Iced Chai Latte, no ice on the left. Hot Eggnog Chai Latte on the right. (c)2025
Last but not least, eggnog is back at Starbucks. I’ve had their eggnog cold foam on an iced drink and their hot eggnog chai latte. Very rich, and its warmth is very soothing.
Finally, we had pulled pork sandwiches for dinner the other night. I did not want onions so I decided to put a slice of a Granny Smith apple on two slider rolls and ate that. Nice crunch, a little tart, but very nice with the pulled pork.
(c)2025
My birthday dinner consisted of a salad, a piece of brown bread and butter, and a baked potato. Overall, not exactly how I’d choose to spend my birthday, but it was still nice and I had some special time with my family.
Today is Human Rights Day, and I’m of a mind to share two quotations:
Women’s Rights are Human Rights. – Hillary Clinton
Trans Rights are Human Rights.
I’m finding it difficult to write about human rights today when the United States is violating them left, right, and center, every which way we look, on the land, in the air, on the sea.
I find it difficult directing you to the human rights watches of Amnesty International and the United Nations, both of whom I’ve respected my entire life and have now abandoned them as they’ve abandoned many of us.
I find it difficult accepting that human rights are a right for all humans when we see so many rights being torn away, stomped upon, and set on metaphorical fire.
Last week, I saw a picture online of a drunk racoon passed out next to a toilet in a public bathroom, a gas station, I think, and that seems to have summed up the last eleven months of where we are in terms of the world, of our elected leaders here around the world, and of the human rights being taken away and destroyed before our very eyes.
No, I’m sorry, there’s no witty twist, no redemption arc. It is what it is, and it’s a dumpster fire.
Wandering through Target, checking out the holiday goodies and displays, and I saw their plastic tableware along the main aisle.
Before I could even be intrigued, I saw that someone else had already put this smaller plate on top of the large charger, and I loved how it looked. I didn’t touch it. I didn’t change it. I simply photographed it, and went on my merry way.
I hope to use this as inspiration for a simpler holiday; something quiet and unobtrusive that has meaning without forcing it to have meaning.
Griffins and Ginger Snaps 