In an online article this morning about the shortest day of the year in the Northern Hemisphere, I read the following sentence: "This year the winter solstice comes right before Christmas" — as if in other years it does not.
We didn't send out any Christmas cards this year but so far have received seven or eight.
We didn't put up a tree either, just the Nativity set on the credenza in the fwah-yay.
Here's last year's tree just to put you in a Christmas-y mood.
No snow is expected around here, just a lot of rain. It has already started
Our shopping is done. Our gift-wrapping is almost done.
There will be two extra people at our family gathering at our second son's house this year. Our fourth-oldest grandson's girl friend of lo, these past two years, is coming from Alabama, and an exchange student, a 16-year-old young man from Seoul, South Korea who lives at our oldest son's house here in the Atlanta area, will join our happy throng. Apparently with their son away at Duke and their daughter away at the University of Georgia, our son-and-daughter-in-law's house felt empty. That's my story and I'm sticking to it.
Abby will be getting her pre-Christmas bath tomorrow at the local pet emporium and grooming salon. It can't come too soon.
Mrs. RWP received two cortisone shots in her right thumb and wrist yesterday. The effect of a previous shot lasted six months. We are keeping our fingers crossed on this one.
I read in another article that there are enough golf courses in the U.S. (14,000) to give two to every person who arrived at the U.S.-Mexican border in a caravan from Honduras (6,000). You read it here first, but only because I read it someplace else. It speaks so well of capitalist priorities, does it not?
I read in yet another article that Prince Harry will not go pheasant hunting on Boxing Day, apparently a tradition amongst English royals, this year because his new, pregnant, American wife Meghan Markle, Duchess of Sussex, is an animal lover and a vegan besides and has asked him not to. A saying applies here: Happy wife, happy life. Or as we say here in the colonies, if Mama ain't happy, ain't nobody happy.
This is my 82nd post of the year, eleven more than in 2017.
I may not be blogging much for the remainder of the year. One never knows, but one can hope (either for or against). This is fair warning to my vast reading public.
P.S. -- The merriest of Christmases to you who celebrate Christmas, and the merriest of whatever the rest of you celebrate, if anything, to the rest of you.
And to all the people at the border, Feliz Navidad, Prospero Año y Felicidad. No snark intended. I really mean it.
Have a great Christmas.
ReplyDeleteWhat does one feed vegan babies on?
Adrian, back atcha, good buddy. I have no idea but I would guess soy milk. Butterflies prefer milkweed sap. A newborn royal is much like a butterfly, right?
DeleteIt'll end up with rickets. Mark my words. Be better off if she smoked plug tobacco.
DeleteSoy milk tastes like cardboard. Those that drink it want looking at. Costs nothing here as we have The NHS. Most countries have a health service we pay double as our NHS has a country.
Merry Christmas
ReplyDeleteEmma, and the same to you!
DeleteI hope your Christmas is all that you and Mrs RWP could hope for. And more.
ReplyDeleteAnd I suspect a vegan baby is fed breast milk for as long as possible. Mostly people who go to veganism do so because the animal products we use are often cruelly sourced. Hopefully a mother's breast milk doesn't fall into that category.
Sue, a wet, soggy Christmas is not we're hoping for, but we may be getting one. I wonder, do vegans wear leather shoes or carry leather briefcases?
DeleteMerriest of Christmases to you and sweet Ellie, RWP! We did put up our tree but did little else as we are preparing to sell the farm. Closing a chapter in this life, but beginning a new adventure near the grandbaby. Dave & I sit with our coffee in the mornings, before the lists & work of the day begin and ask each other if we're nuts....God Bless you and your family!!
ReplyDeletePam, so good to hear from you! By "little else" I assume you mean you canned only 27 quarts of beans, milked only 3 goats, and oiled only 14 sewing machines. (I'm kidding, I'm kidding!) Seriously, the best to you and yours and especially that new grandbaby. Ellie says to tell you she thinks of you every time she sees Pearl, the doll you made and sent us, who has a place of honor on the top shelf of our baker's rack.
DeleteOk, so you made me chuckle. I suppose you wouldn't be surprised to see that my daughter and I have a large bowl of fruitcake fruit mellowing in preparation (all home-candied peel, of course) and that I recently canned marmalade & chicken broth, lol. Aside from that, I'll have you know none of the goats are due before Christmas, lol! ;-)
DeleteAs you grow older you grow wiser Bob. Though I have never met you I appreciate your friendship and hope you have a delightful Christmastime. Merry Christmas Bob!
ReplyDeleteNeil, I appreciate your friendship as well, and hope your New Year may be bright with the promise of a new son-in-law and perhaps even grandchildren down the road.
DeleteI, too, hope that you have an enjoyable and contented Christmas. PS I think that the statement about Megan being vegan was fanciful.
ReplyDeleteGraham, thank you! Now you have me thinking of words that don't rhyme but should, such as Megan/vegan, kilo/silo, tough/cough/through, as well as words that do rhyme, such as effervescent and pre-pubescent.
DeleteA true vegan doesn't use leather of course. Ask your friend All Consuming for more information.
ReplyDelete