Happy Merry Christmas Eve!

It is late, I am tired and I got distracted with playing on the computer instead of wrapping presents.  In my defense, I got a text message from my friend in Texas about joining the Minecraft game I am on with family.  So I got onto the game to help her with that.  I was not able to do much, but others who were in the game could help her some.  We still didn't get the voice chat working though.  I have no defense for staying on as long as I did. 

Much of my day was spent wandering around stores trying to find presents for people.  I made a pie too.  I even had a dentist appointment.  There was also a bit of looking around for vegan eggnog.  My happy today is that I did indeed find vegan holiday nog. 

Sunsetting this evening.

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Christmas Shopping

This morning I learned that a cousin passed away last night.  Perhaps that is why I spent most of the day playing Minecraft with the family, both here and in Texas.  We play in the same 'world' and talk through an app.  Gideon is playing in it as well.  It isn't the same as having everyone in the living room together, but technology helps it seem closer than the 2000 miles it really is.

After Minecraft, Z and I went shopping for some last minute gifts and food stuffs for Christmas.  I'm still not done.  Only one shopping day left until Christmas.  I will be using Christmas Eve day to shop, visit the dentist and wrap gifts.  Z and I had a lot of fun shopping.  He does a great job in finding laughter in things.  That laughter is today's happy.

That big white circle thing in the pictures is the moon.

It is hard to tell with all the street lights and cars...

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Ugh

Today was my friend in Texas' birthday and I forgot to call until it was too late to call.  Hopefully she was having a particularly lovely day with family and friends and when I call tomorrow I can hear all about it.

We did a little bit of Christmas shopping today.  I plan to finish tomorrow.  No, that isn't true.  I plan to finish shopping for everyone that I need to buy for by Christmas, the rest can be done after.  Some people were blessed with an ability to know what people want and are able to chose just the right gift.  I am not that person.  Every once in a while I will come up with something good, but that is rare for me.  My happy for today is when I realized that making a decision about buying a particular gift was causing me to have a bit of an anxiety attack  They were very similar in features and the same price.  I was going to research more and look for ratings but there was no internet service in the store, so I acknowledged to myself the anxiety and just picked the one I thought looked best.  Phew. 

In the passenger seat,

I tried to get a picture of the river.

 But, highway, so we kept on moving.

The river was dark and cold looking.

It was a beautiful mad looking thing.

The afternoon sky turning pink.

Alaska plate in front of us.

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Happy Solstice!

It was the last day of school before break and I am so glad that that part of the day is over.  The teachers try to work on all the end of unit stuff earlier in the week so that the last day can be used as catch up for anyone who is behind and fun activities for the rest of the students.   One of the things we did was watch a movie.  This was The Ultimate Gift, and it was a tearjerker.  The audience didn't get all the miracles that one would hope for in a Christmas movie, but it was a good story.

After work I went home and my daughter and I had a meeting with the current Baroness to talk plans for the investiture.  The incomplete thrones were delivered today too.  We need to fine sand them, stain and paint them, and then protect them.  All the planning and little things to prepare for the end of January are my happy things for today.

For Solstice I found a website with some awesome pictures from space showing how the sun hits the earth to bring us different seasons.. 

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Early Christmas Eve

Religion is not something that I tend to speak about in my blog, and this post is not about that.  However, this evening my friend and I went to a service called Christmas at the Arena.  There were neighbor friends who graciously offered to give us a ride.  This service is in lieu of the service that they may have had on Christmas Eve and thousands of people seemed to have attended.  There was a band playing when we arrived.  They performed some Christmas songs as well as a non-Christmas one and were basically the opening act.  Following that there were some other performers, including dancers and then a brief break before the music became stand-up-and-sing-with-us carols. 

The service itself was about a half hour long and included balloons.  I had a brief flashback to many Christmases ago when I went to a performance at the Crystal Cathedral in California.  This service was not like that.  For one thing, it was free.  There was an envelope for donations but no basket for collections and only the briefest mention as to where and how to make donations.  The service was uplifting, the familiar music helped a lot, and is my happy for today.  I'm not sure if I will attend again, but I am glad I went.

Some pictures in random order.

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Happy Birthday to ME!!

Cupcakes! 😄 There was a cupcake in my mailbox at work for my birthday and one when I got back to my friend's house.  One was green and the other white so together they were the Barony of Stonemarche colors.  The givers of the cupcakes have never met and still managed to get me a matching set.  😋  I had every intention of munching down on them both tonight but one filled me up.  My firend and I went for a walk and she made chili for dinner.  My Texas friend called and sung a Happy Birthday song to me.  My son called and we talked for quite some time.  My daughter and I talked earlier in the day.  I tried, and think succeeded, in responding to all the Happy Birthday wishes that were posted on Facebook for me (up to now).  All in all it was a pretty good day.  I am happy for all the wishes from family and friends. I'm not sure how 54 will be, but I am kind of glad that 53 is over.  It has been a tough year and hopefully this next one will be better. 

Sunrise

CUPCAKES!!

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Santa Hat

All the performers were at rehearsal tonight so I just got to sit back and watch.  It should be a great show.  This is the first practice and it is already very funny.  Next time, after the holidays, I need to take notes.

After work I tried to get my car inspected and, as expected, it failed.  The best part about that is I got to have a nice conversation with my son, the mechanic.  He kept comparing my state inspection with Texas, pretty much saying that my car would probably have been okay there.  What isn't, he would have been able to fix.  He wants me to get a new car, I can't afford it.  Even with all the repairs I will need I think it still will cost me less than $1000 this year to fix/ maintain. This is much less than a car payment would be. 

This week at school every day has a theme on what to wear.  Yesterday was flannel and fuzzy socks day.  I wore my fuzzy winter leggings under a skirt and fuzzy socks too.  Today was seasonal hats, antlers, etc.  I couldn't find my Santa hat (well, didn't want to search the cellar for the right box when the right box could be in storage) but I have a red ribbon hairband that I wore.  After crying myself to school (because holidays and missing people) I was greeted by a student with a Santa hat and a big smile with "Merry Christmas!"  That is my happy for the day. 

From my personal must-see Christmas movie, Emmet Otter's Jug Band Christmas, the song When the River Meets the Sea. 

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