Christmas has been officially canceled.

Well, postponed until July.

Still, sucks.

griff wrote:

Yeah, I feel you man.

One piece of good news, Lil Griff is first in line for vaccination in Massachusetts.

I wish her (and all y'all) continued good health!

Clodfobble wrote:

We went to buy a Christmas tree today, and it was a shock. Everywhere was sold out, or nearly so. The major vendor we always buy from (and always around this same time in December) had only small trees, so we went to a different tree lot farther out, and they had nothing but a half a dozen 13-foot monstrosities. We thought maybe some weather anomaly led to a bad crop this year, or maybe they were short on harvesting staff due to COVID, but the guy selling them said no, they had the normal amount at the start of December, everybody just bought early this year. It's only the 11th, for Pete's sake...

yes, we learned very quickly when we moved here to buy our tree on txg weekend or we were risking disappointment.  (And they are a big Michigan crop).  So we do, and then set it in water outside until we're ready to decorate, several weeks later.  (This year's is still out there, decoration is Wednesday.....)  We learned that all pre-cut trees are cut at pretty much the same time, so buying nearer the day doesn't make it any fresher and you probably have a better chance of keeping it fresh for longer if you buy early and water yourself.  A local news article said that a lot of people are getting a real tree for the first time this year instead of their usual fake one, I guess that's an extension of the craftin/homebodying uptick due to covid.  So I can imagine it's pretty desperate already

This year, the two older children both have significant others who are apparently very excited at the prospect of being part of a real tree thing (poor deprived children), and are desperate to see it and -if possible, please...-join in the decoration. So we went as early as the boys could wake up on the Saturday and beamed Pologirl and her SO in by the magic of facetime/zoom/msgr video thing... and I splashed out and bought the biggest, tallest, fullest motherfucker we could find (10' 4" by my measurement) -yes we have a cathedral ceiling.  Pologirl's SO -poor lamb- had apparently never even seen a christmas tree lot before, so I had to do a walking tour of Home Despot's back yard for him.  

Pologirl and um... Floridaborn  (:D) arrive Tues, Bajaboi and Bajagrl have their last final early Wed and then she needs to leave for her hometown in MI asap-ish, so Weds is installation & decoration afternoon/evening. 

Plan is we beestmonsters all sit back and chill with Die Hard on in the background, and let the fresh blood do the hard work   We reckon if Bajagrl sits on Floridaborn's shoulders, they might manage to reach the top.  They've never met, but can't imagine how that would be awkward....


 

Mama said there’ll be days like this,
there’ll be days like this mama said.
As long as all the actors will follow
the script playing out in mama’s head.

footfootfoot wrote:

@monster: Where is pologirl's SO from that he's never seen a tree lot?
@clodfobble: We had a similar experience yesterday getting our tree. The most deranged and spruntly looking trees I've ever seen. I though one place must have just gone into a forest and poached anything with green needles. I should have thought to take photos. There were a few trees that were no more than a 5' trunk about as big around as a stout broomstick with five or six branches total. asking price? $32.

bf florida where artificial is the way to go, apparently.  very protected only child from what I can tell.  Never seen snow either.....

BigV wrote:

Christmas has been officially canceled.

Well, postponed until July.

Still, sucks.

I've mentioned that SonofV has moved back to Seattle from Rochester, I'm happy, he's ecstatic, it's a good move.  Then... he called me to say "Hey, can you pick me up at the ferry dock and I'll stay until Christmas?"

me:  "Um, I'll call ya back in a minute."

Called him back and had to tell him that no, he can't come. F. U. C. K.  Anyway, It turned out ok.  We even got a selfie.

Change is hard.  This is a lot of change.  I am confident I'm doing the best thing, keeping our bubble intact, not being low hanging fruit for the virus, "doing my part".  I don't think any lasting damage has been done to my relationship with him, in fact, we'll see each other this week for a one on one, socially distant, well ventilated, no contact meeting to exchange gifts.  I'm working to mitigate the risks of harm, social, medical, emotional, etc. I'm a whole person and I'm trying to balance all my needs.  I'm sure I'm setting an example for those around me, even those who disagree with my position on mask wearing.  There's a good chance they think I'm some Socialist lemming, duped by the fake news or whaaatttteevv.  No one is completely immune from their own confirmation biases, including myself.

 

Thanksgiving and Christmas.  The joy of giving and sharing for many weeks - Covid.
 

monster wrote:

nsip--
And we got a perfect white christmas.  of course.  Because 2020 has taunted us in this way.  oh look Cinco de Mayo on Taco Tuesday, Halloween on a Saturday with a full moon, Christmas and New Year on Fridays..... but no possibility of socializing to celebrate bwahahaha

Out-fucking-standing.

**applause**