I am a giraffe, the holder of the Guinness world record for longest beard, and a liar.

Nobody has requested my particular input, but I'm going in anyway. 😉 Here's what I think causes confusion with "little Chinese school classmate:" the fact that we're reading. If one DID want to say "little Chinese classmate," as in, indicating both size and ethnicity, that's the order the adjectives would go in. So I think it's very natural for someone to read "little Chinese" and expect that those words are each describing the same noun, which will probably be the next word. As for "school classmate" being redundant, it could have been to distinguish from a classmate in gymnastics, art class, Sunday School, etc. But I expect that had the comment been made aloud rather than on a message board, there wouldn't have been any confusion. The way the speaker delivered the words would make the meaning clear. To make it more clear in writing, she would have had to reword the phrase ("little classmate at Chinese school" or similar).

I've just started working on plans for my kid who will be in 9th. And my brain is jumping 57 million different directions rather than being productive in any ONE direction, lol! I know she'll be doing the AOPS Precalculus book (well, finishing up Intermediate Algebra, then Precalculus). She has been working slowly through the MIT OCW Introduction to Psychology course, and I'm pretty sure she wants to continue/finish that and take the AP Psychology exam. Everything else is like "well, I think she'll study this, but I have no idea what that's going to look like" or "...but that depends on factors outside my control and I have to wait and see." So I have a good bit of work to do, and a good bit of waiting as well.

I hated the book. I thought it was compellingly written (if I recall correctly - it's been a few years), but I did not like the storyline at all. I will not be watching the movie.

When our previous doctor closed his practice, I posted on Facebook asking friends for recommendations. Then I called to ask if they accepted our insurance and were taking new patients. I have also seen people post questions about that on a local moms' Facebook group. You don't have to say why, just that you're looking for a new doctor and would prefer one with these characteristics. It's good that you have the current guy in the meantime, though. I had a medical issue come up when I was between primary care doctors and waiting for a new patient appointment and it was annoying to deal with. I would make sure not to malign him to others in your community. He's not a good fit for you, but he may be someone else's idea of a wonderful doctor.

DS is now symptomatic as well. I'm not planning to test him but just assuming he has it. So he's about a day behind me and three days behind DH. DH is feeling noticeably better today. So that's a hopeful thing.

Anecdotal, but DH became symptomatic Wednesday afternoon and tested positive Thursday morning. I became symptomatic last night and tested positive this morning. So about two days. Then again, we have no idea where DH picked it up, so it's possible that I was actually exposed at the same time and just took a couple extra days to get it. (Also today is my birthday. This is not the birthday present I wanted, lol.)

I never heard of keeping them in the fridge. Ours are in the back corner of the pantry with light bulbs and birthday candles.

I saw the thread title and honestly thought it was going to be like "you only have 358 days until Christmas." 🤣 (I have nothing of value to contribute regarding the actual topic, sorry.)

We have to wake up our kids pretty much every year. Normally there are expectations to be at ILs' house by a certain time. This year church instead (ILs' house a little later), so we woke the kids up earlier than normal. They are 13 (almost 14), 11, and 8 now, but it has been like this since they were tiny - they are just not early risers, even on Christmas! ETA - so for the OP's situation, I would have no hesitation in waking the kid up. 😁

My favorite Christmas hymns are Hark the Herald Angels Sing and Joy to the World. Other favorites are Bing Crosby's Jingle Bells and Ricochet's Let It Snow.

I developed a strategy to help with this! When I grab a present to wrap, I first write the recipient's name on a sticky note and stick it on my shirt. 😄

At some store checking out, cashier asks me when I'm due. This is not the first time this has happened; I smile and say, "Oh, I'm not pregnant, just need to lose some weight." Generally the person is very apologetic at that point. Not this lady. She frowns and looks at my stomach, then declares, "No, that's definitely a baby." What the heck, lady? Different time, at the grocery store with my kids, and the cashier has just finished with the customer in front of me. One of the kids is doing something wrong and I am dealing with that as the teenage bagger asks if I want paper or plastic. I continue addressing my child and two seconds later the bagger literally puts his hands at the sides of his mouth like a megaphone and says slowly and loudly, "WOULD YOU LIKE PAPER OR PLASTIC?" Now please note that at this point there are maybe three items that have made it to the bagger - I am not holding up the line. I said to my kid something like, "you can wait until we get home for [whatever]," and then I turned to the bagger and said, "And YOU can wait until I finish correcting MY CHILD," and then I gave him my answer. I was so mad.

The kids are the only ones who get stockings here, and they just have candy. I figure once they have graduated high school, we will stop doing the stockings. It's not like we keep them from Christmas candy throughout the season anyway. 😄

Stockings at our house just have candy (or other edible treats), not wrapped. My parents did candy and a small gift or two in stockings for us when I was growing up, nothing wrapped. DH's family did small wrapped gifts.

Absolutely not. With no lyrics, maybe. I also find it difficult to attend to conversations if there's music with lyrics on in the background. Based on my observations, most people don't find that nearly as challenging as I do.

Who knew Voldemort had an Alexa device?

Suburban here. Squirrels aplenty, lots of songbirds (but I am horrible at identifying them!), hawks, foxes, possums, rabbits, turtles (the houses across the street from us back up to a small lake), Canada geese (😡), owls...probably more that I'm not thinking of. A stray cat every now and then, but I don't feed it, so it moves along. Oh, sometimes a group of herons or egrets...I can never recall which they are. We had deer in our yard a lot at our previous house, but not so much here. Previous house was in a neighborhood whose main road was called Deerlake, so, yeah. 😄

"Thank you. I love you."

I could be wrong, but I would guess that it's the thought of change in routine that's bothering him most, and this is an aspect he has grabbed onto as a way to express that. I'd give it some time for him to adjust to the new normal and to see that he will still have friend time even though it will look different from before.

Very cool! My middle and youngest have really enjoyed SQ. I added SQ2 to youngest's wish list. 😊

Verba - like Apples to Apples, but in Latin, Spanish, or French: https://practomime.com/content/verba.php Mac and Cheese ornament: https://www.etsy.com/listing/567098910/i-love-you-more-than-mac-and-cheese