We usually keep it up until Epiphany. My birthday is the 5th, and I always wanted the tree up for my birthday as a kid too. We don’t put up our tree until the second week of December, so it’s still in pretty good shape.

Dh and I usually do, except for the years we had newborns or sick kids, if I remember correctly. We have a little family celebration (appetizers for dinner and a movie usually) and an early countdown with the kids. One year we went to the celebration at the zoo and counted down at 8:00. That was fun, but very crowded. I would like to let the kids stay up sometime, but I don’t want to start the year with cranky kids. I have plans to get up early to workout and then we have 9:00 mass for a Holy Day of Obligation tomorrow. My New Years resolution not to be late to mass anymore would probably fail miserably if we stay up past midnight.

My parents and siblings are all within an hour and a half of us, mostly in the same very large metropolitan area. Dh’s parents are five hours away, two of his siblings are about an hour closer on the way to his parents, the other two are in opposite directions, each 5-6 hours away.

You might have to do multiple batches on your one cookie sheet, but would these peanut butter cookies work? https://www.kingarthurflour.com/recipes/flourless-peanut-butter-chocolate-chip-cookies-recipe You could use dairy-free chocolate chips, or probably leave them out.

According to her daughter’s Facebook post about her passing, Grafton insisted that her books never be made into movies or completed by a ghostwriter.

Wallet, lip balm, small hair brush, hand lotion, feminine products, Kleenex, lots of old receipts, and my phone. Maybe a granola bar or random emergency candy.

I know someone who married her step-father’s son. They weren’t raised together, so they didn’t have much of a step-sibling relationship, but still. I think that’s much weirder than siblings marrying siblings.

I want a Catholic funeral and burial, but I don’t think it needs to be a huge thing. There were less than two dozen people at my great uncle’s funeral, and most of those were my siblings and our kids, but it was the religious ceremony that was important to him. He was a good man and deserved to have his life celebrated in the way he wanted even without children of his own to plan it.

Not often enough. I try to do the main floor twice a week and upstairs/bedrooms once a week, but it’s never quite that often. Thanks to the Target card being linked to my email, I found out yesterday that dh is getting me a Roomba for Christmas. I can’t wait to run that everyday.

Good for you! I’m the girl who hated every time we had to run “The Mile†in gym class, and I’ve run three. I’m no where near in shape to run one right now, but it’s completely doable with training.

Great update! And I giggled at your description of your dh’s enthusiasm over the fries.

We’re going to Mass on Saturday evening that fulfills our Sunday obligation, then my big kids are singing at the 4:00pm family Mass on Christmas Eve. Our pastor very nicely said not to complain about it during his homily on Sunday because we know being Catholic isn’t always easy. When he says the family Mass, we’re out in less than 50 minutes. It’s pretty impressive.

I wonder if we’re in the same state? I just saw a similar news story sort of near us. Our state does have a lot of bloated bureaucracy that is wasteful. And the political patronage is depressing. Schools do need to be paid for, however. Way back in the sixties, my grandparents’ neighbor complained to my grandpa that it really wasn’t fair that my grandparents got out of paying the school portion of they property taxes because their kids went to Catholic school. My grandpa informed his that he payed twice, both taxes for the schools his family didn’t use and private school tuition. People didn’t get it then either.

Thanks for the bump and the suggestions! I’ll run over to our Aldi later today. I’m doing a mixed baby green salad with pears and possibly more dried cranberries and crumbled Gorgonzola.

I’m so sorry! Praying for you.

So scary!

I loved the cranberry Gorgonzola dressing from Trader Joe’s for Thanksgiving and Christmas salads, but it’s been discontinued. At least our store doesn’t carry it anymore. My google search for a copycat recipe is coming up empty. Any chance the Hive can help?

Dh started shaving (maybe once a week at first?) in seventh grade. Ds has a couple of years to see if he follows his dad. I’m curious how much genes play a role in timing.

Praying for you! And good luck with your exams!

The comments on the Today Show Facebook post make me sad. The number of people who don’t seem to understand that it would have to be very bad, and corroborated for NBC to fire someone with such a big contract is really surprising. I agree with those who’ve said the network has probably known about improper behavior for a long time, and in the current climate couldn’t afford to hide it anymore.

The comments on that curriculum page! Now, I’m Catholic. I believe a whole lot of things that other people would consider crazy (transubstantiation of the Eucharist, Marian apparitions, saints with the stigmata, etc), and I’m fine with that. But arguing for a flat, fixed earth, in a geocentric universe with all the evidence that has been amassed, and that I could experience for myself if I was adventurous enough to sail around the earth? So much nope. We start our science unit about the solar system with learning about Copernicus, the Catholic priest, and his first theory that the sun did not revolve around the earth. And then we talk about how Galileo’s excommunication was later overturned by the church with greater scientific understanding.

We’ll cut our real tree in the next two weeks. It stays up until Epiphany, so we wait until closer to Christmas. We use white lights and an assortment of meaningful ornaments and pretty, but cheap, “filler†ornaments.

I froze our carcass because our weather has been too nice this weekend to stay home all day while it simmers. I’ll make stock some cold grey day that will be coming all too soon.

I’m so sorry.

Our house smelled so bad for several hours this afternoon, even with most of the windows open, but my oven looks much better. Thanks for the reminder, secretgarden!