Merry Christmas, fellow dads!

[Kwak]

It’s in the 50s here and it looks like it will be a wet Christmas but i seem to finally be in the spirit. Alexa is blaring Bing Crosby while my wife prepares a Christmas feast that will be loaded in tins for those who we won’t be seeing next to the tree in the morning.

Yea, it can be a bit like a National Lampoon movie here. We called the in-laws in Florida who grumbled about it going down to what our high temperature is and there was some audio coming through the speaker that could have been someone shifting on a leather couch or a fart - I don’t know, I don’t care. Later I’m picking my mom up from the home and know she’ll probably be wearing the same purple sweat pants I’ve seen her wear every day for the past three years and asking the same question over and over before ranting about her pet peeves. Again, I don’t care. It’s good to still have an older generation around to put things in perspective. At this stage of the game I take what I can get. If the holidays are challenging in any way let there at least be love.

So whatever you celebrate I wish you all the best. The spirit is all the same, it’s just the marketing that’s different as far as I’m concerned. Happy Holidays.

[Mark B.]

Merry Christmas to you and yours fellas.

[Don-Dad]

Merry Christmas! Sunny and low 60's.

Wife is still comfortable after surgery but her below-the-knee pain blocker bag is almost empty, so just a few days left of OXY and Tylenol. Doc said surgery was a success, we'll see in 12 weeks, lol. She's in a recliner in her office close to a bathroom where she can use the scooter and just a few steps to use the bathroom. I'm a gofor, and doing well at that job.

Looks like just me and the dogs going on a short hike. Then I'll make some dinner.

[Captain Tuttle]

Merry Christmas guys!

[Hockeyfan]

Merry Christmas. 70s and sunny here. Can’t complain.

[Kwak]

Originally Posted by Hockeyfan

Merry Christmas. 70s and sunny here. Can’t complain.

Merry Christmas and happy holidays! Good to see you!

[TwoCubs]

Merry Christmas, guys.

All of us had mild colds for about 4 days (maybe omicron persei 8) with Christmas Day being the peak. We missed having the grandparents over, but we tried to be safe. We texted and called friends and family instead. My son was finally seriously into opening presents, a little too into it. After the kids went to their rooms to stim and play with their gifts, my wife and I got to binge some Netflix. It was a good day.

[Don-Dad]

Uneventful Christmas here, took the dogs a nice hike on a trail about 10 minutes away. The wife has not been in pain, even after the blocker ran out of juice. Spoke to be crazy parents via facetime on my brother's phone, they get crazier every day. My mom has always complained she feels she does not know my kids well but she never made an effort. I hand the phone to my son and she's like "Hi, I hope you have a merry Christmas, I'll talk to ya later, love you." Then hands the phone off, we were never the "l love you types" I can't remember her ever saying it until I was in my 40's.

Maybe this should be in the fuck thread, lol!

Happy New Year right around the corner.

[Kwak]

Age and isolation do strange things to people's personalities. I guess they start thinking that the sand in the hourglass is running out - yet at the same time they also feel entitled to "be themselves" so it all sort of evens out and what you get is "uncomfortable honesty."

FWIW parents always go downhill. It's inevitable.

BTW, the other day we took my mom to State College, PA to visit her friend from our old home time who has pancreatic cancer and now lives near her son. Kelly and I dragged our 14yo along with us so that we could walk around Penn State's Main Campus. Meanwhile, my mom is now 82 years old and her memory is clearly fading. Between a teenager complaining about being bored and my mother asking questions, telling stories and laughing at everything like hearing a joke only she "got" for 6 hours. It was pretty trying.

Seriously, every time I get together with my mother the more I see how she's clinging to the oldest of memories. My wife tells me I need to stop arguing with her because these days are numbered. She's right, of course.

PS: both women wanted to make the trip more than it should have been. Both wanted to stay overnight. My wife wanted to stay in a hotel and hit the old college bars. My mom wanted us to meet her friend's "rich" son who live in a mansion. I'm siding with my 14yo: we should have stayed home.

PPS: we stopped for lunch at Five Guys and a couple of the t-shirt shops and picked up a bunch of swag. I expected it would be dead because it's between semesters but apparently it's worse than that. I found myself actually talking to the owner of the Five Guys as he took my order and the owner of the apparel store as I paid for our stuff. The townies are expecting that the university is going to go virtual and it's going to severely impact the area economically. We also saw that some of our favorite places were still there, some were closed permanently. We also saw lots of differences and expansions that had been made to the campus over the last 25 years. Where there were cow fields before there were now sprawling technology centers - which ironically made the campus seem even smaller instead of larger. That made US feel old.

Anyway, tomorrow we'll be having some fellow alumni over to watch the bowl game on New Year's Day and talk about possibly going back in the summer when hopefully things don't seem so sad.