A hopefully festive Tuesday

ei34

Can the crummy day be brighter than usual thanks to Christmas magic?  (Didn't mean for that to sound like an opening line in a Hallmark movie.)  It's a nice Tuesday for me- I'm leaving work soon, I took 3rd-5th periods personal time to enjoy my kids' Winter Singalong at their school.  Thankful that they're in such a conscientious district- the event will be held outdoors on the school's back lawn.  I have my lawn chair and fleece blanket ready.  And even better news is my parents received their booster shots yesterday evening, I feel so relieved.
@Casadena I'm really sorry to hear your son is feeling so sick.  There's nothing tougher than a sick kid, I'm sorry.  Hoping everyone else is feeling healthy or on the mend.

climbingsingle

I hope everyone that's fighting sicknesses with their families are feeling better! 

Found out last night that 2 employees tested positive. Thankfully it's people on the night shift, so no one most office workers have come into contact with. But it seems like's it's been spreading rampantly through that shift. So it's been reiterated to us that masks must be worn in the building at all times. And I really wish they'd just let us work from home for the rest of the year, but that will never happen. 

On the bright side, I had a vendor send me two really nice bottles of wine (Caymus!) that I'm planning on enjoying tonight with N. 

banana468

@climbingsingle it seems like NYC is going through huge spread.  One of my potential guests saturday is my cousin who lives in Manhattan.  I realize it isn't EVERYONE but holy moly it feels that way. 

I hope everyone with illness is feeling better.  Last night I could not fall asleep and I had to tell my brain to let me calm the F down.  Finally after midnight I was into slumber.  Chiquito woke up with NO FEVER!  If the fever stays gone and the cough goes I'm telling people tomorrow that we're on for Saturday and to PLEASE monitor themselves so they do not come if they have covid symptoms.  My Binax kits won't be here til Monday.

So far the rest of us are OK.  

missJeanLouise

DH and I had a serious discussion about Santa today. It was ridiculous. Basically, it was a discussion about the importance of Santa in Christmas. In one of our families, Santa played a bigger role. Kids wrote letters to Santa, left cookies out for him, were reminded of him when being naughty, etc. In the other, Santa was part of Christmas but carried less significance. 

So now I am curious, how big of role did Santa play in your childhood? And do you continue those traditions on with your kid(s) now? How high on the Magic of Christmas scale do you rate Santa? Is he The Magic™ or is he a part of a bigger picture? How did you feel about him as a child?

short+sassy

Ugh!  Just when we think we are seeing a light at the end of the tunnel, a new variant comes along and causes another cave-in.  Fortunately, I haven't been affected...yet.  Either with an outbreak at work or getting sick myself.  But I was reading this morning that they closed the NOLA traffic court and two DMVs in the state, due to a COVID outbreak at those locations.

My savvy shopper brag.  I went to Walmart to pick up prescriptions yesterday.  I also saw on my Ibotta app (gives money back for purchases) that they had a special where, if you used 10 offers, they would give a bonus $10.  I already had four offers that gave a 100% rebate with purchase, so then I scouted out at least 6 more item offers I could use.  Boom!  Turned my $72 purchase into $46.  Plus, since the rebate money is paid in the app, I also got 5% back on my Chase card for the entire $72 purchase.  Another almost $4 off.

I keep stalking my bank account for the rental assistance money I was told I'd be given, lol.  They said I would receive the money within 21 days, though didn't specify if that was calendar or business days.  Either way, it isn't late.  But sooner is always better with money!

My H and I need to figure out Christmas dinner.  We'll probably go with something traditional, like ham.  But have been debating if we want something else.  I also want salad or green beans, scalloped potatoes, and stuffing with Jimmy Dean sausage.  I'm also thinking about making a big bunch of egg salad to use for tea sandwiches throughout the long weekend.  Decisions, decisions!

flantastic

@missJeanLouise - our kids' schools keep trying to make him a bigger deal than he is. Elf-on-the-shelf stuff, reindeer food, other such keeps coming home from school.

We always had Santa growing up, and on St. Nicholas Day (12/6) we left our shoes out for him and he took our Christmas list from the shoes and left candy and, like, plastic slinkies or other similarly small toy things. Still do that. I think my parents knew a guy with a car sleigh, and I remember him coming by our house and visiting with us and my parents, which definitely delayed the realization that it was my parents, but that was just an occasional surprise visit, and not a tradition like going to take pictures with Santa every year. All our other Christmasy traditions are Christian-based.

MissKittyDanger

BK basically has a cold, but we have to watch for croup and if she is struggling to breath - mostly because she's fairly phlegmy and it can move quick for kids.

They did covid test her as precaution, but they said they'd be surprised if it came back positive.

Anyways so M has her home. She's in better spirits. We gave her a bath with eucalyptus, vicks and ran humidifier for a bit.
We didn't have to give any more motrin from 7pm last night until little after 9am today - but M says she's in good spirits, which is much better than yesterday.

Side note we had a nurse show us a better way to give her meds and it is a GAME CHANGER!
BK won't do the shot, so we still syringe but often she spat whole thing out.
Nurse showed us if we do in little doses, she'll accept it better. So we did that last night and although she faught us at the beginning, she accepted and we let her pause for sips of water.
This morning M did meds solo, and she was 100% better with it.

Game. Changing.

mrsconn23

My sister is a production manager in the south central area of the state.  It's a college town, but the people who work in her building are from the surrounding area.  They have 8 positives, 2-4 people who have symptoms and refuse to test, and my sister is pretty sure she's one of the few vaccinated people and likely the only one boosted. Her whole fam is vaxxed and she wears masks at work.   Goddamn shitshow. 

Yay wine and booster shots! 

It's Tuesday.  And it feels like one.  I'm dragging hard today.  

I managed to scratch my nose (during sex, because I'm that awesome) last night enough to draw blood. It's right on the tip of my nostril, and it's so sore.  

Can I take a nap yet? LOL 

MissKittyDanger

@missJeanLouise Idk what level of magic he really was, because being solo grandchild for a long time made family hype Santa more.
We did photos. I didn't always write a letter before, but I left cookies and veggies {for reindeer} and a little note.
Xmas eve, my grampa use to stay over and we'd watch Norad Santa Tracker, and if he knew I was still awake he'd be near the stairs and say in a loud whisper "Oh I hope K is sleeping - I think I heard Santa's sleigh!"

Christmas magic unfortunately dwindled fast for varying reasons when I was about 13 - so that's affected things.
I think this year is the first year my family has put effort into Christmas, and that's because of BK
We aren't making Santa a huge deal, but we're going to kinda do our own thing with it. If she's into it bigger, then we roll with it.

CharmedPam

Well wishes to all that are dealing with this crappy covid situation.
enjoy the wine @climbingsingle, wish I still could!
glad BK is in good spirits @MissKittyDanger

Last night was our company christmas dinner, but I wasn’t feeling well, and was going to nix it and go home early after my meeting.  I got better the last half of the day and went anyway.  A fun outting but towards the end I was starting to feel gross again and suddenly super hot and clammy. I had to step outside for some fresh air.  I ate and drank so little and everyone commented on that, but I was to nauseous to eat or drink another bite.  I even left half a martini on the table.  Sad. The sucky part is, this all has to do with a painful UTI I’m just getting over.  Tomorrow is my last day of the antibiotic, so fingers crossed that I’m done with it. 

As far as Santa, he was magical to me.  We’d leave out cookies and milk, go to bed and our already heavily gifted tree was tripled with gifts when we woke up. Both my parents didn’t get much growing up, so they always wanted for us to have LOTS.  And lots we did!
but my brother and sister (who can’t afforf LOTS anyway) realize it may have been overkill for them - and have minimized their own kids gifts. I can’t remember what age I was, but the rumor mill was going around at school that your parents were really santa and I was in disbelief.  My plan waa to keep a gift tag from Santa one year and pin it against something one of my parents wrote and compare handwriting but tbh, I don’t think I ever went through with that plan. 

short+sassy

missJeanLouise said:

DH and I had a serious discussion about Santa today. It was ridiculous. Basically, it was a discussion about the importance of Santa in Christmas. In one of our families, Santa played a bigger role. Kids wrote letters to Santa, left cookies out for him, were reminded of him when being naughty, etc. In the other, Santa was part of Christmas but carried less significance. 

So now I am curious, how big of role did Santa play in your childhood? And do you continue those traditions on with your kid(s) now? How high on the Magic of Christmas scale do you rate Santa? Is he The Magic™ or is he a part of a bigger picture? How did you feel about him as a child?

Almost none.  My parents never said Santa didn't exist when we were little, but also didn't foster a belief in him at all.  We didn't get gifts from Santa or leave cookies out or anything like that.  Probably the closest we came to Santa is, when we were really little, we would want to visit him when we were at the mall.  Our parents were okay with that and would take us over.

I think I wrote a letter to Santa once or twice, but those were activities in class at school.  My school did a fun thing with the letters where, a few days later, we would receive a Santa reply back.  I guess the school put the return letters in a refrigerator until they were ready to be given out, because the letters were always cold like they had just come from the North Pole.

But, overall, my dad was pretty opposed to fostering a belief in Santa.  He didn't have any judgment for parents who did but, for him personally, it felt like lying to his children and he wasn't comfortable with it.

For me, Santa was more part of the bigger picture of Christmas.  An image/picture I saw everywhere on Christmas-themed stuff for the holidays.  But I don't think I ever really believed in him as a real thing, because of how my parents were about him.  He was more a figure in a story.  Like princesses and dragons.

I can't say if that was the right or wrong thing my parents did.  Christmas was still an exciting time for me as a kid.  Maybe the fact I didn't believe in Santa took some of the magic out, but I think it would only be a little bit.  But then I also didn't have the disappointment of learning he wasn't real.

short+sassy

@CharmedPam, Now I'm picturing you as a little kid with a forensic kit and little magnifying glass to compare handwriting samples, lol.

"Parents!  I have conducted a DNA analysis from the bite left on one cookie.  It matches YOU, Dad.  Not Santa.  I demand explanations."

banana468

Santa has always been a part of Christmas.  As a kid my mom discouraged writing letters to him but I think I wrote a few.  Her point was to remove the "I want only presents" spirit of Christmas but I think she just didn't do a great job conveying it completely while also not wanting to squash the belief.  In the morning we'd come downstairs and the gifts were all from Santa.  St. Nick did not come to our house. 

With our kids we started w/ the elf because MIL gave him to us.  I don't love it but DH has been moving it and the kids are super into it so hey why not?    

Santa is absolutely a huge deal in our home too BUT we also have presents for the kids from us.  We are clear and they're in different wrapping paper to try to eliminate that confusion. 

CharmedPam

short+sassy said:

@CharmedPam, Now I'm picturing you as a little kid with a forensic kit and little magnifying glass to compare handwriting samples, lol.

"Parents!  I have conducted a DNA analysis from the bite left on one cookie.  It matches YOU, Dad.  Not Santa.  I demand explanations."

Haha!  This sugar cookie has a bite mark with a missing tooth indent - EXACTLY where your missing tooth is!

But who wants to expose they know the truth? Then the presents stop.

oh, I saw this yesterday and loved it:

VarunaTT

I'm definitely in a Bah Humbug spot; I'll try and keep it simmered down.  3 more days until 10 days off.

I think my parents tried the Santa thing with me, but my skepticism and love of detective stuff has always been a thing (thank you Encyclopedia Brown, Nancy Drew, Sherlock Holmes, and the Hardy Boys).  So, in one of our houses, my bedroom for some reason had 2 doors.  1 went into the living room and was hidden behind a curtain and a couch.  So, I opened it and snuck under the couch and watched b/c I wanted to see Santa.  I saw my parents of course.  I also didn't tell them for a long time that I saw them.  I also don't remember being upset, more like Ha!  I knew it!!

MyNameIsNot

I'm almost amazed at how quickly covid is escalating back up. I was supposed to see my BFF last night, but she's sick and was exposed, so that's out. It sucks how many people are vaccinated and even boosted and still getting it. My coworker in Europe told me this morning that France closed borders to the UK and Ireland is going back into a lock down. It almost feels like March 2020 again. 

Santa came to our house, but it wasn't a big emphasis. I think my parents didn't want gifts to completely take over the holiday. Like @flantastic, we did the St. Nick's day thing on the 6th, although we used our stockings rather than shoes. We usually got candy and little gifts (I remember it being Lisa Frank pens.) My parents aren't super creative magic types, but I remember that Santa always came while we were at midnight mass. (Maybe not creative, but they found a way to sleep in!) I do remember feeling pretty betrayed when I figured out that it was made up, though. If I'd had kids I would probably be in the boat with S&S's dad. 

banana468

MyNameIsNot said:

I'm almost amazed at how quickly covid is escalating back up. I was supposed to see my BFF last night, but she's sick and was exposed, so that's out. It sucks how many people are vaccinated and even boosted and still getting it. My coworker in Europe told me this morning that France closed borders to the UK and Ireland is going back into a lock down. It almost feels like March 2020 again. 

I'm curious if Omicron was really out and about last month in Europe too.  My cousin works here in the US for a German-based company and her comment was that she knew so many people who received the AZ vaccine who were getting Covid and getting sick.  Now it makes me curious if Omicron was plowing through the EU in late Oct/early Nov and now it's here a month later just like 2 years ago when it was rampant in Italy. 

climbingsingle

It really does feel like everyone in NYC has Covid. And now everyone in NJ. The urgent care near me has a 3-5 hour wait for testing. 

@missJeanLouise Santa played a pretty big part of our Xmastimes growing up. We wrote letters, left cookies out, visited the mall Santa every year. While we believed, we did get "big" gifts from Santa. I remember Nintendo one year, and bikes another year. I think my brother and I both stopped believing around age 10? 

Obviously I don't have kids, but if I did, I would plan on doing the same. I'm pretty sure my brother will be with this kids. 

flantastic

CharmedPam said:

short+sassy said:

@CharmedPam, Now I'm picturing you as a little kid with a forensic kit and little magnifying glass to compare handwriting samples, lol.

"Parents!  I have conducted a DNA analysis from the bite left on one cookie.  It matches YOU, Dad.  Not Santa.  I demand explanations."

Haha!  This sugar cookie has a bite mark with a missing tooth indent - EXACTLY where your missing tooth is!

But who wants to expose they know the truth? Then the presents stop.

oh, I saw this yesterday and loved it:

My youngest sister never admitted that she no longer believed in Santa, because she was the youngest, and exactly for this reason

MissKittyDanger

Fun story of when I was younger ...

At 9 I asked my mum if Easter Bunny & Santa were real.
My mum was extremely hesitant - I was a sensitive kid - but figured age, thought I was ready for the truth.
OH HO HO I WAS NOT!

I proceeded to sob for a solid 5mins.
My mum very quickly backtracked and said because I was getting older, Santa and Easter bunny needed to know.

I think I was about 11 or 12 when I officially stopped?
I kept up the game because my cousin is 7yrs younger than me.

ei34

The St. Nick December 6th tradition is new to me, it sounds nice.  I believed in Santa until an embarrassingly old age.  I think I was around 12 when I came to terms with him not being real.  I didn't feel lied to though.  We wrote letters to Santa, baked him cookies, my parents even dusted the bottom of my dad's chunky FDNY work boots with flour (or something white?) to make his footprints through the living room.  We weren't too Santa/gift-crazy though, we were pretty religious and the Nativity, lighting the Advent candles, mass attendance were definitely a larger part of the season.  We each received a couple of gifts from Santa and then a couple from my parents and relatives we wouldn't be seeing for the holiday, Santa's gifts were in their own separate wrapping paper.  

Kind of mirroring all of this ^ with my own kids, minus Santa's boot prints.  The kids even leave out carrots, cheerios and a bowl of water for the reindeer, lol.  The religious piece is important to me, we have a Mary on the Mantle in addition to an Elf on the Shelf.  I like that my kids can believe in something like Santa without seeing him, it's nice to have beliefs like that.  

UGH my district offers on-site Covid testing every Tuesday and I've went a few times (once when I had a cold, once when I felt fine but two of my kids had colds, the Tues before Thanksgiving..) so I thought I'd go today too, as a pre-Christmas PCR peace of mind test.  The testing has been for faculty and staff all year, but over the weekend the district announced that all members of the school community could now use it (so parents and students too).  The line has been out the door insane all day and I haven't been able to dash in between periods as I have in the past.  It's an extremely affluent district and not many families celebrate Christmas, so my coworkers told me that the line is full of parents telling each other where they're traveling to in a few days and that this is great, their airlines are requiring a test and a 40min wait here beats the current 4-5 hour wait at the local Urgent Care's.  Grr..I mean, glad that so many are getting tested but my coworkers and I just wish that teachers could flash their ID and cut the line.  Oh well...I'm not symptomatic or anything, just thought it'd be nice to be tested.

edit my post posted in italics for some reason, lol

MNNEBride

It has been a very crappy Tuesday thus far.  A co-worker is having overwhelming anxiety because of an aspect of work they have been asked to do.  I knew they weren't comfortable doing this but thought it was more of a "everyone gets nervous when they have to speak in front of a group" type of thing.  It's not.  I feel so badly for her.  She told us she is looking for another position because she can no longer deal with this.  

On a high point, my former supervisor reached out yesterday and asked me to consider a stretch assignment.  It would involve going to a site across the country for 2 months and training staff there.  I was flattered.  DH and I discussed and it won't work out for several reasons so I have declined.  There are BIG questions regarding why they need someone to do this but that's another thing all together.

I'm off tomorrow afternoon for some eye tests and Thursday to prep food for Christmas eve.  Working all next week as I took 2 weeks off at this time last year to move.  

Growing up, Santa was part of our Christmas but not the center of it.  We left cookies and a carrot out for Him and the reindeer.  He came while we were at Christmas eve worship service.  Mom was always late getting ready for church so dad would drive us around the neighborhood looking at Christmas lights.  We received one or two gifts from Santa and the rest were from Mom & Dad.  I'm the oldest sibling and most of my friends were the youngest in their families.  I came home at 10 or 11 and asked my Mom if Santa was real because my best friend's brother told us he wasn't.  She whisked me away to the laundry room and wouldn't answer me directly but told me NOT to say anything to my younger siblings.  I still got presents from Santa until we all grew out of it.  Mom wrapped presents in different paper and we each had special gift tags from Santa.  I still have mine and my Mom still puts it on a gift at Christmas (50+ yrs later)!

missJeanLouise

My experience was definitely more like @short+sassy . I never really cared about Santa or "how" it all happened. My favorite holiday traditions were going to the Nutcracker ballet, baking cookies, and seeing holiday lights. I don't remember learning he wasn't real, just gradually figured it out. To DH, on the other hand, apparently, Santa IS THE MAGIC. Knowing MIL it makes sense. He has a hard time understanding that not everyone grew up like him and that I don't automatically do the same traditions.

I definitely "believed" in the Easter Bunny longer than I did Santa. Santa I had all figured out and I COULD NOT figure out HOW my grandparents got the Easter baskets in the house while we were at church. Still to this day I don't really know how, maybe a neighbor? I didn't really believe in the magic bunny but I didn't know they did it, lol.

Eta: we always got a present or two from Santa but most were from my family. We visited him in the mall, sometimes left cookies for him, knew the stories. But we didn't write to him and he wasn't used as a behavior monitor.

levioosa

Santa was a big thing growing up for us. My parents went all out and I have fond memories. My dad used to make the carrots look like they’d been snacked on by a reindeer and would leave a cookie with a bite missing. One year he even left presents on the roof and said Santa must have forgotten to take them down the chimney. We were so excited. I remember the first time I thought “wait a minuteeee, this doesn’t add up.” I noticed Santa’s handwriting was suspiciously like Dad’s, and that’s when I connected the dots. I don’t remember how old I was, but I think I was around 8? We still get presents “from Santa” from my grandparents to this day, lol. 

Crazy day at work here. Im just trying to make it to Friday. I ended up taking Thursday off so I just have to make it through the rest of today, tomorrow, and then a half day on Friday. Im trying to debate if I should make a Costco run on Thursday while I’m off, or if that’s just too masochistic two days before Christmas. 

MissKittyDanger

Oh! As a Christmas question. M nor I did this, but we like the idea.
We're starting the idea of "Christmas box" for BK - I got her jammies and unfortunately all the xmas movies are sold out, so we're going to watch one in the afternoon on disney+ 
What else should I put in it? I know there's different takes of it.

MyNameIsNot

ei34 said:

The St. Nick December 6th tradition is new to me, it sounds nice.  

I'm not exactly sure where it originates from, maybe northern Europe? I know it comes from the feast day. 

We don't do any of it anymore, but I still have to have my decorations up by the 6th. 

charlotte989875

We had Santa but he wasn’t the star of the show. 

I adjusted my PTO so now I’m off until next year. I was planning to work a few days next week but I’m done. With Covid and the baby being sick and not getting to see people this weekend I’m ready to be done. I’ll probably log on and do some things but I’m done with meetings for the year. 

short+sassy

I'm surprised at all stories of leaving out carrots/veggies for the reindeer.  So cute!  I've never heard of that before.

MissKittyDanger

short+sassy said:

I'm surprised at all stories of leaving out carrots/veggies for the reindeer.  So cute!  I've never heard of that before.

It's apparently a "thing" but I did it "because they fly so much, they must get hungry. I can't leave them out"

mrsconn23

@charlotte989875-I was feeling this in my bones after after my 3rd Monday meeting in a row with my old man faux news loving co-worker talking to hear himself talk.  I'm hoping we don't have another meeting for at least a month because we're too busy with 1st quarter business.  I'm probably not going to be that lucky. 

charlotte989875

Yes @mrsconn23!! I’ve had so many meetings that included “I just had this thought” and no this isn’t the time for that. It’s the time to do and talk about exactly what needs to happen in the next week and a half and nothing else.