Humans. Where is my snow?

My <1 year old nephew nearly choked to death on a nerf dart. He briefly went unresponsive before the ambulance got there and would probably be dead if both his parents didn’t have medical training.

So I guess it’s not ruined in that he’s still alive and probably okay (still waiting to see if he aspirated anything), but it’s not how you want to spend Christmas! Especially the older siblings watching all this happen.

No one, can you believe that?

Not ruined, but pretty fucking annoying. In laws came for a few weeks to visit for the holidays. We don’t see them as much as we’d like, and its nice. But MIL wants to include her sister too - the deadbeat aunt-in-law boomer who still can’t get her shit together for over 70 years. Whatever - we tolerate it.

Except she fucking shows up sicker than a dog and is hacking non stop. You know the kind of coughs where you can hear gallons of snot being coughed up - ya that. Wtf - I give it one week and we’ll all be miserable with that exact cold/flu/covid whatever the fuck it is. Fucking loser boomer bitch who thinks of nothing but herself. Sigh.

Gaza (with the IDF nearly expanding into Syria) reduced my Christmas spirit to 10⁻⁷ well before today. A second cold in the season (with distinct symptoms different from the first) kept me from the family dinner today.

But my wife was dismissed from a 13-year job as an chief administrator of a medium sized general contractor, having been the boss’ personal assistant above her office duties. He retired, and the new exec is cleaning house (and is making some bad management decisions). So ours is going to be an It’s a Wonderful Life Christmas until we know what our future looks like, and whether we get the good ending or the bad ending.

Update 2023-12-27 Today my wife was hired. It’s a significant pay cut, but it’s working for a nonprofit she believes in serving a good cause (which is way better than the cutthroat construction industry). I anticipate she’ll be happy there and all that’s left to work out is how we’re going to pay a few more bills. So, we’re headed for the good ending.

I paid for my entire family to go to see the Grand Canyon for Christmas. 11 of us in total, rented a big house and a van and we were going to drive all together for fifteen hours. Fly down early to spend time with my mom and she gave me Covid. She has been sick for a couple weeks and didn’t take a test.

She is a nurse.

What ‘ruined’ Christmas this year was having to go home and spend it with my parents, one of whom is bedridden and non responsive from Alzheimers. It’s more akin to a wake where everyone is focused on someone who is dead and there’s little joy to be had. I’ve been doing it now for 5 years and there’s no sign that it will end soon.

It is incredibly stressful and morose. Christmas isn’t really joyful anymore because Mom could die at any time. The worst part of it is that all of us recognize that she’s suffering and so are we, but the government won’t allow any other outcome.

Still, the family shows up and puts in the work for caring for her for many reasons, the least of which is that she raised us for almost 20 years. She was a wonderful person and she’s owed that, bottom line. It is uplifting in a way because we come together and work together for a purpose and while it’s hard and sad, we’ve bonded over it nonetheless.

But… what kind of Christmas will we have once she’s gone?

Nothing did, I had a good Christmas :)

Mother-in-law’s Adderall addiction and years-neglected mental health issues

Might shake things up enough for some meaningful change to finally happen tho, so 🤷‍♂️

My disabled brother said every horrible thing possible to my brother in law and got sent home and basically kicked out for life. I knew better than to go to Ohio. Nothing good happens there. I had a pleasant violence free dinner and did not have to relive my childhood trauma this year. My uncle didn’t even drop a n-bomb at dinner this year.

Disneyland was charging $1850 for five people for one day at Disneyland and one day at California Adventure, genie plus (some kind of fast pass replacement), and then has the gall to make some rides ineligible for the genie plus and instead you have to pay $28 a head for the fast pass. Why can’t we just wait in line? Why did the mouse feel the need to monetize every single interaction in the whole park? As great as the design is in Disneyland, definitely left a sour taste in my mouth knowing that a poor family has an objectively worse experience than a rich one, especially on Christmas. Some rides had a 90, 120 minute wait.

my catboy porn addiction and autism

I had a pretty good holiday, although, I found out that my little friend group at school are really conservative Christians and apparently they still support Trump.

Being old and depressed

Have been working so I could take vacation time for end of year. Finally was here on the 19th. The next evening we took the kids to see Santa for pictures and to let them tell him what they wanted for Christmas.

Old guy sounded off. Weak voice and raspy. Ok well he’s old and a bit large, whatever. Only thing we had planned for the week going out was that. There and home which was good.

Next evening wife says she feels off and starts coughing a bit. Wake up to all of us having fevers. By the 22nd she started losing taste so we test and yup ol Saint Nick gave us an early COVID present to the whole family. I got it last so I’m still unable to taste.

Not sure I had get the Rona from a boomer store Santa on my 2023 Bingo card but there ya go.