Jars, I know you are upset, but you do not want to fly if they are cosing airports. My father was a pilot for much of my life. Pilots like to fly -- if they don't want to be up in the air, you don't want to fly.

DH is not into Christmas. So I do more or less what I want to do. the hard part for me is I end up sending gifts to his family and my family. but that is the only pressure, so I can deal

I would have been terrified to , Connie

I second the usefulness of Tracfone (or similar services). We tend to go for a year's worth of service at a chunk. One year we ended up with a total of 800 (double minutes, plus some bonus because there was a special) minutes plus the year's service for $100. This year, I had only used 300 of those minutes. Even using the camera and emailing myself photos, which costs 2 1/2 minutes each (regular texts only cost 1/3 of a minute), that's not a heck of a lot of usage. So I bought the minimum package of 30 (which got doubled to 60) plus the year's service... I don't remember precisely what I paid, but it was no more than $70. Considering what some people pay for monthly cell service with way more features and minutes than I would ever dream of using, I consider that an excellent deal.

It's very handy to have in emergencies - I used it three times last night, when my car was stuck in some nasty, undriveable snow. I have also used it to call 911 to report cars stuck at the side of the road, possibly in distress, as well as once when I saw a driver deliberately run someone else off the road, and managed to get the license plate number. Daniel frequently uses his to let me know he has arrived in town safely from work, on his way home. Or calls me when he stops at a store in case there is something I want.

happy birthday to Shane!

Ooh, Happy Shane Day to all, and to all a good day!

I'm really not feeling the holiday spirit this year, and I'm feeling guilty about it because I really don't want to ruin it for everyone around me. There is so much left to do, and I am feeling incapable of doing it.

ION, I am watching Rachel Maddow's special from last night and she was talking to those directly affected by DADT about the Congressional vote, and I am getting all teary eyed.

Happy Birthday, Shane!!!

sj, take this year to figure out what you and teacup guy want to do together. I have friends that years ago decide that Christmas was just so crazy busy and pressured that they exchange gifts on NYE. The kids get there stuff on christmas, but they get a little time that is just them on NYE. In general , we don't do anything on Christmas day. We make phone calls, open presents, eat food. Other things can happen, ut there is no crazy running around

Yup, that's good advice. At first we did the familial thing, but once the SO & I started doing our own Christmas (sans kids) we decided to do what we wanted. So our own couple Christmas tradition is Chinese food. And probably pumpkin pie, because I have the pumpkin despite the feared pumpkin shortage.

beth, TCG feels obligated to do what the family expects of us, and, for the most part, I do too. This year has just felt especially crazy for me, mostly because of things that should be happy. Trying to get out wedding announcements and thank you notes while also trying to Christmas stuff done has been overwhelming for me. And, per usual, I'm not feeling well and am very low energy. I know what I really need to do is figure out what needs to be done and break it down into doable chunks as well as decide what just isn't necessary. These are two things that I am very bad at, unfortunately.

And wow that is a lot of memeing, sorry.