I did what I was unable to do for years which was to get over it and reach out to mac to get him out of his mood and also not snap or freak out my parents.

Aww, that's great. May Christmas be even better.

We are back from the extended family dinner at the daughter of my Dad's ladylove's. (There's no better way to structure that sentence, is there?) Anyway, lots of food, excellent snarky company, and Dad's ladylove delights in telling me things he "forgets" to mention.

Love and hugs to all who need/want them here. You are all lovely, compassionate people, and I am very, very happy to call you friends and fellow misfits.

Keep on keeping on, my dears. May we be lights in the darkness and shoulders for each other to lean on for many years to come.

Oh, Karl, that's so sweet.

Somehow I ended up doing a lot more work than I planned for this dinner. My sister & I have had it wired in the past, but without her there, it was just a bit more clunky. Also my turkey, for reasons of its own, cooked in half the time I expected. So it was done at 1 PM for a dinner that was to start at 4. WTF.

Everything turned out okay anyway, as it usually does. And i have leftover turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes, and gravy, and quite a lot of good pie. I shall have to go for a longass hike tomorrow to burn all this off.

Now I am home listening to classical music and resting peacefully. I love my family but I'm grateful for a home of my own.

Karl, I nominate this

Keep on keeping on, my dears. May we be lights in the darkness and shoulders for each other to lean on for many years to come.

I am sorry to hear about loved ones who say terrible things. It comes from a twisted up place, I think.

Two years sober and the brushing of hair daily is something to be proud of. Much effort has gone into that progress. I salute you.

In other news I have stuffed myself with goodies and spent another Thanksgiving with the folks.

I am very happy that DH's brother is NOT staying on the couch tonight because he does not shower often enough to please me. There would have been a lot of laundry erasing the memory of that visit. No doubt I am petty about B.O., but jeez dude. It's not like you have to hike a mile to the river and chop a hole through the ice to get water.

I am having cranberry relish this morning for breakfast, AIFG!

Alls well that ends well I guess. I can pull mac out of a mood (that I presumably put him into) faster than anyone else in the family and he gives me the smiles.

That is huge. Things went well with the boys being here for Thanksgiving. They both helped me cook and clean up, and they played basketball together and showed each other various memes on their phones. They are so different and have every sibling stereotypical conflict imaginable. It may help that they don't see each other as often. I did pointedly ask grandma to try and not ask #1 son so many "what the hell are you doing with your life" questions. He is 25 and knows by now what grandma's hopes and dreams for him include. All in all it was a delightful day.

From this twitter thread: Please show me pictures of weird stuff in your parents house, I think we have a successor to Belinda: [link]

At least it's traded those cymbals it was killing everyone with in the Stephen King story for a banana, which is presumably less dangerous.

I'm sorry your friend was an asshat, Strix.

I had pie for breakfast, and my tree is up (if not decorated). So I'm calling today a success. Also, the green extension cord thing I got to plug my tree lights into (I can't plug one set into the next) has a hook on the end that fits my artificial tree limbs perfectly. I was planning on MacGyvering something with wire, and now I don't have to. I love it when commercial design actually makes things easier than expected. And I also love that my spell check accepts "MacGyvering" as a word.

Sparky, so sorry about your uncle. Sending all the hugs to everyone, esp. your mom.

Strix, what everyone said. The work you've done and the person you are now isn't hers to knock down.

Sick & exhausted here. Yuck.