It's Schnookums, Kat! Forget if that's the proper spelling but yeah, those kitties are from Melody.
Yay for the book!!

I don't really care for the way the director pointed out that a single girl learned something so fast b/c it could've made the others feel less competent. It IS amazing but high schoolers can be mean little shits when they get jealous (or anything).
She sounds amazing. What percussion instrument does she play?

Kat has pinked out and Mieke is -

All of them :P They go back and forth switching places depending on the songs. So last night she played the bells, cymbals, bass drum, snare, uhh.. shakey thing I can never remember the name of, and some other stuff.

And I do see where you're coming from Taarna, but I don't think it was meant like that at all. And she's friends with the other band members, mostly from marching band and now jazz band, and they were cheering for her too. They're all a pretty tight knit group of kids :)

And Taarna, you're like a mix of the two of us... pink AND kitties! :P

That's good, Mieke. Seems like some groups have better comradery than others, for sure! That's so cool that she plays so many things!

I thought the same thing with Kat being in pink and you having kitties. <3

Oh, I have my car! Yesterday I was just too tired to post. TGIF!!

AHHH YAY FOR HAVING YOUR CAR BACK! IDK about there but here you really need one for anything, and I always feel so lost without one.

Yeah, it's a small school to begin with, and then with most of the kids doing the same groups and stuff, you get to know everyone else pretty well. And you can't really fight or argue or everyone in the world will know about it and force you to get along :P

I HATED not having a car!! So many things I missed out on over the summer and always having to struggle to get things done or work around my daughter's schedule to use her car. It was quite depressing, really. Spent too much money on food delivery, too. Now I feel like I gotta play catch up. 😔

That's true , but I still think recognition is a good thing 😊 Yay for having your car back!! Have you gone looking at lights yet?? Last day of school now I'm on break for two weeks! Yayyyyyyy Tho the week after Christmas I will be selling fireworks for the youth group. Pretty much another job, that is lol.

Seems like you were just selling fireworks, Kat!

Today Lily went to the movies with her friends, and so I took Elly and Iz to go see Encanto.

I cried like 3 times, it was pretty good!

I sell fireworks for 4th of July, last 2-ish weeks of June and til the 4th. Then again after Christmas for New Years lol

Spent all afternoon at the inlaws. Christmas dinner/gifts. Was nice. Sort of watched The Santa Clause and The Santa Claus 2 - parts of each anyway. Those are our traditional movies. And we added The Christmas Chronicles two years ago.

Never heard of that movie? Glad it was good.

It's the new Disney movie. :)

We watched The Santa Clause and Santa Clause 2 this week, too. I love Tim Allen for some reason, IDK why.

That sounds nice, Kat!

Almost finished Christmas shopping (irl not here). Some little bits left. Been to Walmart 3x in 2 days. And will be going again for those little bits. Also been to hobby lobby, and did grocery shopping at ingles. I'm pooped.

UUUGHH I missed the bathhouse yesterday. I had 93 days! grrrrrrr Missed Melody, also.

I can't stand how people start acting around this time of year - like they're stuff is the most important thing and they can't be bothered to have some common courtesy. The stores are a madhouse. I'm mostly done w/ shopping but I only have one more thing to pick up for the youngest grandson and then some food stuffs for Christmas.

Haven't watched any holiday movies.

Aww oh no! I hate when I miss melody! Ugh on the bathhouse streak!! I'm at 75 days.

Yes the stores get Insane. Which is why I usually go super early, like before 8am. Good thing I'm a morning person lol. It's much calmer then.

Your avatar is super adorable!!!!

Ohh yes, love the mornings. So peaceful.

Thank you!

Dentist apt this morning. Routine cleaning. Will probably make my trip to Walmart after that. Then Nathan has a friend coming over and they are going to dye his hair blue. Then I may talk them into making easy fudge and Christmas chex mix with me.

You found a fairy while making a post! I also got a forum point yesterday for a post....

I bought a bunch of fairies and now have freed like 400something of the 1000. But haven't found maybe 15 so far this year.

I've gotten no FP's and all the fairies, lol. Driving me nuts.

Wish someone would make ME some Christmas chex mix, lol. Sounds yummy.

[edit] You found a fairy while making a post!

Of course.

I want that dress IRL! And ugh about the bathhouse and melody. :(

Sounds busy, Kat!

Yesterday.. I may have had a slight breakdown. My mom died on Christmas Eve last year, and my brother, stepdad and Aunt keep calling me and are like "I don't know if I'll ever celebrate Christmas again, blah blah blah blah blah everything is awful" and it just really started weighing on me.

Plus, I won't lie, the last few weeks I've just been.. blah. My grandpa, uncle, nana and then my mom died all pretty close together.. grandpa and uncle a few weeks apart a few years ago, then my nana and mom last year. It's just like.. everyone is dead or gone now, and there's no one else who cares about any of the traditions.

And then the girls couldn't be bothered to help me with anything, etc. BUT THEN I also felt bad because like.. we bought my grandparents house. This is the house I grew up in. So walking up or down the stairs and them not being wrapped in garland was getting me down and sad every time and. IDK. I was just a mess LOL.

Then yesterday Alex went and dug out garland, and the star for our Christmas tree, and he put the star on and light everything, and started hanging garland and called me to help and honestly.. even that little bit just really helped.

IDK. I'm a mess. Everyone is a mess. I'm trying to get into the Christmas spirit.

BUT ANYWAY. That helped. And then we did Sunday dinner at my sister in laws house for her annual cookie decorating party.. in which I mostly was stuck in the cookie decorating room with the 8 year olds but it was fine, the three of them were having a great time! Isabelle and Darren especially, they must have done 20 cookies each. The four big girls did some too, and they had fun but.. Darren and Iz took ages making sure everything was perfect on theirs. IDK. it was cute. We were missing the other two but by the time their Dad dropped them off, we were leaving because it was bed and chore time.

Today that SiL and I are doing some grocery and last minute present shopping (to make up for everything that got lost in the mail!), and I'm picking up groceries and making a stocking for my brother, and I'll drop those off at his apartment, since he'll be alone on Christmas Eve and Christmas (Which I ALSO feel awful and guilty about, but like.. not enough to be driving an hour away there and back in the midst of everything else crazy, and he doesn't go to church, and can't be left here alone but.. IDK. At least I can do SOMETHING for him to hopefully make it not completely awful!).

Phew. Free therapy, I guess? :P

Hey - You don't have to worry about trying to get in the holiday spirit. It's OK to feel weighed down by all that stuff. Of course having people to support you through it would be more ideal but I don't think you would hurt anyone's feelings by just being down. I was pretty depressed for quite some time after my dad passed in January of 2019. We spent Thanksgiving and Christmas with him at his house which was both awesome and incredibly sad.
I'm very sorry you've lost so many. I would so give you a big ole hug if I was around you right now, and maybe even cry with you over our losses. Holidays can really suck like that so don't feel bad about it. Let yourself feel what you're feeling and then take a look around and what you still have and know that even though they aren't physically around, they're still with you. <3

But here's the thing. I was feeling OK, if a bit nostalgic. But then everyone else dumped all their feelings on me and then I felt bad for feeling okay and then SPIRAL. :P

Christmas is my favorite holiday because of all the nostalgia and family traditions. Alex's family doesn't really have many, and they've adopted a bunch of ours. Like, they always have queso on Christmas Eve now, because that's one of the things my aunt ALWAYS made (because it was my favorite!).

Everyone gets dressed up on Christmas Eve (because church), and then wears pajamas all day on Christmas. I love that Christmas isn't Christmas without french toast, even though it's not my grandpa making it anymore, it's Alex. (And it was Alex for a year or two before he died, too). I love the ornaments on the tree, some that belonged to my stepdads Mom, some that were my moms, that she made when we were little, some that were my Nanas, including some she brought back from Holland with her when she moved here. Some that I made when I was little, and a bunch that the girls made. Like.. that's all happy stuff, to me.

But Christmas in general is making other people miserable.. which like, I get that too, because it's hard to be happy when you think of people sometimes, especially if you didn't have a good relationship.

IDK. I think I just need to forcus more on not answering the phone and letting other peoples emotions get to me :P Plus, I don't want to ruin Christmas for the girls for the rest of their lives, you know? I don't want them to associate Christmas with sad feelings and depression instead of family and memories.

Ahhhh but thank you, and I'll appreciate the ghost hug, anyway! <3<3<3<3

That's very true about letting them be in their feelings and not dragging you down. Positive people tend to draw the negative ones towards them like a vampire - they're energy vampires. Don't let them feed on you.

I love traditions, even if my family has never really had any. My ex husband's family did and I loved being a part of that. I'm with someone now that I hope to make some traditions with, and I think starting out with a PJ day sounds awesome! :D

Sorry I misunderstood you. I thought you were feeling blah as a result of thinking of those who are no longer around and was trying to be the positive one around the others who were feeling that way. I was one of those people last year and I got aggravated when s/one tried to cheer me up. I just wanted to stay in my misery but also not want to drag anyone else into it.

The only thing I don't like about Christmas is stressing over how much money I have for presents, lol.

[edit] Here's your hug, Mieke

Omg hahaha that cat hug is awesome!!! That will help bring cheer. Aww Mieke and taarna too, it's hard to lose someone but especially around the holidays.Hugs. I think kids help bring you out of the sadness, if you know what I mean? You move on, sort of, to keep things normal for them, and to carry on traditions with them. I've been a little blah this year myself, I haven't even listened to my favorite Christmas songs until today. My kids are so grown they aren't here to do some of the traditional things and the one that is here just shrugs if I suggest doing.... We used to always make sugar cookies and frost them (cut out ones) and didn't last year or this year. It looked like you had a blast with the 8yr olds doing that!!! We would eat ours with hot cocoa while watching the Grinch cartoon. Last night me and Nathan did watch dolly parton's smokey mountain Christmas, well part of it. I fell asleep cuz he came out so late to start watching. We ate popcorn from the Christmas popcorn tin (also a tradition to get at least one of those! Lol)

Found another fairy hahaha

Also, traditions a are good and fun, as long as you enjoy them. I'm trying to make sure not to drag someone into doing something they don't want to do, myself. Which is part of what's blah-ing me out. But for me it was doing with them that made it fun. So I don't want to just do it on my own....you know?