Christmas Season 2025/2026 -The Fifth Day of Christmas:

 Monday, December 29, 2025

I'm still sick. Krumkake helped me feel a little better. Mom showing some improvement today from yesterday made me feel a LOT better. I was too sick to go to the hospital but Dlae was able to go visit. Although she's still experiencing some pain she was more lucid and in better spirits. I talked to Sam, Becky, and Pete today about how she's doing. 

Lot's of lying around today. Didn't have energy to do much else. Contacting Sam and Pete and some of Mom's friends were my big accomplishments. Watched Rudolph.  I've seen this a GA-zillion times but there was something about the nostalgia and familiarity of it that was incredibly comforting. OK, so the gender roles in this thing are glaringly stereotypical and outdated (at least for people of a non-fundamentalist stripe). However, that said, I knew exactly what was going to happen. With all the chaos around being sick and Mom faltering it was nice to experience something that would bring NO surprises!! My brain just wasn't in a place to handle ANY twists or turns...

I also have a copy of the Rudolph book I had as a kid. The text is stilted but the pictures by Richard Scarry are very charming. 

Sylvester spent a lot of time with me today. I don't think he has any idea of what and emotional support he is. I appreciate him helping to regulate me.

Finished Lady Ferry, a ghost story for Christmas illustrated by Seth, this morning. I really enjoyed it. According to the teaser on the back of the book: "When Marcia is sent to stay with relatives, she's drawn to their houseguest, Lady Ferry: a mysterious old woman who wanders the gardens, with an impossibly long memory. Everyone has rumours to share, and Marcia soon wonders if Lady Ferry is cursed to live forever - or if she's even alive at all." I'd like to think she was a ghost. The story did a good job of conveying how old memories can be longingly fond but also rather nostalgic with a wiff of meloncholy.