Christmas Season 2025/2026 -The Ninth Day of Christmas: Mom, Old Fashioned, and Kylie

 Friday, January 2, 2026

Finally starting to feel well enough that I'll be able to see Mom tomorrow. She had a tough day emotionally although she's making lots of improvement physially. This whole thing is just emotionally draining for her. 

Dale got home from the hospital around 2:00 pm and we were both starving. We went to The Lowbrow and I ordered an Old Fashioned, my first cocktail in a while. 

Listened to Kylie when I got home. 

Christmas Season 2025/2026 -The Eighth Day of Christmas: New Year's Day

 Thursday, January 1, 2026

Happy New Year. I gave up a long time ago saying the new year couldn't possibly worse than the last one. Maybe someday I'll be pleasantly surprised. I guess I could say the silver lining to 2025 is that I along with millions of other Americans started to push back against bullshit in a way we hadn't before. I'm planning on more of that for 2026. 

Read a version of The Night Before Christmas from my childhood. The illustrations are charming. The verse is lilting and rhythmic and its familiarity is comforting. 

Still not well enough to visit Mom in the hospital. Dale said she was feeling and looking much better. They'll be getting the ball rolling soon to get her set up for a transitional care unit. Looks like she won't be discharged until Sunday. We'll know more soon. 

Christmas Season 2025/2026 -The Seventh Day of Christmas: New Year's Eve

 Wednesday, December 31, 2025

Mom's doing marginally better. Her spirits are up. I'm hoping I'll be well enough in a couple day to visit her. Listened to the Carpenter's today. Comforting, nostalgic, familiar. Exactly what I need. 

Speaking of comforting. 

Since I'm sick I've been in my robe since Sunday afternoon. Actually got dressed today and put on my boots to be extra dressy for New Year's Eve. 

Quiche for dinner. This is the most low key NYE we've ever had. I'm exhausted from being sick and we've both been dealing with Mom being in the hospital. Today Dale visited her on his own due to my illness. She's maintaining and making respiratory progress slowly and steadily. PT came to visit her today and gingerly had her sit up and slide her legs off the side of the bed. It was taxing for her and she ended up nauseated and her blood pressure dropped so that's as much as she could do today. She was very upset that she could not do more, recognizing that progress is going to be slow and incremental. Otherwise once she got comfortable again, Dale had a nice conversation with her and her spirits perked up a bit - even got her to laugh a little. 

We were planning to spend tonight with Mike and Charisse and couldn't cuz, well, I'm sick. This was 2015.

Happy New Year!

Christmas Season 2025/2026 -The Sixth Day of Christmas: Gingerbread Man, Ghost Story, Pizzelles

 Tuesday, December 30, 2025

Moving through the package of gingerbread men I bought last week. They are delicious. Soft rather than crunchy and not overly sweet. 

Finished The Mistress In Black, a ghost story for Christmas illustrated by Seth, this morning. I really enjoyed it. According to the teaser on the back of the book: "From the moment Miss Anderson begins her new teaching job, she encounters ghostly figures and a strange scent of smoke. Whispers of arson and murder circulate among the staff, but Miss Anderson soon discovers there might be more to the tragic story of the women in black." Most of these old ghost stories I read from this series aren't overly scary but more subtly so. They're well written and atmospheric and mysterious. They can also sometimes convey a sense of sadness and melancholy like The Mistress In Black.  

Dale and I finished off the pizzelles tonight. 

Mom's maintaining in the hospital. I so sick I can't go see her and it breaks my heart. 

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.

Christmas Season 2025/2026 -The Fourth Day of Christmas: Pumpkin Pie

 Sunday, December 28, 2025

Not feeling well at all today. I've got a cold or the flu and I'm worried about Mom. 

Dale made me dinner and brought me some pumpkin pie. 

Christmas Season 2025/2026 -The Fourth Day of Christmas: Mom

 Sunday, December 28, 2025

Got this text this morning. The Apple Watch sends it automatically. 

Dale summed up what happened next in a text to his mom and Dianne. 

This is all so concerning. Not only is she dealing with broken bones but she's got the flue and possibly pneumonia on top of it. All of that said, at least she had that Apple Watch.