Sunday Thoughts, December 7, 2025

      It was a slow day again today. I decided to do online church. We got just enough snow again to shovel driveway and sidewalk but not enough for plows so side streets will be lousy. I'm hoping they get out tomorrow early with scraping and sand. I watched the Vikings finally win with a healthy team. I read my book for tomorrows book club. I think all the gifts I've ordered have come and did a bit more online shopping today to just about finish.I will get anything else done this week and go into next weekend in wrapping mode. 

     I've had to come up with ways to use up a massive package of ham ends and slices I thawed. I made an egg bake, ham and pea salad, and bean and ham soup. There's pieces left for my son to make a few sandwiches and I'll see my youngest  so she'll get a leftovers care package.

     I'm thinking about a friend who's struggling with anxiety. My daughter's having a hard month too. I'm reading about so many people that just are not in good places this month, this holiday season in particular. In all the season of joy that comes with December, heartache, loss, grief, financial strain, and all the expectations even if self imposed, stir up tension, stress, and worrying thoughts, as well as loneliness and feelings of being left behind. I wish I could help them better. I struggle myself, but have found enough coping strategies to make it over hurdles before I feel physically ill. I just want to have a calm and kind December and then get through January to see glimmers of increased light. 

Last months Northern Lights. 

Comments

  1. BelindaDecember 8, 2025 at 5:16 AM

    You did so well using up that ham. I like to grind it up in my food processor for ham salad or Mexican pinwheels, which is ham, black olives, and cream cheese. Mixed well and spread on a wrap, it’s delicious. I hope they get your secondary roads plowed and sanded so you can get out. I would have stayed home for that reason too.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. SAMDecember 9, 2025 at 7:30 AM

      That was on my list but I worked my way through the ham. More snow last night and more coming. December has been a lot already.

      Delete
  2. AnonymousDecember 8, 2025 at 8:16 AM

    This time of year can be hard for so many people. I try to not let expectations get in the way, but much easier to do when you are not grieving or trying to juggle bills or health crisis, etc.

    Only Sam & I will really eat ham, so we rarely have it, but I do enjoy it. I'm curious to see how Nick's palate has expanded in college. He's doing fine & not eating many meals out (Chipotle is a go to for him when he does eat out), but the dining halls must have plenty of options! - Hawaii Planner

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. SAMDecember 9, 2025 at 7:31 AM

      Dining halls are not the ones of my college years. Endless choices and great salad and sandwich bars if nothing else. I do like ham but glad to be done with this as they'll be more at Christmas.

      Delete
  3. Linda's Relaxing LairDecember 8, 2025 at 4:12 PM

    The photo is beautiful! So nice you managed to use up the ham! Warm greetings from Montreal, Canada.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. SAMDecember 9, 2025 at 7:32 AM

      Several ham dishes and now we need a break from it as it'll be part of Christmas too.

      Delete
  4. GinaDecember 8, 2025 at 6:43 PM

    I'm with you!~ I think we are told we need to be jolly and merry in December, but that's not how life's calendar works. I'm sure anxiety runs higher than normal during the holidays.. A good thing for ham is ham salad where you grind it up, then mix with relish and mayo. So good!!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. SAMDecember 9, 2025 at 7:34 AM

      I'm not a fan of the ground ham texture, but will use it finely chopped. I just try to get through until after the anniversary of my husband's death in January by pushing my own emotions down in order to try and keep others uplifted and enjoying the season. I'd really like to run away too.

      Delete
  5. AprilDecember 8, 2025 at 7:16 PM

    I agree that there is so much pressure to be JOLLY and MERRY and everything else this time of year. And that is without other overlays of anxiety, health issues, financial worries...in short, life. Don't get me wrong: jolly and merry are fine feelings IF that is how a person feels. But it shouldn't be demanded of anyone.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. SAMDecember 9, 2025 at 7:35 AM

      I tend to push my real emotion down to not hurt others. But, I'm good at faking merry.

      Delete

Post a Comment

If you comment anonymously, it'd be nice to have a name to go with the comment. It helps me string other people's comments and therefore their experiences together.

Popular posts from this blog

It's Worse Than I Imagined

      The shit show since January 20th has been a big reason for my reclusiveness the last few weeks. Let the comments fly. Create a crisis. Lie that you resolved it. Get your sycophants to suck it all up. Rinse. Repeat...for four F' ing years.  Oh, and let's shout, "but her emails" while a foreign oligarch is raiding our private personal data with his hoard of teenagers. Let's pardon January 6th criminals, several of which immediately committed additional crimes.  I said it was going to be my only political post election post but man, it's even worse than I could have imagined.
Read more

So Very Tired

      Apologies to Michb as I think I deleted her comment from my last post. I've never read anything but kindness from you, so please know the lost comment was not intended. I'm just really tired- who knows if others were deleted too. Any supportive comments are appreciated, though likely won't be discussing my in-laws in my blog much in the future. It's not fair for me to write about them or have any expectations.      We think the raccoon issue is resolved, but not before yet another call. It's not cheap to have critter incursions resolved. I was lamenting to my son that maybe I shouldn't try and keep the house. He's a help of course, but this isn't his long term plan, or quite frankly intermediary plan. His response was that yes, it is a lot of house and property to take care. He knows my husband handled the bulk of house maintenance and outside care. My son's been a city living apartment dweller since his junior year of college. He'll be a c...
Read more

Cancelled

      Twice Friday I was notified of cancellations. First, my original flight to Athens in March was cancelled and they rescheduled...two days later!What for the sake of Pete is that crappy rescheduling?  Sure, I want to fly  and sit in layovers for 17 hours just to lose two days of my vacation. I rejected that reschedule obviously my. Lots of back and forth with options presented with multiple four+ hour layovers, and eventually landed on one that diggers by about four hours total from the original, but is a 2-stop. I kept reminding myself the journey is part of the opportunity and round trip tickets to Greece from Minnesota for $600 are about as low as a person can find. This was why I bought my Kindle as to do more and frequent travel, I'll have to exchange time, lots of layover time, for money.      Then, several hours later, as I'm checking for updates on the flight, I got notification of another cancellation. This one was for that bloggers c...
Read more