The Eve Of The Eve Of Christmas 2025

This week my area is having a stretch of unseasonably warm weather. Instead of a white Christmas, people in the St. Louis area will be ditching their heavy coats in favor of lightweight jackets. Today was forecast to be in the mid-60s°F, so Hubby Tony and I decided to take advantage of today's lovely temperature by combining errands with outside time.

Over the weekend we had a FaceTime call with Son Brian and family. During the call Grandson Jay told us he was doing a school report on ex-Cardinal baseball player Ozzie Smith (who played in the 1980s) and asked if Grandpa had any books about him. Tony did not, but yesterday he found out a nearby used bookstore did and put the book on hold to pick up today. 

By the time we left the condo a little after 9 am the temperature was already in the 50s. I was wearing jeans, a long sleeve shirt, and a fleece jacket. Tony was dressed in a similar fashion. We got to the bookstore a half hour before it opened, and used the time to walk on a nearby greenway. Halfway through the walk we both took off our jackets. 

Back at the bookstore, the associates were so helpful I wished it was closer to my house so I could shop there regularly. On the way out we ran into a woman who was setting up a gift wrapping station at the front of the store. She had her golden retriever with her, who she described as her assistant. The dog was so friendly I bet he got a lot of attention from customers.

Our second destination was a kosher bagel shop a half mile away, where we would pick up breakfast for Christmas morning. This time both Tony and I left our jackets in the car and we started walking. Halfway through this one I rolled my sleeves up and wished I had on capris instead of jeans.

Public Domain Pictures

Tony and I each ordered a bagel-Everything for him and Tzitzel (a St. Louis specialty which is tossed in cornmeal for a nice crunch) for me. By this time we were both hungry, so we added a Churro bagel to share today. The churro bagels were still in the oven, so while we were waiting we had a nice conversation with a woman who was doing the same thing. I learned that if I ever get back to that shop I should definitely have schmear of whitefish salad, which she said was the best she had ever tasted.

By the time we got back to the car my feet told me they were finished walking for the day. In theory, we could have run a third errand on the way home, but I was excited to get back to the condo and open up a couple of windows to let fresh air in.

Five years ago: The Countdown Begins 

The Holidays Are Everywhere

I enjoyed being on the road behind this vehicle decked out in lights

Whoever came up with the idea this 'tree' at the hardware store was quite creative.

The sign says "Merry Christmas neighbors. Enjoy a sweet from the candy cane giving tree".

 

 

Before I went to bed last night I took a photo of our tree in the dark living room. I like the way the lights showed up on the wall.

Five years ago: Nice, And Easy Too

Incidently Learning

Earlier this month I thrifted a comfortable red sweater for the holidays.

Before the first wearing I gave it a rinse and spin in the washer, but after several uses it was ready for a good wash. There were no written laundry instructions anywhere, just a handful of symbols that I needed to decode. It was time to go on an Internet hunt.

The Tide website told me that I could machine wash the sweater in warm water with no bleach and iron on a high temperature, but it did not tell me what the last symbol meant. On the Wunderlabel site, it added that the 30-degee Celsius water temperature could be interpreted as cold water (between 65-85 degrees), agreed about no bleach and the ironing temperatures, and said that the circled P meant it could be dry cleaned with any solvent except trichloroethylene. The Clorox site agreed. However, none of the sites talked about how to dry the item.

I kept looking, but never found the information. However, I did learn something cool.

I knew about the little 'Info' button (an 'i' in a circle) at the bottom of  my phone's Photo app. It gives the photo metadata, but somewhere along the line it also turned into a Visual Look Up feature. In this case, looking up the symbol information pulled up Siri AI. Sadly, not even Sire supplied the information I was looking for, so I will end up laying the sweater flat to dry.

I only paid four dollars for the sweater, so I will be sad if the washing information is incorrect but not crushed.

Five years ago: Almost Like The Real Thing

"Buy" Charity

Earlier in the month Hubby Tony and I were walking at the mall close to my house and found three large vending machines had been set up on the second level. Because they've been there before I knew exactly what was going on.

The Light the World Giving Machines are a ministry of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. The machines are stocked with cardboard signs that list requested items for seven different charities (five local, two international). Some of the items are tangible, like a car seat for a newborn. Some are intangible, like meals for veterans.

The cost of the items ranged from less than $25 to almost $100. When you 'buy' something the cardboard sign falls down to the floor of the machine, and at the end of the day a volunteer tallies up everything so it can be donated to the organization. The Church covers the machine costs (and even the credit card processing fee, if necessary), so 100% of funds go to the nonprofits.

I usually don't bring my purse into the mall when I'm walking. Last year Tony and I talked about making a donation, but never took action. This year I was determined not to let that happen. Today I carried my charge card in my jacket pocket and headed straight toward the vending machines.

There were volunteers to help people through the process, but the whole thing was pretty intuitive. After looking over the items I made my choice, keyed in the number on the machine keypad, then scanned my credit card. The key pad asked me if I would also like to cover the credit card processing fee, and then asked if I would like my receipt via a QR code, text, or email.

When I was all done I had the option to have a photo taken in front of a backdrop. I did, but the result was not share-worthy. Probably just as well.

Five years ago: The Numbers Don't Lie

Carols By Another Name

Today has been about trying to wrap up Christmas shopping and getting outside to enjoy great above-average temperatures. 

While I'm out and about, here's a Christmas quiz. I've given you a list of alternate titles for well-known carols. How many of the correct names can you figure out? (Answers at the bottom, but no peeking allowed!)

1. Yonder in a Hay Rack
2. I Spied My Maternal Parent Osculating
3. Cherubim Audited from Aloft
4. Assemble, All Ye Who Believe
5. Dozen 24 Hour Yuletide Periods
6. Befell During the Transparent Bewitching Hour
7. Hallowed Post Twilight
8. Adorn the Vestibule
9. Desire Only a Pair of Incisors on December 25th
10. Minuscule Hamlet in the near East
11. Eight P.M. until Six A.M. without Noise
12. Shiny Tintinnabulations
13. Exuberance Directed to the Planet
14. Homosapien of Crystallized Vapor
15. Ancient Benevolent Despot
16. Quadruped with Crimson Proboscis
17. Listen, Aerial Spirits Are Announcing
18. Fantasia of a Colorless December 25th
19. Perambulating Through a December Solstice Fantasy
20. Trio of Monarchs

Answers..........

1. Away in a Manger
2. I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus
3. Angels We Have Heard on High
4. Oh Come All Ye Faithful
5. The 12 Days of Christmas
6. It Came Upon a Midnight Clear
7. O Holy Night
8. Deck the Halls
9. All I Want for Christmas is My Two Front Teeth
10. O Little Town of Bethlehem
11. Silent Night
12. Silver Bells
13. Joy to the World
14. Frosty the Snowman
15. Good King Wenceslaus
16. Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer
17. Hark the Herald Angels Sing
18. I'm Dreaming of a White Christmas
19. Walking in a Winter Wonderland
20. We Three Kings

Five years ago: Free License

Tis The Season.....

This is the season of celebrations. This week and next week, every organization Hubby Tony and I are involved with has some type of get together involving food. This week's fun:

• Tuesday evening we attended a pot luck. (I brought a savory pumpkin casserole with pureed pumpkin, onion, garlic, cumin, yogurt, and feta cheese, all topped with chopped walnuts. There was a lot of food, and I brought home what didn't get eaten.)

• Thursday was a catered dinner, but members of the organization were encouraged to bring an appetizer or dessert. (Tony picked up a bowl of cut fruit from the grocery store. Much of it came home.) 

• Friday morning was a another pot luck for me. (I brought a container of fancy mixed nuts. Again, lots to bring home.)

Friday night we had the opportunity to attend a special Our Lady of Guadalupe procession/mass/dinner but neither one of us was up for another event. Instead, I used some of the leftovers in my refrigerator, added a couple of new ingredients, and came up with a meal. It didn't look like much, but was tasty and filling.

First came a layer of polenta

Followed by a scoop of pumpkin casserole

And several spoonfuls of semi-pureed black beans

The dish was topped with a generous serving of off-brand Tabasco sauce. Just because.

Five years ago: An Enjoyable Way To Get In The Day's Steps

The Cavorting Kitty

Foster Cat Smokey Joe came to our house last month with a slight leg injury. The vet eventually determined there was no obvious physical issue, diagnosed him with a 'soft tissue injury', and sent him home with some pain medicine to be used as needed

The medicine had an almost immediate effect. Soon the cat was zooming from one end of the condo to the other and hunting/attacking his toys with a vengeance. The other day, instead of running around the couch to quickly reach the other side of the room he jumped over it-barely stopping at the top.

As much as I enjoy watching Smokey Joe in action, his new physicality has led to one tiny issue. I had already gotten used to not having lap space to put my laptop on, and did any important work at my desk in the office. Now the cat can also jump up there and demand my attention. 

How can I get any work done?

Five years ago: Don't Dawdle?

A Couple Of Coincidences

I was chatting with the woman next to me before my Pilates class started this morning. I mentioned walking at the mall, which segued into a discussion of where we each lived. Her house was in the city we used to live in, and I knew exactly where the subdivision was.

We talked about the schools her kids had gone to, which morphed into a discussion of where we had grown up. When she said her childhood home was close to the major intersection that mine was I asked her what school she had gone to.

(The question "Where did you go to high school?" is a St. Louis tradition which is used to understand someone's background, neighborhood, and their social circles.)

It turned out that we also had that in common, and when I asked her what year she had graduated I found out that we both had been classmates in an 800-student class!

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After the class was over I learned I would be receiving a Facebook friend request from her.

AND THEN.....

Another woman in the class heard us talking about our high school and asked which one we were talking about. I learned that she was several years older than Hubby Tony but went to the same school as he did and grew up very close to him. Tony was waiting for me in the lobby, so I walked that way with the woman and introduced the two of them. They spent several minutes trying to figure out if they had any other commonalities (they did not).

Five years ago: Parking Lot Performance

Bin Plus More

Years ago I purchased two huge (70 quart) Sterlite storage bins. Back then I had artwork that I rotated seasonally, and one of the containers stored the extras. The other held non-Christmas wrapping supplies.

When Hubby Tony and I downsized to our condo it only had a fraction of the wall space, so I culled the much of the artwork, but there was still to justify bringing both containers. They were stacked in the storage room downstairs between the tubs of Christmas decorations and the box with the Christmas tree. It was always a chore to get to the wrapping supplies, so several months ago I brought it upstairs. I had to wrestle the container onto a shelf in the office closet. It was so difficult I decided I would look for something smaller. That idea never made it to a list and I quickly forgot about it.

When we pulled out the Christmas things last week I looked into the large container and figured out most of the things in there were no longer needed; I emptied it out and staged it to donate to the thrift shop.

This afternoon I happened to be driving by the thrift shop (of course without the container 😠) but popped in to see if I could find something to wear to a holiday party a couple of days from now. I nabbed a lovely red sweater, then decided to look around the rest of the store.

In one of the aisles an associate was struggling to find a spot on the shelf for a long, thin storage container. It looked to be the size I was looking for and I hustled over to take a look. I found out it wasn't just a container; it was a container filled with supplies!

My find back at home

The bin contained six partial rolls of paper, a large stack of gift bags, and an even larger stack of tissue paper, along with some random ribbon. Now I have a perfectly-sized bin to hold my non-holiday wrapping supplies, and I'm set for Christmas wrapping materials this year and probably a couple after that!

Five years ago: Sock Seam Solution

Attagirl!

For the past few days I've been on the hunt for clothes to send to some of the California grands for Christmas. Their mom had sent me a text with sizes and requests. One of the requests was for lightweight cotton girl's sweat pants. Those have been difficult to find, because the weather has turned frigid in my area and all that the stores are carrying are heavy duty fleece.

Yesterday I checked several stores with no luck.This morning was Target's turn. What I was looking for would have been current merchandise a couple of months ago, so I figured that my best bet would be to start with the discount racks. Nothing.

Flaticon

There was a 30-something associate (with a name tag that read 'Ivory') straightening a shelf nearby, and I asked her if there was anywhere else that might have what I was looking for. She thought for a moment, then walked me to a couple places in the department to show me things. They weren't what I was looking for, so I thanked her and started browsing myself. Thirty seconds later 'Ivory' came over excitedly, holding a hanger holding a cute pair of pants for me to check out. Unfortunately they weren't the right size. Once again I thanked the associate.

As I was leaving the department I saw a second associate who looked like she might be in charge, and told her about the great assistance I'd had. The second associate agreed that 'Ivory' was a great employee. 

I asked if something good would happen if I stopped by the Guest Service desk and repeated my compliment. The second associate said she could do something better. She pulled out a walkie-talkie and told the entire store that she wanted to give a shout out to 'Ivory', who had totally exceeded a customer's expectations. As I walked away I heard a chorus of associates congratulating her via their walkie-talkies.

Five years ago today: Adventures In Christmas Decorating

I Wonder If I'd Get The Same Answers Today?

One of the Internet things I do after breakfast is check out my Facebook memories. This one from 2017 made me smile. It seems I had forgotten that my recent quandry about women's underwear styles wasn't the first time I had addressed the situation. (Note- names and profile photos removed to protect the innocent ☺)

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Strangest Facebook post you'll probably see today...I'm buying Christmas Outreach gifts for a 19-year old woman. One of the things she wants is underwear (which I'm assuming means panties). But what TYPE of panties does a 19 year old wear?

• ML-That's a tough one! Thongs is what I say. But not sure. Good luck with that! Lol

• KG-In my experience people either love or hate thongs. I'd hate to gift them and have the person be in the latter category.

• RHM-I started to answer and then remembered I am not 19 anymore. 😂😂

• MEG-Boy shorts or bikini cut was the go to at that age

• KG-Thanks. Since you're the youngest person to answer I'm going to go with your suggestion 🙂
• MEG-It's comfortable and something to appreciate, no one appreciates putting on a thong lol

• KD-I think my daughter wears bikini cut...she is 28 though...but wore the same thing at 19. 🙂

• WSM-Thong if they wear yoga pants. Have fun with that one!

• NHM-Hmm what size did she list? Maybe use that to decide thong vs bikini vs boy short.

• KG-Good suggestions. The tag says size 7, so I'd guess medium build.

• JTW-Boy shorts

• AK-I say if she's wanting underwear for Christmas she probably isn't fussy!

• KG-That was my first thought, too. But if you're getting underwear for Christmas shouldn't it be something you like?
• AK-Yes but she wasn't specific so maybe it doesn't matter.

• LHB-My daughter says boyfriend panties are popular, and she said that Victoria’s Secret usually has a “bargain” bin.

• KG-Thanks for the information!

• STCC-hope you got some bikinis... thongs are not the norm...