I'm sick

had a solstice bonfire on friday with friends which was really nice. hanging out with my partner’s family for the weekend, then heading to the country to decompress before new years. i always do a bike ride new year’s day, so i’m looking forward to that!

not so hot because things are tense around my house, but i'm moving out towards the end of the week so hopefully it'll be over soon.

Stressful but that's normal? Less stressful than some other years. Family likes their gifts so much they're arguing about them. No work today though so win there. I need a break from the break...

My first holiday season after going no contact with my parents. I spent time with my wife and her family and many cousins who love me! It felt safe and warm to be surrounded by people who actually like me— really feel like I made the right choice this year!

Much better than expect. This has been the first year where we've had someone outside of our immediate family join us (my brother's girlfriend) and it's been very pleasant.

Going to start working my way through the Christmas ales I've been saving now!

Not well. I guess I should be thrilled with having gotten the 75% discount at the local brewery today, but this first means I have to have purchased beer. This generally ends poorly. But I'm homeless and got a lot of job declinations last week, so I don't really know how I'm going to survive past two more weeks, which adds to the stress and leaves me at the point that I'm going to the local brewery.

I have a very good idea of the options available for the indigent after my last job search, and they're not good, to say nothing of my new fear of being away from my van for several days.

The past days have been a mixed bag. I've achieved dember's objective to get everything at work and at home done before the holidays, but failed 2023's objective to go on vacation at least once this year without getting sick within the first few days. I'm feeling better now but my voice is gone, so no video message or chat with my family or godchild. I didn't get to spend a lot of time with the latter this year and feel like I've sort of failed her. This winter and spring I need to think of some things to do together.

Wanting to spread the holiday cheer (as an unbeliever, Christmas more or less means a break to enjoy time with yourself and your beloved ones), but lack of time and energy means I've done the bare minimum this year. Oh well, it's just one year.

Still, we're in a very nice and warm place with family, and as Don Hector Salamanca has accurately stated on behalf of apparently pretty much the entire country we're currently visiting, la familia es todo. And it's good to see my younger stepdaughter so happy and carefree for a change - she's had a stressful year, too.
Tomorrow her friend (our fourth, inofficially adopted child) arrives, and in three days we're on our way to Playa del Carmen where we can introduce the young 'uns to the nice crew at Señor Frog's and then disappear before embarrassing them any further for being the uncool old farts in the place.

Other than that I expect to spend (and enjoy!) a few weeks without a lot of plans or appointments for a change. Let's see how that goes.

I had a good Christmas. Actually got to have a Christmas with my family this year. Last year, I got caught up in that Southwest Airlines meltdown so I didn't get to spend it with my family. I avoided that this year by flying Delta down to my folks (and SWA did have some issues in the run-up to Xmas again this year due to weather at Chicago-Midway causing some chaos across the SWA system). Still flew SWA home; in fact got home about 30min ago.

Debating whether to go see my friends later today. It's a 5hr drive and basically today is the only day I can go, and then I have to be back by Friday night. It's currently 3:30a here. So if I decide to do this, I'd have to leave by noon at the latest. So we'll see how I feel in the morning.

Nothing big planned for NYE. Probably just get a bottle of champagne for myself and some Chinese takeout, as usual.

Hope everyone enjoyed the holidays, got some time off, and some time for R&R, too!

Literally the hardest period of my life, but I am equipped with the best mental equipment I can so it's all in - or, in this specific case of mine, i hope it's all out (edit: luckily no life threatening situations, dw)

Happy holidays, everyone :) I’m spending it sick with COVID. Please stay safe and get the latest vaccination as soon as possible to protect yourself and others.

It has been great! First holiday season away from my family as a newly minted expat, but I’m lucky to have four/five other couples from my home country going through pretty much the same thing, so we’ve been each others support . Me and my partner are positively surprised at how well things have been working (mostly)!

Merry Chrysler!

My sibling and I were over the moon that our abuser didn’t show up to our family’s holiday celebration this year. It was so nice to enjoy the company of actual family without their toxic sludge!

I've gotten to spend Christmas Eve and Christmas Day without any of my relatives going on an unhinged conspiratorial rant, so I'll call it a win.

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays to everyone!

It's been mostly good. Sadly, my parents could not come because the consulate could not issue their visas on time, but we made the best out of what we had. I've now been resting at my sister's place, and it's been such a pleasant surprise. We had not lived together since she was 8(she's 20 now), so it has been quite the experience for both of us. I'm flying back home tomorrow, and I'm already planning a return trip. I needed this break. I feel I could finally stop and take a breath of confidence and self-control. I haven't had any depressing thoughts, and, more importantly, I feel like I was finally able to let go of some of the ghosts that have been haunting me this year. It was excruciating, but I'm happy I did it. I feel confident they won't be coming back anymore to torture and taunt me. So, I feel I can finally start a new era in my life and move forward, one step at a time. Let's hope I can keep the positivity. At least, for now, I think I got this and 2024 can bring it. :)

Overall it's honestly been a really good Christmas. I've never enjoyed this time of year because of the family stress and financial obligations (re: family stress) but my partner made it pretty incredible this year. I won't lie and I hate to be negative ,but I'm kind of in awe and scared that something horrible is going to break this winning streak.

Holidays are going well. Visited NYC but spent more money than I expected, though. Also spent some time with my relatives, which was nice. Will be heading back to work for new year's Eve, but that's fine. Overall, it was a nice and fun trip.

Also visited a coin shop to add to my collection.

My 2 cats have finally started playing! One is like 6, the other a kitten, and they're both good and friendly cats and were just taking time to warm up to each other. I heard growling and expected a fight, but saw them on the floor playfully tussling! they'd get up, chase each other, tussle a bit more... I had a royal bastard of a cat for the longest time, and am happy to finally have cats capable of being friends! Fingers crossed that they cuddle properly in the future.

Oof. Well, to my surprise.

Have so much going on (nothing bad, though some confounding stresses are trying to emerge) that have been procrastinating on replies to the usual weekly threads, and now a summary feels ever more distant.

As for Christmas itself, my tiny & fairly reclusive family go for a super low stress affair, but many years even that much feels far big a palaver. Planning to propose we just do it once every few years, and hone in on the aspects we genuinely like.