Not really sure this year. My usual traditions revolved around singing at the big liturgies at church and going to visit my younger son and granddaughter. My older son usually Hhas stayed over a night or two before going back to his base in Omaha. All up in the air at the moment.

Holiday decorating this year is the few things I could reach to get out. A small ceramic lit Christmas tree, a wreath and some seasonal decorative pottery. For me that's pretty slim but without the ability to reach high shelves or lift heavy items It's not happening.

Whackable Chocolate Oranges

Oh, I should get a couple for New Years Board Game Night. 🙂

Today was...

Every man has a plan that will not work - My father, after cutting a length of counter top too narrow.

(sigh) It was one of those "Measure Twice, Cut Once" and still manage to ef it up days. At least I got a shelf installed on the porch next to the wood railing a feral cat sleeps on at night. It's so pitiful, he falls off sometimes.
I'm building a cat house to hang on a cleat about a foot above the shelf with a landing for him to rest on. I had planned for it to be a ~14" square, but realized that I have to contend with the screen door out swing.
Whoopsie.

The daughter and duaghter-in-law will be here for Dec 31 - Jan 3 so we get to do Christmas twice.

Every man has a plan that will not work - My father, after cutting a length of counter top too narrow.

After we spent way too much time looking everywhere reasonable for a tube of graphite to lube a lock, my wife (at the time) found it... in the kids' room, on a bookshelf. Whereupon she declared,

See? Here it is! We don't have a system, and it doesn't work.

Dad fixed the counter with a tall backsplash.
He cut a step in the bottom of the backsplash to take up the space between the counter top and the wall. and bring the back splash down to the desired height. Problem solved.
When he was finished he said:

Man is the mis-measurement of all things.

In-person xmas stuff kinda stopped for us the year MIL Stranger died. My folks had already moved away. We exchanged gifts with them til they died, by mail except for the last year. Mr. Stranger and I don't really exchange gifts. Most years "he" (meaning me with his credit card lol) renews my Ancestry subscription as a gift. We missed the sale last year but I got back on it this year. I buy him little things (mostly interesting food items) throughout the year and he's happy with that.

Not sure what we'll have for xmas dinner. I've had a ham in there for a while (shrink wrapped, fairly indestructible) and recently added a pork roast (also shrink wrapped) and today picked up a rib roast for, are you sitting down, $8.99/lb! But it is NOT shrink wrapped and may need to be used before the 25th.

Mr. Stranger is threatening to cook xmas dinner... we'll see how that goes...

Still need to get fixins for hoppin john but I have time for that.

I forget the price per pound, but I was once tasked with providing a standing rib roast so I went to the local megamart. There used to be a great butcher not so far away, but they closed years ago. I was lucky enough to happen to go there the last day they were open, again (or is it priorly?) tasked with providing a standing rib roast, whew, pure luck! I love going to a good butcher who provides no bullshit. The megamart butchers, when I end up having to talk to them, always seem to feel the need to pry into what I'm doing with the meat and then offer unsolicited critique. "Back meat driving" as it were.

Anyway, whatever the price per pound at the megamart, I got three or four ribs worth and it came to just over $100. The cashier kept scanning it but it kept beeping an error. Evidently they have to get a manager's approval to sell more than $100, whether at a given session (seems odd, given prices) or for a single item. What fraud did they think they were trying to prevent? I found it amusing, but also infuriating. Still, it provided an interesting story tidbit for the table.

“Back meat driving”

Hilarious and true.

Did not go out to the store to get milk today, so I couldn't make muffins earlier. Oops. Could go now, but meh. No longer a fan of driving at night. Tomorrow is another day.

What frosts my ass about "butchers" lately is the dumb look you get when you ask for a leg of lamb boned and rolled. (and that's particularly necessary this year since the lamb roasts have more bone protruding from them than I've ever seen in my life... left in there to milk every last cent out of the price, I'm sure... they're practically tomahawk steaks!)

There used to be a great butcher not so far away, but they closed years ago.

please tell me not Victor's? (that's who spoiled us with boning and rolling)

@Jodi pretty sure this is not fancy lol, but yeah that is a good-old-days price... it was for "members" only, with a $20 purchase. A scotch over half came off, so I guess the regular price is close to $20/lb. Honestly my heart about stopped before I hit the "total" button (rang myself up) and the roast discount and BOGOs came off 😳

Not sure what the unit price was, but at the green grocer the other day they had a 2-rib roast in the floor case that was over $80. Mine is also about 2 ribs but theirs I think was larger overall.

We tried that lamb breast... not sure if I didn't cook it right or what, but meh.

Lamb leg around here is going in the $6-$7 range

@dean (why isn't that tagging?) Victor's is/was inside the Eddie's Supermarket in Roland Park. I seem to recall they tried having an outpost in the Ruxton Eddie's but it didn't end well.