C is for clear?

It was certainly a low-key Covid Christmas. Probably the quietest I’ve ever had. We didn’t go anywhere and only hosted my Mom for one night. And ultimately that fine. We had a nice long visit and dinner with my Mom. She unexpectedly brought more than enough food for dinner, so there wasn’t any reason to cook and fuss which was a welcome change. In the evening we watched a Christmas classic. Christmas day we opened presents connected to B.C. to at least see my sister and Brother in law. Snugoo (my new name for the dog which combines snuggle and gojira) eventually understood opening presents, but she has a long way to go achieve the Tanga level of enthusiasm. The humans seemed to enjoy the reactive dog toys more than the dogs. It was a bit odd opening presents with it being relatively quiet. It was a year I really couldn’t think of any significant presents for myself. Weird indeed. I enjoyed getting some bandcamp money which is already mostly gone, and of course steam money for their well timed Winter sale. Which is also mostly gone. I also continuing to get a few funko Pops! of my favourite musicians/characters. Police and Rush are now complete! It was disappointing to hear the hoops my family had to jump through just to get steam dollars for my account. Yes, they could get cards… but the digital process is painful, technical and very prohibitive for all but the most ardent of gift givers. WHY?! I gave my wife a few pieces of jewelry and some gifts to facilitate her hobbies. The primary hobby is knitting, which I’ve very happy to benefit from. She recently finished a lovely blanket for me. It is sooo warm with suitable leg coverage. 😀

Holiday spirit

Boxing day we spent at the cottage with my SiL and family. Prior to entry, we did a rapid test. I clearly do not like being poked and proded as I did not enjoy the process at all, which is actually quite benign, it just triggers some odd physiological responses. Cottage time was also pretty quiet but we did get a visit with Bdot’s brother which was great. It was a few days of down time. Time spent around a table smiling and having fun. We played Catan for the first time which was interesting and a contentious game of Monopoly which ended before a clear winner was determined. We watched a few Juniors games (rap air horn!) prior to its cancellation. (Sad Horn) The adults had a long walk in Six Mile Lake. I don’t think we saw a single person. At the cottage Bill showed us the power of Google TV. While it doesn’t actually add content itself per se, it does organize your subscriptions in a really nice UI in one place. We were sold. We’ve since got our own and it is awesome.

New Year’s Eve was a quiet night at home. Goodbye 2021 – don’t let the door hit ‘yer ass on the way out.

Somehow my laptop fan has ceased up. So it spins then sputters and makes horrible sounds. I assume it was damaged from the cold or something in transit to the cottage. SIGH. So of course there isn’t this fan anywhere in Canada so I had to order one from China, which was unfortunate. It will also take weeks to arrive. I hope the fix works. There is nothing else wrong with the system…

Started playing chess again. I’m not good. The Sabres also continue to be not good.

We are watching Yellowstone. Seasons 1 and 2 were good but Season 3… ugh? New writers? The family is pretty horrible. On par or worse than Shameless…

We are back in the bird feeding business. Apparently spicy seed is highly Undesirable by squirrels so we are giving it another shot – after years. It has been a few days now and NOT A SINGLE FREAKING BIRD. sigh...

UPDATED

Added Christmas photo