Friday night was the annual cookie decorating party. This was not a tradition growing up. This is only something my mom started after Gage was born. Although we did dye eggs every year, and that's probably one of the most idiotic and worthless things ever, in my opinion. Every year I am reminded of my favorite year of this tradition, the time Owsley got stuck to a sticky rat trap. This was the year my dad wore the unicorn mask and the kids rode around on his back to terrorize the dog. Also the same year that Owsley took a chip clip and decapitated a handful of the members of my mom's Christmas village people. Those are the moments I look back on and fondly cherish in my heart. The destruction of Christmas and consumerism. That's my boy!
Although in the end I'm sure this just meant my mom bought more Christmas village people.
Not this kind of Christmas Village People. I'm talking about the little cement caroling guys who's production serves absolutely no purpose other than reinforcing false traditons and cause more damage to the earth than good.
I'm tons of fun at parties.
Speaking of caroling, earlier in the week my mom had taken the grandkids with her to deliver fruit baskets to some of the elderly people from church. Friday night she mentioned trying to get a group to go caroling next year. I usually let her go along with her delusional fantasies, because it is clear where my distracted ADD brain comes from, and I totally understand making grand plans in the moment that somehow fizzle out. But caroling? I thought Gage was about to fall out of his seat. So I told her I thought the fruit baskets were a great idea, but she was stuck in the 1980s or a Hallmark movie if she thought anyone would go caroling. I have never even seen caroling in real life. Aside from the 1800s, I didn't realize this existed outside of television.
I told her I thought getting the kids involved to do acts of service for the elderly is a great idea, but I wasn't going to make them go around caroling for a holiday that we don't go out of our way to celebrate. Unless you were that kid that was so pleased with their voice that they went around singing at break time (we all had them in our classes,) or you are Buddy the Elf, or maybe you have a legitimately talented barbershop quartet, I cannot imagine anyone really wanting to go to strangers doors and sing songs. I could be totally off on this though. Maybe people LOVE caroling and I just never knew.
Me and the kids all ended up participating in cookie decorating, because my mom seemed to take it personally when Memaw didn't want to participate. And then we all voted, and somehow out of 9 people voting, my kids came in first and second place.
In second place with have Gage with his....satanic altar? You can't tell, but the ghost is on top of a pentagram. I don't think it started out this way, but in the words of Bob Ross," there are no mistakes, just happy accidents."
And then Owsley won with just some chocolate chip cookies sandwiched between some sugar cookies. It kind of looked like a hamburger.
Owsley's really does scream "2024 energy" Actually, maybe this was EVERYONE's passive aggressive way of saying we are done with traditions. I mean, my mom didn't get a single vote and her cookies looked like someone had taken time and effort with them.
Will I ever not look high in a picture? Doubtful. Just roll with it.
My niece was lamenting about test taking at school. Actually she was mentioning having anxiety and I asked her about what, and she and her mom started telling me about how half the kids in her class have IEPs and basically roll around in the floor and make as much noise as they want. But when children that are obviously distracted by this ask to take their tests somewhere else, they are shot down because they don't have an IEP.
My mother retired from teaching. My other sister-in-law is a kindergarten teacher. I might homeschool my kids, but I am not entirely naive to the school system. I really feel bad for teachers right now. I have never ever been envious of the teaching life, but now I have actually pity for them. If r/teachers has any credence, our young people are very, very far behind in reading and math skills, as well as emotional and social skills. Not to mention the fact they are constantly stimulated and their dopamine sensors are completely shot. How do you keep anyone's attention?
Every time that I read more about the drones, I hear that song from Aladdin, Make way here he comes, ring bells, bang the drum. Oh, you're gonna love this guy." Almost like these drones are making the way for what's coming. I asked bing to draw me "red and blue drones announce the coming of the imperial king." That'll do pig, that'll do. All four are pretty great. It gave me exactly what I was asking for with so little.
Seriously, this drone thing gets more interesting every single night. I don't think it's aliens, but I do believe it is living and nonhuman. Some of them are actual drones and some of them are helicopters, but most are not what they are telling us (or not telling us.)
Yesterday afternoon Peppy and I ran some errands and drove laps around the downtown area. We mentally broke apart the different architecture of the buildings and homes, and noted how parts of the structures were clearly older than other portions appeared to have been destroyed and added onto. Once you see it, you cannot un-see it. And I'd wager money on every single downtown of every single tiny little town having evidence of these old world buildings.
We also went to a couple indoor antique malls, one was waaaaay more budget friendly than the other.
Griffins, Foo dogs, the sphinx. I think they are all forms of cherubim. Cherubs are definitely not fat baby angels. Scripture claims God flies on a cherub. He would fly on one of these guys, and definitely not on a baby.
"He rode upon a cherub and did fly; yea, he did fly upon the wings of the wind." Psalm 18:10
I really wanted these book ends. But not for $300. There was a whole table of carnival glass. I have a handful of pieces my grandmother had given me before she passed away. I had no idea she paid so much for this stuff. She had a very expensive hobby.
And then we watched the Buy Now documentary on Netflix that I watched while they were gone over Thanksgiving, but I really wanted to talk about with Peppy. I really think there are a few pictures that everyone needs to see. Like this clothing beach in Ghana. Everyone needs to be conscious that we are sending our leftover garbage across the seas and just dropping it in other countries. And it is not stopping. This is NOT sustainable. To put in perspective, the woman they interviewed said Ghana had 30 million people, and every week they get 15 million donated items of clothing dumped on them.
Have a marvelous week, and think about this beach the next time you think you need a new sweater. (This message is for me too.) There is already so much. There is already more than enough for everybody.
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