Good Grief! It's Almost Christmas!

It has been an odd December here and I honestly have to say I don't have much Christmas spirit going.  I've come to refer to this month as, "the December of WTF??!!??" because of the cascade of odd problems and things breaking that has been a bit overwhelming.  We decorated later than the first few years after we got our artificial tree in 2017, but earlier than we used to when we had real (live) trees.  That should probably read, "real trees living the last days of their lives" rather than just "live."

One of the constant puzzles has been the fence gate problem I mentioned after Tropical Storm Milton back in October. I had tried a couple of different things but winds out the east at 20 or more would always push the fence open.  Somewhere along the line I had the realization that the exact vertical position of the latch hardware didn't matter much and after struggling with finding the right hardware for a while, I was able to lower the latch an inch or two, and get the gate to latch closed, for the first time since before Milton. We haven't had really strong Easterly winds to test it out since I finished the fix, so we'll see.

There have been plumbing problems and TV problems, our old man cat Mojo had a bloody nose for unknown reasons and an emergency vet visit but is back to being himself.  Mrs. Graybeard had her cataracts removed starting in October, getting her vision back - but not without unusual struggles getting through that. She was released on December 10th.

I could just regurgitate some of my favorite posts in an effort to enhance the Christmas spirit, or my Christmas spirit.  How about two of the pictures I've posted the most? 

This is from Roswell, New Mexico on Christmas Eve, 1949.  Found linked on Pinterest, the Great Sargasso Sea of the Internet, where you can wander for hours amid images both sublime and stupid - or both.  No true source credited.  The original URL from when I ran across the picture (six years ago) is dead.  

While going through my mom's things after she passed away back in 2013, we found this picture.  This is my brother (on the right) and me visiting Santa.  He looks a bit more skeptical than me, but he is the older and wiser brother.  While I'm not sure of the date, I'm guessing around 1960, plus or minus a year or two.  If it was 1960, I'd have been 6 and older bro 9.  That's right: this is the only "full frontal" picture of me I've posted here!

Back at the start of December, I mentioned a get together with big bro's son - my nephew and his wife, my grand niece and lots of family and friends.  This week my niece (nephew's sister) had her first baby, another grand niece. I hope to meet her soon.  Meanwhile nephew's wife is expecting their second in March. 

There have been a lot of distractions from a "plain ole Christmas" and here we are with Christmas Wednesday and the first day of Hanukkah on Thursday.