Happy Thanksgiving!

Happy Thanksgiving! I hope everybody had a good day with friends and family. I was blessed to have Thanksgiving dinner with two families here on the compound. And now I am enjoying the extended blessings of the holiday - nibbling away at leftovers and eating pie for lunch.

I took Friday off work so that I could have the long weekend. Pretty much the only productive thing I did was to wrap up and box up most of the Christmas gifts so that I can put them in the mail next week. 

PSA for the day: If you have a loved one at an APO/DPO address, you need to get the gifts in the mail next week (the first week of December) if you want them to arrive before Christmas. I suspect this year will be particularly important to be on time, as the Postal Service shut down several of their APO/DPO handling facilities.

PSA#2 for the day: Be careful what tv shows you choose to binge watch. I'd already learned that it’s not a good idea to watch too much Doctor Who at one time. After one day when I watched a whole bunch of Doctor Who, I was pretty much useless for work the next day, thinking only of Daleks and Cybermen and oh-my-gosh-why-would-they-get-rid-of-Rose. Regardless of that experience, I watched 4 episodes of Doctor Who on Thanksgiving Day. I thought it would be okay, since I took a four-hour break in the middle. And it pretty much was okay, except for the really odd dreams. Of course, then I topped it off by discovering Once Upon a Time yesterday and watching 7 episodes of that show. So yes, I’ve been watching too much tv. And yes, I’ve had some strange dreams the last few nights. 

As long as we’re talking about fantasy… Have you seen the buggies that look like they’re for babies, but they’re actually for dogs? Japanese love their pets – cats and (small) dogs especially! They dress them up in outfits, take them out in buggies, carry them while hiking in the mountains. You can see some great pics here. Sadly, I don’t think my cat would tolerate me putting her in outfits. I’m tempted to try though. But I do love having a pet, and it’s nice to be in a country that loves pets. In so many places, when people learn that I don’t have children, it seems like they can’t think of a thing to talk to me about. But here, I’ve been known to say, “no, I have a cat” – and besides eliciting a bit of a laugh, it can also lead to conversation. Yes, I know cats aren’t the same as children, but she does have some qualities that remind me of some of the kids in my life.

- She loves to cuddle, but will only do it according to her own timing.

- She occasionally bumps against my leg before walking off, just to show she cares.

- She can handle small variations to the schedule, but too much variation will result in either racing around the house like a maniac or planting her feet and yelling at me.

- If she doesn’t like the video/music I’m playing while she hangs out on the back of the chair, she’ll whack the top of my head repeatedly.

- She’s not too interested in the food on her own plate, but she’s very interested in mine - particularly if it’s something in the dairy family.

But really, it’s just nice to have a little living being that cares about whether or not I’m home and that runs to greet me at the door. Of course, I’m about to cause drama in her life, because it’s now time to decorate for Christmas! But she will appreciate having the big tree to sit under and the low hanging ornaments to bat at. It's going to be a really busy week next week, so I'm kind of resting up, but maybe while I'm out tomorrow, I'll go see some of the light displays around town.

However you are spending your holidays - whether it’s watching tons of tv, braving the malls, or whatever - I hope you had a wonderful Thanksgiving and that you will have a blessed holiday season!