The immediate ERJ Family Christmas celebration is in-the-bag for 2025.
Mrs ERJ and I will attend Mass tomorrow morning, but all of the heavy-lifting (socially) is done.
Highlights
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| We have been enjoying beautiful sunrises. |
Most of the high-calorie treats were sent home with the kids (Yeah!!!)
Our new son-in-law made the salad and we kept that here (Double Yeah!!!)
The presents were modest and everybody seemed grateful. Even the gag-gifts were well received.
I learned that my regular attire is now considered fashionable. The family fashionista informed me that New Balance shoes are retro-cool. And in the summer, so is wearing calf-height crew socks AND sandals. Ironically, the last combination was once known as "Senior Citizen birth-control" since it would NOT get you any dates.
Nobody unearthed sensitive, unpleasant events from the past. We did talk about some times that were unpleasant but those were times when the family pulled-together and got through it; no victims but plenty of heroes.
Belladonna was dragged out to the swing set by Quicksilver. I learned that they both share a dislike of snakes.
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This guy was pretty lively for an air temperature of 40F. He keyed out as Heterodon platirhinos |
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| White Oak leaf included in the frame to provide a size reference. |
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| "No fangs, none for me today" You can kind-of see the "hog-nose" that gives this snake its common name "Hognose Snake". One of his defenses is to spoof being a venomous snake. |
Bless you and yours Joe, Merry Christmas.
ReplyDeleteMerry Christmas to you and yours ERJ.
ReplyDeleteOn the snake, if it had been a bit colder, you could have picked it up and used for a walking stick.
Merry Christmas ERJ!
ReplyDeleteMerry Christmas indeed. A fine report.
ReplyDeleteMost likely daughter was afraid because mother was afraid. No reason for her to be scared unless mom taught her to be.
ReplyDeleteThere's a lot of that in womanhood.
LOL like men are not scared of snakes as boys because nobody taught them?
DeleteMen are afraid of poisonous snakes, for a reason. We chase and catch non-poisonous snakes as kids, and learn to tell the difference.
DeleteWomen are (generally) afraid of all snakes for no reason except "Snakes are bad), and that is a thing they learn from their mothers or other older females. They don't become afraid of snakes until they are taught to be by other women. . Boys are taught to be afraid of (or at least respect) dangerous snakes but not the rest. Logical vs Feelings and all that.
How come yer suddenly on my ass about every comment?
Because this is Joe's blog and we discuss things.
DeleteYour noticeable focus on women's issues is interesting.
I don't have problems discussing my points, sometimes I even learn something new.
Proverbs 27:17 speaks to this.
Michael the anonymous this am.
I will cross your post to my EMS friends so they can ponder how many males in our area got scared od harmless snakes and injured enough that EMS was involved.
DeleteI recall more than a few in the past few months to include burns and minor fire at a BBQ, and a sad chainsaw incident involving a rat snake.
Maybe we grow lesser men here in New England? Odd that would be as our % of combat vets around here is pretty high.