Another sad day. It’s been rainy and cold, but at least we haven’t had tornadoes or blizzards, so I’m grateful for that. I also had another massage tonight, during which I found out my massage guy is leaving. (Insert crying here.) He found a job outside of massage and has plans to go back to school for engineering. He was very apologetic about it, knowing I’ll need to find someone new. However, I told him as disappointing as it is for me, I’d never want to hold someone back from something better for them. He promised to look at the schedule and recommend someone else in the practice who can best continue helping me. Sigh.

The downside is that tonight was my last massage with him, and I really liked him. Not only did he know where my trouble spots were, he was genuinely nice. The upside is that he’s already helped a lot, and the practice is primarily for physical therapy, so most working there are used to therapeutic massage, rather than massage for relaxation. I’m sure someone new can continue my healing. And for that, I’m thankful.

It’s been a bit depressing today. Gloomy weather. Friends and family dealing with illness and loss. As much as the holidays can be joyful, it can also be difficult. I had intended to spend the evening watching another holiday movie and wrapping presents, but even the Hallmark Channel failed me tonight. I did get a lot of wrapping done, so I’m grateful for that.

I’m thankful today for puppy snuggles.

I met a friend for brunch this morning, and then spent the rest of the day cleaning and finishing the last of the Christmas decorating. In fact, I was so busy, I didn’t eat again until about 7 pm. Crackers and cheese, chips and dip, and a peppermint ice cream bar for dessert. Mmmm. Patrick will not be proud, but it was good. I’m sore for a day of constant motion, but I’m thankful for getting so much done.

This month is flying by. I had big plans for today that got interrupted by wifi issues. Our provider sent us a new modem that is supposed to work better on the upgraded network. We had started getting intermittent outages that were annoying, so I was anxious to make the switch. Well, pretty much everything that could go wrong, did. The directions simply said to log in to the app and follow directions there. Only the app wouldn’t open. I logged in online and it wouldn’t load my information. I called and they said I had to do an online chat first. The chat said there wasn’t anyone available so I should call. What a frustrating loop.

I finally got through to a person (I’m convinced the auto bot is programmed to detect anger) who was able to start the activation. I spent half an hour watching the light go from orange to green to blue while he kept asking if it was white yet. We never got to white, so he scheduled a technician to come on Monday.

In the hour following I realized just how much we rely on wifi. No TV. No internet. My Christmas tree lights are on an app that works best with wifi. The house was quiet. So I ran a couple errands and realized when I got back that the modem light was white. But it still wasn’t working. When I finally got through the loop again, the girl on the phone confirmed that there was something wrong with the new modem, and she helped me reconnect the old one.

I know I can survive a weekend without tv and probably without the internet. I certainly have enough on my to-do list to keep me busy, and I am a little alarmed at how much relies on technology. However, I’m thankful it got resolved temporarily. The pups and I got to watch another Christmas movie tonight.

Friday! I’m so thankful for the weekend. And that Patrick made it to Texas safely today. And that I can sleep in tomorrow.

Patrick left me today. And he got me up at 5 am to say goodbye. He’s on his 17-hour drive to see his family and will be gone for a couple of weeks. I’m thankful his drive today was safe and he made it farther than he originally planned. Since he still has some lingering Covid fatigue, he wasn’t sure how he’d do with the long drive, so it’s a good sign that it wasn’t too taxing.

I’m actually looking forward to having the tv to myself (hello, Christmas movies!) and hanging with the pups. Maybe I’ll spend time in my craft room. Oh, and definitely eat popcorn for dinner.

Today was one of those days where I needed to look for the small things. Here’s what I found:

Hot tea with honey

Christmas carols

Freshly bathed pups

Peppermint ice cream bars

The Christmas Clauses

I’m thankful today for an evening wrapping gifts in front of the fire with a wonderfully obnoxious Hallmark movie on. And so starts the season for me…

I’m thankful today for sparkly Christmas lights and really good wine.