So, it is a Sunday, and I can’t remember all that I’ve written. There is a lot of stuff I intended to write, started to write, meant to write, but I don’t recall all the things I’ve actually written and finished and posted.

A couple weeks ago I was sorting through pictures, which stirred up some memories for me. And I’ve read dozens of posts on Facebook from other people talking about holidays with their family of origin.

As many of us have come to realize, the public portrait of Christmas With The Family is pretty much a whitewashed façade, a bullshit public face to cover what’s actually happening inside, a fancy veneer over cheap materials. People follow traditions partly because it feels good and familiar to them, which is fine. But following traditions just to appease a previous generation is uncomfortable and out-of-touch with modern times, and it is not necessary. It is totally okay to discard the traditions that are more trouble than they are worth or don’t have meaning for the people involved. It is fine to create new traditions among the people actually present in our lives. It is also fine to not even try to create new traditions, but do some new thing each holiday season. Do things you enjoyed doing in previous years or explore some new things.

It Does Not Matter. We have heard the saying that tradition is just peer pressure from dead people.

Onward —

We are pressing into the so-called winter season, but weather the last week or two has been a crazy ride up and down the thermometer. Up into the 80s (record-breaking for this area), then down into the upper 30s or low 40s, somewhat below average temperatures for this time of year. My body is not liking the roller coaster weather.

I have been trying to remember to take a little 30-minute walk, a mile or so, every few days. I will take a walk today, since it is supposed to be sunny but cool. Tomorrow will be a little warmer but cloudy. I don’t like cloudy days. Hard to get motivated some days, and it hurts a lot to walk like I used to.

It is barely 4:00a.m. here. BigBoy was inside for the evening and was stirring on the bed. I thought he wanted to go out, so I got up and he trotted along with me, but he only got as far as his indoor food and water. I waited for him to finish, thinking he would head for the door. Nope. He went on back to bed, and I’m wide awake. Cheeky boy.