@snappy,

Always good to "see" someone new here! This is a great group...they even put up with the chronically depressed complainers (trust me, I know

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@tazdev3225, I am so sorry about your car! That is one of the most maddening things to happen! I've actually had people do it twice when I was sitting right there in my car. One time the guy who did it just drove away; the other time when I called the person out on it, he said "Prove it" and kept walking away. It really makes me mad, but nothing I can do about it. Around here, if it's in a parking lot, the police won't do anything about it because it's private property. They won't even come out to take a report for insurance
I found out over the weekend that the father of one of my close friends passed away last week. Well, we were close 25 years ago. Back in the mid-90s, I had a really good group of friends and we got together every Friday night. We'd go out to dinner, then back to someone's house to watch The X-Files. Usually we went to Chris's house (he had his own personal space in the basement - lots of fun because he was 2 years older than us, so he bought our alcohol. Nothing major...always wine coolers. Seagrams, Bartles and Jaymes, Purple Passions...and the occasional Goldschlager, of course

) or Keith's house. No alcohol there, but we were in walking distance of a 7-11 and his parents were REALLY cool. I felt more at home at those two houses than my own. We had a good run, but starting in '97, we all started getting married and having kids. And then Keith and Jen moved out to the midwest and that was kind of the end of our group. Keith's father was the one who passed. I'd known he had cancer, but from all reports he was doing well. It's weird that lately I've been thinking a lot about those fun years and missing them. Just feels so final now.
DH and I got up very early yesterday morning to head over to Target for the 10% off gift cards. I got a few for Josh's teacher and classroom helper, plus I always buy 4 $25 cards for us to use during the following year. I usually take one with us on our drive to Florida, so we can stock up the Clearwater Target before our drive home, but obviously that won't be happening this year. It's still nice to have for those times when we do a big shop, though. After Target, DH took Josh to his parents' house for a while so I could work on the picture frames that we're decorating for gifts and addressing our Christmas cards.
Today the kids in town returned to school (still on the hybrid model, though), and for all of his whining and screaming that he hates school, Josh got right on the bus this morning. I hope he comes home wearing the same pants as when he left

My mom and I went to the grocery store and library. Stopped at Dunkin for gift cards as well, so I'm all done with Josh's teacher, classroom helper, and bus driver now. I wrapped some gifts, so now it doesn't look so empty under the tree. Tomorrow night we will go to Bright Nights at Forest Park (already have our ticket!) and this coming Friday and Saturday night there is a Grinch and Santa "Beep and Greet" at the Springfield Museums that we'd like to try to see. We're also considering going to the "Winter Wonderland" drive-thru at the Big E. Just want to do some Christmas stuff and get out of the house, even if we can't do our usual traditions.
Still waiting on the missing orders. The one that is concerning me the most is merely a sheet of 4 wallet-sized photos from Shutterfly. It was delivered to the post office at the airport on November 30 and has not been scanned since. The airport is only 20 minutes from our house, so even with the USPS slowdown, it really shouldn't take a full week (or more) to be delivered. It's still showing Wednesday, December 2nd as the estimated delivery date. The other 2 orders also haven't been updated, but they haven't passed their estimated delivery yet, so I'm sure they're just not scanning them. And the fourth item is finally moving! I'm a little peeved that the company sent me an email that the item shipped on November 26, but it stayed in "USPS is awaiting item" status until Saturday - December 5th!
Love your decorations..that's sweet about Josh leaving gifts for Santa..may I ask what he leaves for him?
Just little drawings that he did. He wrapped one in a box, and the others are all in bags. Just random bags...one is a Puppy Dog Pals birthday bag, one is the Stranger Things bad that I made for DH's gift last year, one is a Valentine's Day bag, etc. He left a gift for Santa last year, too - I think it was one of DH's old Black Sabbath t-shirts

I just thought up a QOTD - What is the best thing that happened to you this year?
1. My cutie grandson was born in May.
2. I met all of you people.
It has to be meeting all of you! Seriously! This has been a bum year, that's for sure, but I met some great people and I'm grateful for that.