Thanks! I got to know my FIL over a cribbage board 30+ years ago. Great game! I've made several antler boards, including two for my older kids (my youngest doesn't play
) I made them both for the same Christmas, and each thinks their own is the best, and they tease each other about it quite a bit.
One thing about working with antler, though -- it STINKS when you cut, turn, drill or sand it.
Here is the inscription on the bottom of my son's board pictured in my above post:
I swear, the older I get the easier it is to make me cry.
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We're out in the country and have a bunch of critters to care for so traveling anywhere is always a challenge. Usually we manage to swap responsibilities with neighbors to get away, but Xmas usually gets pretty hard. This year I'm staying home so da wife and my son can go visit everyone else. Our other kids are all grown and gone with young families of their own, so travel for them isn't really very practical. The social media thing helps but it just ain't the same.
So in preparation for celebrating Festivus alone this year, a friend that had moved to another town this past year following a divorce, mentioned that her little boy was spending the holiday with his Dad and that she would be alone. I don't know if da wife is doin' the pool boy or after 30 years she just doesn't care anymore, but she suggested I invite my 10 years younger single female friend over so we wouldn't be alone. Even though my friend is quite attractive (German girl who loves beer too BTW) I'm pretty sure da wife knows I'm still nuts for her for some reason, so she's cool with the whole idea. How great is that?
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Retired fairly young and while our income is comfortable it is finite all the same, so as with saving and spending before we retired, we try to continue living well beneath our means. We grow and raise nearly all of our own food so a lot of our gift giving follows that thread, and we pretty much spend the whole year planning and preparing for this most stressful of seasons just so it's not.
Jellies, jams, relishes, chutney, lots of wife's very popular pickles, cakes, cookies, pies & breads, homemade pastas, sauces, preserves, canned fruits and vegetables, honey, and usually a box of beef or pig cuts for the freezer along with maybe a few chickens and a turkey or a goose. It's all free range, beyond organic stuff, and the kids are all busy chasing dollars back near the city, so it works real well for us and them. This year we added beer, wine, and some homemade soft drinks as well, and when we started to put everything together that we had accumulated for them over the year it was really pretty surprising just how much we had. We give away a lot of food locally throughout the year as well (more than half of what we raise), but it looks like we'll be able to give away even more this year than we thought.
As holidays go I really have issues with Xmas on the whole, between the over commercialization, it's basis as an appropriated Pagan holiday, and the crazy stress that it brings with it, but I do try not to let my curmudgeonly ways dampen the time for others. What I do thoroughly enjoy however is giving stuff away... especially good, healthful, food to folks that might not normally be able to afford it or take the time to find it. Looking back over the year it is a lot of work, but since our kids especially grew up doing a lot of this they appreciate the effort even more now that they aren't. Sooner or later we're hoping they'll reawaken to just how much simpler things can be and maybe they'll leave the city behind as well.
Meanwhile, here's to a Merry Christmas to All...
and a Happy Festivus to the Rest of Us!
Prost!
