52 thoughts on “Our Daily Thread 11-29-19”

  4. Good morning. I will pass on black Friday. I had thought of running by Walmart this morning to pick up day-old donuts, as I do each weekend, but I am not in the mood for crowds. I usually almost have the store to myself.

    Liked by 3 people

  5. I mentioned stopping at Walmart for something today. Then the girls reminded me why today was not the day for that. 🙂

    What was I thinking? 🙂

    Liked by 2 people

  6. Morning! It is dark outside and I cannot fathom standing in lines and crowds just to purchase something….we are staying in today.. my head aches….(but that cute shoppe up there looks like just the place I would enjoy!)

    Liked by 1 person

  9. Today I am grateful that I have never needed nor wanted anything enough to shop Black Friday. I have worked them but not the awful hours that start on Thanksgiving night.
    We ate in two restaurants yesterday. At the bottom of each receipt I wrote, “Thank you for working on Thanksgiving”. Each time the service was impeccable and the tip was generous. (This is not a look what a good person I am post— it’s about consideration for this who HAVE to work on holidays when I don’t)

    Liked by 5 people

  12. Chas- the 8:01 is from an old TV show about a radio station that had odd promotions. This was the famous turkey drop on Thanksgiving.

    Like

  13. Thanx Peter. You might guess, Crosby is my all time favorite singer. Just as Chet Atkins is my all time favorite guitarist. Thought others may have more talent. I just like what they do. Anita Carter is my favorite female, though she didn’t record much.

    Liked by 4 people

  14. Good morning! I had to do two days worth of Bible study this a.m. Good way to begin Black Friday, in the light of God.

    I am having black coffee on Black Friday. That’s about the only thing I am doing to commemorate the day.

    Brother will be helping me with the yard some today. I will be cooking veggies and doing dishes. I hope to write a book review later. I have several I need to write.

    I am reading a Christian suspense novel and it includes a sideline pastor character. The name and initial of the pastor was the same as my former pastor’s name. I thought it could not just be a coincidence. I looked on Facebook and saw that they are friends. Now I am curious about the connection. Has anyone else found someone they knew (other than in Michelle’s book) in a novel?

    Liked by 1 person

  16. I don’t think I have, Janice. I know some relatives that were mentioned in memoirs or had books written about them by non-family members.

    Like

  17. Oh good, Chas can finally join us for Christmas. Thanks Peter. 🙂

    Hey, Black Friday isn’t what it used to be. We weren’t even planning to send a reporter out for it this morning, which is a first (though a photographer I was working with on Wednesday was lamenting that she’d have to go out early to shoot some of the lines so we’d at least have some kind of visual). The editor said there’s no real “story telling” left anymore in that event that has dwindled in recent years.

    One year we sent a reporter out who wrote the whole story in poetry. He was a good writer and could get away with that. The amazing thing was that the editor let it go through. 🙂

    But Black Friday starts days early and is spread out more now — and let’s face it, most people shop online. I suggested to our photographer who was having to go out that she get a photo of someone standing off to the side of the line ordering something on their smart phone.

    Those who go out for the Black Friday “experience,” though, have a good time doing that, it’s a family or group experience most of them plan for and have fun doing. I can’t imagine doing it, but I’ve talked to and interviewed enough people to see that the pre-dawn excursions, complete with coffee thermoses and blankets, is the main attraction for them (topped off with getting maybe a single something they set out to get, whether it’s a TV or something else that’s somewhat pricey). They love the camaraderie and the challenge of planning out their strategy.

    I know, go figure.

    I did order a new Levi jacket the other day online for half off which was a really good price. But going out to the mall or a store today would feel painful for me. (Our former office was across the street from the area’s huge mall and it would always be packed on the day after Thanksgiving as we arrived for work.)

    Kim, I felt bad for the restaurant crew where we went yesterday. The place was jam-packed, both with people waiting for tables and with a mob trying to pick up their “take-home” Thanksgiving dinners they’d ordered in advance. Good thing the staff was all young. 🙂 I hope they were given some generous holiday pay for the day.

    Today is my cleaning and prep day for the yet-to-find decorations that remain lost somewhere in the garage.

    Liked by 1 person

  18. I will say that some folks volunteer to work the holidays precisely for the extra pay. I did that a number of times through the years as a reporter (though I only worked one Thanksgiving day; but lots of 4th of Julys, Memorial Days, New Year’s Days, etc., in those years).

    It paid off because the company used to offer some very generous money for volunteering for those shifts; the shifts also tended to be short and not particularly difficult unless some big crime story broke on your watch, which seemed to be rare.

    But there is no more extra holiday pay now. The new owners/management simply offer a “comp” day — work the holiday at your regular pay and take another day off in exchange. That’s not really worth it for most people to give up a holiday. But a few will step up and volunteer anyway; we’re able to get by on a skeleton staff considering we have 11 papers throughout the region and a few people can make that work with lots of copy sharing.

    Liked by 1 person

  19. In defense of an “early” Christmas

    https://www.nationalreview.com/2019/11/let-christmas-come-early/

    _____________________________

    CULTURE
    Let Christmas Come Early
    By MICHAEL BRENDAN DOUGHERTY
    November 22, 2019 4:55 PM

    ~ The commercialism of Christmas seems almost like a relief from the toxic stew of politics and social media. ~

    Complaints about the ever-earlier Christmas displays in malls and shops are a kind of American cliché at this point, along with complaints about the madness of Black Friday shopping after Thanksgiving. …

    Normally, I love joining these complaints. In most years, my household would be grouped among the Advent snobs. This is a group of elite, friendly Americans who hold onto the conviction that there are twelve days of Christmas, and they begin on Christmas Day. The debate rages in our set about whether to bag the season decor after twelve days, or whether the Christmas season lasts until Candlemas, which is February 2. Advent snobs get to believe that their complaints about ever-earlier Christmas commercialism is rooted in deep, liturgical principles that reflect the metaphysical order of the universe.

    But not this year.

    A few days after Halloween, my wife walked in and remarked on the Christmas decor at Target. I had noticed the Christmas titles creeping up on our streaming services too. And we could see Christmas coming upon us in all its red, green, and gold tinsel fury. … My wife noted those commercial displays that were “already” up, and paused before daring to say: “I don’t hate it.”

    And surprising myself, I thought: I don’t either.

    … I think it has to do with our politics and social-media culture. We’ve had four years of Donald Trump and hatred of Donald Trump, culminating in this impeachment. Surely if you use Facebook or some other social-media tool, you’ve worried about a friend or family member who seems to be losing their mind, one way or another, over politics. …

    … At least the commercialism of Christmas carries within it news of “joy” and “goodwill to men.” And in a time of great change, it offers us stodgy, solid traditions. In a dark mood, it blares in with a message of light. …

    … So let it come. Break out the jazzy crooner Christmas albums. Deck the halls, find a new recipe for Chestnut soup. Let the women put on those cheesy rom-coms. And let a little of the joy come early. I think we need it.
    ___________________________

    Liked by 2 people

  20. Speaking of tipping. . .Nightingale was just saying yesterday that she tips very well (even 25% in less expensive places where the wait staff may not make much in tips). Waiters and waitresses do not get paid minimum wage, so their tips are their livelihood. I think the standard minimum for servers here is a little over $2 an hour.

    Years ago a waitress friend of mine tried to explain to me that they also were taxed on each customer bill, so if they didn’t get tipped, they ended up paying more than they made for that particular customer.

    Liked by 1 person

  21. This is the first LA Thanksgiving my EMT hasn’t worked–she enjoyed double time and all the food spreads at the hospitals–after she had dinner with all her relatives beforehad! This year as management, she has two days off and is enjoying herself. (With the same relatives).

    Stargazer flies home tomorrow from Vietnam where he has been working. She’ll pick him up at LAX, drive him to northern San Diego where he lives and get all the stories.

    I’m glad I’m not driving anywhere today!

    Liked by 2 people

  22. “They” have been complaining about Christmas starting early for many centuries now. Or even as long as I’ve been around.
    But this is earliest I can remember. Christmas, in the past, always started after Thanksgiving.
    As for buying on-line. That is the end of the malls. Elvera would hate that. Her recreation was rambling through the department stores, (like Belk in NC)/ And she almost always bought something.

    Liked by 1 person

  27. I need PJs and a jacket for a 6-year-old girl. Suggestions for what’s “in style”? I know jean jackets are back in a big way so I may go that route for the jacket, but PJs? I’ll start looking online. …

    And some crafty things also …

    Like

  30. Last time I was in a mall “just to look” with a girlfriend, probably last summer, I was bored stiff, but probably because all the styles were too young for me now 🙂

    Malls are trying to survive by turning to dining and entertainment venues, not as much retail. Our new waterfront development, yet to be built, is going that route as well, replacing what used to be quaint little shops with restaurants, indoor and outdoor dining along with park spaces and entertainment with live music, maybe a Ferris wheel overlooking the water.

    Like

  31. Yes, AJ I sent them for you to choose from. The ‘turn it around’ refers to how the photos are turned by Outlook to landscape when they are taken as portrait. Assuming you get them as landscape, whichever ones you post need to be turned back to portrait to be right. They are various shots of the interior of the Magnolia store in Waco decorated for Christmas sales. I don’t send expecting all to be posted, but just so you have choices.

    Like

  33. DJ, for a six-year-old it’s not what’s in style but what’s cute. I understand that unicorns are in for little girls, though. I think basically just something that has a nice “extra” element, like something sparkly.

    Like

  35. Although 6 may still be on the cusp. 🙂 Usually depends on whether they have older siblings. I always try for youngest ones left on the Angel Tree board but usually get a teen or pre-teen (a category which seems to start by 7-8 years around here in terms of tastes, seriously).

    Liked by 1 person

  36. I went to the high school play last night. It was a musical and the acting was great. But it had no content. And I know what they paid for the right to put it on. No lines that were really worth it for the kids to remember. I guess I feel that here because it is the only entertainment. A number of years ago the community put on Fiddler on the Roof. That was absolutely wonderful.

    Liked by 2 people

  37. Well, at least it wasn’t offense. Around here, the high schoolers seem to put on the most vile things they can get away with. 😦

    Taking Adorables to see a production of The Sound of Music tomorrow. That one, at least, should be okay.

    Liked by 3 people

  38. With Boy at his dad’s for the night, Nightingale is in decorating for Christmas mode. That includes rearranging furniture in the dining room to make room for a full-size tree. (She decided to have the tree down here this year.) Have to admit that made me start to feel a little overwhelmed, as I didn’t expect her/us to be doing this stuff tonight. (Still not feeling up to par.)

    Liked by 4 people

  39. We found a place to sit and wait for our dinner reservations. It isn’t bad but it is on Bourbon Street. Oh my the things I have seen. Not exactly my cup of tea. I didn’t like it at 21-22 and it hasn’t gotten any better

    Liked by 3 people

  40. I’ve spent the day in the kitchen where it turned out there was a lot to do. 🙂 Cleaned the refrigerator, stove, cleared out a couple cupboards, organized the dog treat bin, cleared off a bunch of stuff from the counters, did some tile & grout cleaning. The floor is next but I also need to finish swapping out a couple kitchen cabinet nobs I never got to — and then clean the cabinet fronts.

    Liked by 1 person

  41. I have a drawer with some old microwave dishes. Who needs those anymore? Regular dishes are almost all microwave safe. And “losing” those would free up a nice, deep cabinet.

    Liked by 2 people

  42. It is a dark rainy snowy late afternoon around here. I caught a 2 hour nap and my head feels so much better (sleep due to the Sudafed I have been taking!)
    Kizzie do you have an “off limits” area of the house just for you? Having a retired husband and an adult daughter living in this house I needed “my space”. I took over an upstairs guest room for my sewing room. In here I have a comfy rocking chair, tv , books, my sewing table and supplies and I escape here when I need to be alone.

    Liked by 4 people

  46. Dinner at GW Fins. Mr P had steak I had halibut. First I had a goat cheese and roasted beet salad. Both were good.
    It was delicious and a nice dining experience. Now for a good night’s sleep and home again, home again.
    I know Amos has missed me.

    Liked by 3 people

  47. NancyJill and Kare – When I realized she didn’t need me anymore (after I helped with a couple things), I moved myself into my living room and yes, I turned on some Christmas music. 🙂

    I don’t really have any place that is off limits, but they are good about giving me my space, especially in the evenings.

    Liked by 1 person

Leave a comment

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.