PRgal

Cuddle and Kind totally rocks. Every new baby in my family gets one! Which one did you get? My son has Max(imus) the cat and a few others, including a dog (he was born in the year of the dog).

Is anyone trying to put together a family tree? I have a good amount of info on my dad's side, but only the men. It's actually hard to get access to the women, thanks to millennia of patriarchal culture in China (kinship books basically only talk about men and the only kinship book I have access to is my dad's (male) line. I only know the maiden name of one of my great-grandmothers (my paternal grandfather's mom) and that name is Wong, so, well, good luck, honey). I've had AncestryDNA done, but it only showed 5-8th cousins. And because I'm female, I don't know for sure which side is which (it says "parent one" and "parent two"), though I think I can guess which side is which based on the origins of MY maiden name. And even if I had info, I would need a translator since I can't read Chinese. Not to mention the number of sources I'd need to go through if I WERE able to track down a few generations of the female line. As for my maternal grandfather's line, my dad doesn't think any records exist since he was a farmer. My grandfather may have been the first generation to attend school. Village scribes would have kept record, if at all, and since the Cultural Revolution was horrible and many documents, history and culture were destroyed, those records might not even exist anymore. :(. Wait, did I already mention this on another board?

There may not have been segregation laws but unofficial ones did exist, at least in Canada. There's a famous case of a woman who sat in the wrong section of a movie theatre back in the 40s, unaware that the main part of the theatre was for white people. Now back to the episode: This has GOT to be my favourite not just of the season, but probably the entire series. I don't know how much of it was true, other than the fact the princesses DID indeed go out for a night of fun on VE Day. I'm sure there were things that went on that the King and Queen never knew about, because, well, teenage girls will ALWAYS be teenage girls :) (but the mom in me was wondering about the very underage Margaret and her behaviour....)

I just found out about this show and have started watching. Surprised there's no separate thread/board!

Pizza is the cure-all. 😊. I’m the type who over does toppings. Fully loaded all the way. But my husband and I always disagree on toppings. I like veggies. Loads of it. My husband is always pepperoni, mushroom, bacon, green peppers. Sometimes he adds weird things like corn. I’m more like zucchini, eggplant, roasted red. Goat cheese. I will add meat sometimes (prosciutto - it’s one of the only versions of pork I eat. That and char siu), usually arugula and burrata.

@DearEvette😱😱😱😱😱 ohhhhh boy! At least she didn’t ask your other guests why they weren’t trying any of her things! Or basically plop a portion on their plates! Or did she?

Treat yourself to something! Get some ice cream (even if it's cold where you are), a cupcake. Maybe a nice dinner. Nothing wrong with dining alone. I did that many times before I met my husband. I was living with my parents, but they travelled a lot at that time, so I would go out. I thought I was "so grown up" getting to sit at the bar, sipping wine and having what I thought was a super-fancy meal. ETA: and HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!!

Nope, they're wild blueberries. I get them frozen at my local supermarket!

And Merry Christmas to all celebrating today! We had a wonderful Christmas Day baked French toast brunch (annual tradition).....

Yesterday we had an early Christmas dinner - turkey (well, breast, anyway), mash, stuffing, etc…dessert was a small birthday cake I found at the bakery (4” diameter!) since it’s my mom’s birthday on Christmas and she said she didn’t want a cake purchased the day before). Tonight (Christmas Eve) will be leftovers with a bit of salad.

Speaking of The Sound of Music, there’s a “super deluxe” recording featuring Christopher Plummer’s vocals! I’m not sure if it’s available in hard copy form yet, but it’s definitely streaming/digital purchase!

Too bad canned wine wasn't a thing back then. If it were, the aluminum pole would have been made with that. LOL

Whoa....God is Darth Vader? Ummmmm......

I think I've only seen ONE full episode of Seinfeld in my entire life, but HAPPY FESTIVUS!!! :)

With all the talk about "privilege" these days, I tend to keep my mouth shut unless I can sense it's the right circle. And even then, it's weird.

Speaking of deliveries, my building usually calls or messages me when something arrives and if something supposedly arrived but I never got a message from them, I know something’s up. Yesterday, I placed an order from Sephora for skincare products and it was for same day delivery. 24 hours later, I still didn’t have it. I checked my account and it had arrived. Turns out it went to a different building and I had to speak with Sephora twice to get a refund. The first time, it was on chat and they said to call the store it came from. The store then said there was nothing they could do and to contact the delivery service (which in this case was DoorDash). DoorDash couldn’t do anything since it wasn’t directly linked to my DoorDash account. Contacted Sephora again and finally got my refund!

We don't see Edward's kids, likely because Louise was under 2 and James didn't even exist in the last episode!

Whoa, that dorm drop-off scene was awkward. But Charles probably IS awkward in real life, so I didn't have trouble believing it.

I spent most of elementary school at a Catholic school, so of course, it was religious. We sang more 20th century, "commercially" type Christmas songs too, but it was mostly traditional and religious ones like Silent Night and Away in a Manger. Middle and high school was at a historically Anglican school, so again, more of a religious focus even though the student body was more religiously diverse than the Catholic school. I know that some non-Christian students were involved with the school's annual Nativity, whether it be the choir, as actors or as crew. As far as I was concerned, no parent of a choir member (the entire choir was involved, regardless) objected and asked for their daughter to be excused (probably because the kid wouldn't have joined to begin with).

We have an electric menorah. I'm wondering if they should start selling menorahs blue and "regular" coloured bulbs just to add some colour to the eight nights. And more rainbow sufganiyot!

This sounds like my MIL who freaked out when my husband had to hold a wreath at a school holiday performance when he was a child (it was the 80s). I'm a firm believer of sharing all cultures and had trouble understanding why it was even an issue. I suppose it's because Chanukah wasn't even acknowledged much in the 80s? Truth be told, "winter" (or ANY season) wasn't acknowledged at all at my son's recent school concert. For us as a family, we do "Christmukah" and next year, it'll truly be Christmukah since the first night is December 25th (so yes, this means 2025 will see two Chanukahs).

Well, it was the late 90s, so it would have been some dot-com scheme.

Sorry about the paywall! I got the link from my phone's app, so I guess I wasn't able the gift!

Another addition to the traditional carols playlist is Christmas at Downton Abbey (this is a Spotify link). Some of these songs were also used at my alma mater's annual Nativity production (they just had their 95th this year. I was, unfortunately, unable to attend. I haven't gone since before my son was born! May take him next year). If you have Apple Music, you (might) be able to get the full Nativity album from my alma mater that was recorded in 2016...long after I graduated).

Something interesting from the Wall Street Journal in an article about being delusional (or “delulu” as the kids are apparently calling it) when it comes to the job search: https://www.wsj.com/lifestyle/careers/crazy-career-moves-delulu-is-the-solulu-7020b615?reflink=integratedwebview_share thoughts on this?