December went out quietly and the year is complete. Holy crap the year was a brutal one, but it is over and done and as the great Snoop Dog once said, “we can chill to the next episode.” I have higher but still realistic hopes for 2025. Making for this month still wasn’t good. I didn’t finish anything and I stalled on the one thing that I started on. I am still working to find a spark that can ignite my want to craft again. Hopefully the new year will have some changes that can bring back some of that old part of me.

New cast ons:

Gingerbraid

Sock remakes for Feebs

Works in progress:

Shatar Vest

Highlights Dress (timeout)

Knithouse Cardigan

Kaylen Mesh Scarf

Barebones Mitts

Goals for next month:

Finish the mitts

Finish Feebs’ socks

Finish all purging/ cleaning projects

Find a happy project

Finish budget project

Well darling, not much happened in the making department this month. Actually, that’s not true. I had a bit of a realization. Due to the mental symptoms that include the shit memory and inability to have a concentration level above that of a goldfish, it occurred to me that any knitting project that I try to tackle right now will have to be incredibly simple and involve a lot of muscle memory. Hence I decided to pull out some socks I never wear because they are far too loose on me and rip them out and knit new socks for Feebs. She asked for new socks, and she loves the yarn so I am close to starting the heal on both socks since I am knitting them two at a time. I think I will have to stick with socks and hats, since I can basically knit them by muscle memory with very little counting or memorization. Hopefully once my treatments change I will get my cognition back and I can move back to more complex things. (Fingers VERY crossed!)

Let’s try to recall what happened in December, shall we? The first week was very mellow and was all about getting ready for the upcoming holidays. I felt prepared pretty early this year, which is very unusual for me, as I am always scrambling at the last minute. The second week got a bit more exciting with our work holiday party. Many people participated and it was a lot of fun. The following day was my doctors appointments for my usual 6-month treatment. This is the first time the Husband went with me so that was an eye opening experience for him. The dose was doubled by my new doctor and it took me out of commission for over the weekend and into next week. The Mother also had an eye doctor appointment where they cauterized her tear ducts that week, so we are a collective hot mess. The following week was a superfluous appointment with a dietitian who agreed that most of my issues are either life-long genetic or specifically caused by medications that I’m currently taking that will stop once I am able to stop taking the meds. I had a lovely “thank you” lunch with the work ladies for putting on a fantastic holiday party. They do an amazing job each year and it would be a fraction of what it is if they didn’t do it. Then I got a whole bunch of hair cut off in the crusade to get rid of all of the color-treated hair before April. My hair is currently short and choppy/ shaggy. It doesn’t look bad, but I am over it being short now. I seem to keep having her go shorter and shorter at each hair cut. I just want it gone so that I can be done with it and move on to my next stage, whatever that will be. The next day, Kennard came over. It was so good to see them. We always enjoy hanging out with them. They brought Feebs a Lego set for Christmas and she was so excited about it. We had Pakistani food for dinner and chill conversation and laughs. The day after that was the big Family Christmas party. It was really good to see everyone We saw all of the sibs, the cousins, and next generations. Everyone had a great time. As usual, we didn’t stay for the games, as usual, the Brother gave me shit about it. Oh well, a good time was still had. We had one day of rest, in which I started to get an itch to start to declutter and purge. We started with Feebs’ books and her room and closet (and didn’t it spin out from there over the next month!). The following night we had the Husband’s side gathering. It was awesome. We thought we were just meeting up with his cousin for dinner, but it turned out to be a bunch of them. That was Christmas week. I worked all week, since I was taking the following week off. We kept if very low key and stayed home for everything but dinner on Christmas day. The Mother came with us and we found a seafood place that was open. We cut back on gifts this year, but no one noticed and we all had a great day. We had SIL #1 and family over for snacks and Winter Comforts that week and had a great visit. We had the Silver cousin come stay for a the weekend and we always love her visits. I am hoping that she will be back a couple of times before she moves to Japan before next year. We had a couple of adventure meals with her and she gave me the coolest gift EVER! She was able to get the After Dark Games to work on my computer. I don’t understand her wizardry, but I know that she was able to do some kind of magic to get it to work, and I am sooo excited about it. I never thought I would get to play Roof Rats again! I always take the week after Christmas week off, so I was thrilled to be off for nine whole days. Unfortunately, there is always unfinished school work to contend with, but we did get it done in time to have some free days. Feebs and I got some errands done and we had some great mommy and Feebs time. We got to spend NYE with our favorite people ever and ring in the new year with chosen family. The Male O got a job, which was definitely something to celebrate. The girls got to celebrate their 10th NYE together. We got to spend a couple of days with the Father and have our traditional mini-golf night. I had dinner with the Female McC all by myself, which was lovely and much needed. Then the weekend was spent getting everything ready to head back to school and work. All in all, it was a really great week off.

December is passed and the year is over, and I say farewell to them both. 2024 will be summed up separately, but what a turbulent year. December felt like a bit of a waiting room, honestly. I have a lot of tests and appointments (hopefully with answers and game plans) coming up in January, so December has felt like a hurdle that had to be jumped. I am ready for calm waters and fresh starts in the new year and mind is set for a bit of peace. Thanks for the memories, December, but let’s move on.

Loves,

M

P.S. The Husband has reported that after forty-three years of life and thirteen years together, I have become a snuggler in my sleep. I am in complete disbelief and am very bothered by this.