Post-Christmas odds & ends

• Back from Christmas holidays & slowly getting back to normal. It wasn't a bad Christmas overall, but every time I visit, I am more and more acutely aware that my parents are rapidly aging. (And so am I, to put it bluntly...!)  
• My angst around Christmas these days is not so much around my lack of children (because I've always had the comfort of returning to my childhood Christmas traditions with my family of origin) but more the knowledge that once my parents are gone, so will my holiday comfort zone, and then there will be some very dramatic changes to come... Many people make the break from their childhood Christmas celebrations and start their own when they get married and start families of their own... I never really have, and while I am glad I've had that comfort zone, especially in the wake of loss & permanent childlessness, I can see that it's going to be all the harder when the time finally comes to let go... 
• My mom went over to the neighbours' house after Christmas to see their visiting grandchildren. She asked if I wanted to come with her. I said no. She kept showing me photos of her friends' grandchildren & great-great grandchildren on Facebook the entire time we were there. Most of the time, I really don't need or want to see that stuff. I might know her friends, but I don't really know most of their kids -- & I don't need the constant reminders of my failure on that front... :p  (although I'm sure she didn't intend it to be taken that way). 
• We were having coffee at BIL's when we got back home, and he was talking about how we need some girls in the family... "Who's going to take care of us when we get older? These guys [his two sons/our nephews]??"  I thought, "You have two wonderful sons, and two beautiful daughters-in-law, and now an adorable grandson -- and YOU'RE worried about who's going to take care of YOU??  Who's going to take care of dh & me??"   I love my brother-in-law, but it was one of those thoughtless things that people with kids say without really thinking about who they're talking to. Eyeroll. (I mentioned it to dh after we left, and he said, "I knew you were going to say that!"  lol) 
• I am slowly catching up on writing and posting all the blog posts I had half-written and mulled over in my head, and am sllllooooowwwwwllly catching up on my blog reading & commenting too. 
• Mind-blowing meme on Facebook: 2050 is now as far away as 2020 was from 1990. (And my age then will be... oh, never mind...!)