#MicroblogMondays: Bah humbug? Or hohoho?

It's December. It's Christmastime. Quite possibly my favourite holiday of the year. 

But... 

I'm trying, but I'm not feeling the joy yet. :p  

• I like to put the tree up on the first weekend of Advent, if possible. It's still not up.  Dh has had a bad cold for the past few days (wouldn't take a covid test, and it's probably too late to do it anyway...), and he's miserable.. and I need his help to assemble the tree and haul the boxes of ornaments upstairs from our storage locker in the parking garage. Maybe tomorrow... 
• I have more shopping to do, and we usually go to the mall on Tuesdays, but likely not tomorrow, because, see above. 
• I'm feeling the itch to do some Christmas baking -- but we're trying to lose weight a lower our cholesterol. Sigh...
• I haven't bought any Christmas cards yet. (Those of you I send cards to, take note!)  Canada Post is on strike -- has been for almost 3 weeks now. It seemed kind of pointless to buy cards when I'm not sure if or when I'm going to be able to send them out. I don't think I've EVER NOT sent cards out at Christmastime (and I started doing my own when I was a teenager, I think?).  
• We haven't had a single flake of snow yet (which always makes things feel a bit more Christmas-y). 
• (On the other hand, the Muskoka region/cottage country, about two hours north of us, and western New York State, across Lake Ontario, have been WALLOPED over the past few days. We're talking 100-140ish cm/50-60 INCHES in some places.  There has to be a happy medium, right??)
• (Maybe I should be careful what I wish for?!  lol)  
• BIL & SIL are heading off to Florida this week with his & dh's cousin and his wife. We were invited to go along, but declined -- not a good time, for various reasons -- but a week in the sun would have been nice... (perhaps another time...). 
• For reasons anyone reading this blog likely understands, I am feeling nervous about Older Nephew's Wife's impending due date, and hoping/praying/crossing all the crossables that everything goes well for both mom & baby.  

On the bright side: 

• I enjoyed the American Thanksgiving weekend. :)  I'm Canadian, so I wasn't celebrating (and dh's cold put a damper on things) -- but there was a definite lull in online activity and, as a result, I was able to catch up on a lot of reading (both online & off). 
• I did put up my Advent calendar. :)  I bought a new one two years ago. It's a Christmas tree with velcro strips on it, and little "ornaments" (backed with velcro). I love "hanging" a new ornament on the tree every morning.  :) 
• I bought some cheerful new seasonal placemats (woven, with red and white checks and Christmas trees) that make me smile every time I put them on the table. 
• My favourite sterling silver jewelry maker personally delivered my box of her specially curated Favourite Things 2024 yesterday -- 12 carefully curated and beautifully wrapped surprises (including several pieces of her jewelry, as well as things she loves from other local craftspeople) -- such a great treat for myself!  
• (It used to be an "Advent Calendar," with 24 packages... obviously, that was a LOT of work for her to put together -- and more expensive for us to buy -- so she downsized last year to just 12 days' worth of goodies.  It's still worth it!)

Are you feeling the Christmas/holiday spirit yet? 

You can find more of this week's #MicroblogMondays posts here.