This is Puck. Dave and Maren’s new dog. Yep, she’s another Covid canine. They’ve only had her for a few weeks, but they all seem to be adjusting well. Dave, Maren and Puck have just spent the holiday at Maren’s folks house, in upstate Geneva, New York. There were eight people (Dave, Maren, parents, two brothers and their significant others) there, along with four dogs. Puck must of thought that she had died and gone to dog heaven.

Maren’s family took precautions. Maren works at MIT and when she is working on campus gets tested several times a week. Dave works from home and gets tested by proxy, through Maren. The rest of her family were also tested. One can never be sure about such things, but by two-weeks, we’ll know for sure. We look forward to meeting everyone in real life, next year.

Here west of the Mississippi, we are emptying Tupperware of their leftovers faster than a theater empties after someone yells fire. Thanksgiving is now firmly in the rearview mirror and receding fast. Decemberists onward! Yep, Christmas is fast approaching. Followed quickly by New Year and then goodbye 2020. Don’t let the door hit you on your way out of town and don’t come back.

We’ve started decorating for the holidays. Needing some more ambiance, we put up our interior lights before Thanksgiving. Yesterday’s weather was unusually balmy and unlike more guys than I care to count, I didn’t take advantage of the fine weather to lounge around on the front porch in shorts, but instead put up our exterior lights. I wasn’t alone in this activity. The tell-tale metallic creaking of aluminum ladders could be heard until after dusk. My display is more down to earth though. No climbing of ladders for me, thank you very much.

I also put out the bird feeders. We have two shepherd’s crooks to hang them on and to mix things up a bit this year, we are placing one in the front yard. This way we can see birds in the morning from our bedroom window and birds in the afternoon while dining. The backyard feeder was immediately open for business, but the new front yard placement has yet to attract any action. I’m not worried though. They’ll come. If pigs had wings, we would also have to call them birds.

We will not be going anywhere for the holidays this year. This is a first in I don’t know how many years. So, we are going to get a tree, for the first time in about the same number of uncounted years, probably tomorrow. In preparation for its arrival, I will first descend, down, down into the dungeon looking for a certain trio that inhabits those dank depths. Lurking are three huge hulking tubs of purple. Laid end-to-end they appear as segments in the shadows. Segments of that dreaded D&D monster, the purple worm. Roll to save!

Actually, this gargantuan monstrosity is much sought after by adventurers. With its high experience point value and excellent treasure class it is met with joy by most party members, some even vie to be the first one swallowed whole (think Men-in-Black), and soon becomes the bane of any self-respecting Dungeon Master. I, in my dual roles as DM and a party-of-one, will make quick work of mine. Disjointing its segments into manageable bite sized bits. Then one-by-one, hauling its carcass to the surface, popping open its tubs and disgorging the magic that is Christmas… Sorry about going down this wormhole. This is not exactly a Hallmark ending, but then it is still 2020, don’t-ya-know.