Less than 5 weeks away from Christmas ...
1. Maia came downstairs this morning, saw the snow on the ground outside, and immediately said, "Its Christmas! Ho, Ho, Ho!!" She the started singing Christmas carols. Considering we've already decorated for Christmas, we've likely brought this on ourselves; but, still, this is where we are at 34 days from Christmas.
I wrote a little last week about holding onto traditions, in whatever small way possible, through the holidays would be helpful to managing our mental health. In some respects, it feels like a fool's errand. If we were able to comfortably get together, we'd still be missing a chair. The loss of my father-in-law would be particularly difficult at Thanksgiving, considering he put so much work and effort into cooking the meal (the man would brine a turkey for over a week in preparation, he took it seriously). I don't know if having the holiday in such a way that it feels so different will make things more difficult or easier. Probably neither, if that makes sense.
On my side of the family, my parents are home for the fist time in a few years (having been snow birds the last several). But with my dad still just a couple weeks out of a long hospital stay due to COVID, and the increasing hospitalizations in both Indiana and Michigan, there is no responsible way of getting together. There's sadness in that fact.
In some respects, I feel the decision of staying home is easy, particularly in the philosophical moral sense. If one values the social contract, if one feels that among the freedoms we enjoy is also a responsibility to our fellow citizens and our community, then staying home is easily the right thing to do, regardless of the relative risk one might face from COVID or of transmitting the virus. Sometimes, being part of a community, a society, a town/state/country, means you sacrifice for the collective good, regardless of individual risk, to promote the collection action, to engage in solidarity. It seems like too many this year will not do so, and it is difficult for me not to characterize such actions as, for lack of a better word, selfish. It feels like we've bastardized the concept of freedom - both in a political and moral way - and shredded it to the point that is has no concept of responsibility.
In any event, we'll stay home, and since I have no real skill in making turkey, we will be having pot roast (a warm, hearty meal nonetheless).
2. On the health front, I continue my work. I walked on the treadmill 5 times this week, 2.5 miles each time on a slight incline. I continue to feel good about incorporating the routine, and have started noticing some slight physical improvements - i.e., better leg energy throughout the day. I am also now at two weeks without any caffeine intake, which I think is also helping with better sleep through the night. All positive developments to be sure. I have a long, long, long way to go; but I feel good about the progress I've made over the last three months and the commitment I feel to keep the better choices and turn them into habits.
3. I finished a couple books this week. First, Antiscocial: Online Extremists, Techno-Utopians, and the Hijacking of the American Conversation by Andrew Marantz. This was an excellent, informative, yet disconcerting read; but necessary, I think, to help understand our current moment and the challenges of our looming epistemic crisis. I also finished Calvin Baker's A More Perfect Reunion: Race, Integration, and the Future of America, which was also solid. I've started into Richard Powers' The Overstory, which won the 2019 Pulitzer for Fiction and is a book I've been looking forward to for awhile.
Onto Thanksgiving week. The lasagna mentioned in the post's title is tonight's dinner, a Crockpot Lasagna recipe we've made a few times and have really enjoyed. Recipe below.
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