Merry Christmas Eve!

 Merry Christmas Eve everyone!  Today was good.  Slept in til 7:30, and then I woke up, did a bit of cleaning, wrapped all the presents, baked peanut butter cookies for my brother-in-law, and got ready for the day's festivities -- my Aunt hosted at their house at 1.  I almost was late, because the high winds -- which made my driveway appear nearly bare of snow -- had instead put all of it into an 18-drift about two feet from my garage.  I didn't pay attention to it til I tried to leave the garage, whereupon I stopped, even with 4WD.  So off I went to shovel -- despite the cold and the winds -- and eventually I cleared a path.  Oi.  At least I didn't have a coronary.  To be sure, much of the snow came off in chunks, which was sort of heavy to move, but at least easy to flick out of the way.

Then off to the fest, where just ate, chatted, exchanged presents, and watched the Browns (first game I have watched all year).  Ate way too much, of course -- my uncle is quite the chef, and the apps were kickass, as always.  While dinner was much less extravagant than usual, it was still good, and I even have some leftovers for tomorrow.  Getting up the driveway, thank God, was quite easy... I had 4WD on, but I don't think it was necessary, as most of the roads were good, and the snowdrift had not reappeared.  Still a bit cold, even though I wore extra layers.  Oi.  As always, anyone who wants to tell me about global warming should get punched.

https://www.wsj.com/articles/white-house-looks-at-increasing-benefits-to-lure-americans-back-into-workforce-11671574992?mod=hp_major_pos1#cxrecs_s

Oh, I don't know; these are good, but without slicing and dicing the generous unemployment and welfare benefits that people receive, I think these efforts will be...incomplete.  To be sure, as I often say, I work with these people, and most of them you don't want in your store/shop in any capacity, but on the other hand, there are jobs available, and people need to fill them, like it or not.  I can assure you that for many of them, a swift return to the workforce -- to be followed by unpleasantness if they do not or can't cut it -- is exactly what many of these people need...as does the country as a whole.

In other news, I celebrated the new issue of entries to the National Film Registry by watching one -- the two minutes of footage from the 1898 Mardi Gras parade.  I do like these sorts of things -- snippets of the past -- and this brings me to 799 on the list, and we all know how I feel about progress and getting things off a list, no matter the actual achievement...