525th Friday Blog Roundup

It’s Chanukkah. I’m actually really not a fan of Chanukkah in general. It’s sort of a nothing holiday that has been given inflated importance because it falls on the calendar near Christmas. There’s not a lot you do for it: light the chanukkiah, eat fried foods, maybe play a round of dreidel.  See, not that exciting.

On the other hand, it’s frustrating to have holidays that are very exciting (Purim) or very fun (Succot) or very moving (Yom Kippur) or very holy (Rosh HaShanah) or very important (Pesach) and have people have no clue what most of those holidays are or what they’re about.  You know?  The world has latched onto Chanukkah, and some Jews have gone along with that wave.  But I’m not feeling it.  It’s just not my sort of holiday.  I’m fine with candles, but I’m definitely not a fan of fried foods.  And dreidel I only enjoy when you get a top that gives good spin.

Sometimes I think I do the bare minimum with Chanukkah just because the world around me is shrieking at me to do more with it.  To make it something it’s not.

This holiday brings out my contrary side.

I promise I’ll be back to my usual sunny self by the next holiday, Tu B’shvat.  Just kidding.  I don’t like trees, either.  But I’m totally excited for Purim.

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Stop procrastinating.  Go make your backups.  Don’t have regrets.

Seriously.  Stop what you’re doing for a moment.  It will take you fifteen minutes, tops.  But you will have peace of mind for days and days.  It’s the gift to yourself that keeps on giving.

As always, add any new thoughts to the Friday Backup post and peruse new comments in order to find out about methods, plug-ins, and devices that help you quickly back up your data and accounts.

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And now the blogs…

But first, second helpings of the posts that appeared in the open comment thread last week.  In order to read the description before clicking over, please return to the open thread:

• “12 Days of Christmas — IVF Version” (Amateur Nester)

Okay, now my choices this week.

Punch Drunk is back with a post lamenting that the blogosphere has changed.  And yes, it obviously has since everything changes, but on the same week that she posts this, Everyday Stranger returns with her Santa post.  A smart woman writing a smart post, and I love Santa’s point about antidepressants: “The pills only mute things, dearest. Even on mute, you are Someone.”  Two posts that drew me in.

A Half-Baked Life has a post about returning things and perfect gifts, and really, it’s about knowing yourself as much as it is about other people knowing you.  But I love this recounting of the perfect birthday gift, and how it makes her reflect on other gifts she has received over the years and her reactions to those that didn’t feel as if they fit.

The Bickerstaff Blog perfectly explains how she doesn’t spend all day thinking about her loss, but her loss affects her every day.  There are moments she feels sad and moments when she isn’t thinking about Malachi, but that loss paints the surface of her day-to-day life, the choices she makes, who she is at her core.  It’s a wonderful, brief post.

Lastly, Unpregnant Chicken has an amazing post about mourning a child who never was; a dream-child.  What it means to miss someone who was never here.  She explains: “When I miss a friend I can pinpoint the missing that I experience. I can vocalize it. People understand this missing, it’s real, tangible. I miss the coffee dates, the way they made a room light up, the soft hair on his cheeks… This missing is different. Slippery. Evasive. Unknowable.”  Go over and read the whole post.

The roundup to the Roundup: Not really a fan of Chanukkah.  Your weekly backup nudge.  And lots of great posts to read.  So what did you find this week?  Please use a permalink to the blog post (written between December 12th and 19th) and not the blog’s main url. Not understanding why I’m asking you what you found this week?  Read the original open thread post here.