825th Friday Blog Roundup

Merry Christmas if you’re celebrating. (Or, if you’re not, Happy Friday, as we like to say in our home.) I am currently the winner of the Little Drummer Boy Challenge. It turns out that if you’re not Christian and therefore do not listen to Christmas music in the home, and you are not going out and therefore never encounter it at a store, it is pretty easy to win the challenge. But, you know, it still feels good to win.

I am spending the day reading a Jasmine Guillory book with Beorn. He’s in suspense. Will they hook up? Will they not? I’ve reassured him that the book will have a happy ending because these types of books always do, but he’s not so sure. He runs back to look at the book every time I turn the page. He just wants Vivian and Malcolm to make this work and snog under the mistletoe. Is that too much for a guinea pig to ask for?

I hope you are having a relaxing day. I know this holiday is different. Hopefully, everyone will agree to a redo after vaccine completions hit a critical mass, even if it means having Christmas in September and then again in December. No rules in 2021.

Much love and hot chocolate.

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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:

• “Stop Giving Child-Free Women the Side-Eye” (Atta Girl/Medium)
• “To the Childless Woman at Christmas – I See You” (Gateway Women)
• “Yes, We Can!” (The Road Less Travelled)

Okay, now my choices this week.

My Lady of the Lantern has a tiny post on something she’s learned about herself this year, and it made me stop and think about what I’ve learned about myself, too. Things I probably would have said, “I can’t” to last January and yet did by the time March rolled around. Or discovering needs or boundaries. I really love this little post.

Infertile Phoenix wants to ask less of herself this year. (Smart!) Fewer obligations. Fewer demands. Fewer shoulds. She writes, “Obviously, I am depleted. I’ve been giving more than I’ve been replenished. I need to take a break. I want to make a conscious effort to do less, think less, expect less. When I do find myself thinking, I want it to be reflections on all the ways that I kicked ass this year, showing up and not shying away from life.” It’s a great gift we can give ourselves, as she points out.

Lastly, The Barreness has a post in two parts: one section written at the beginning of the month, one section looking back on it and reflecting. I love this part: “I guess this year has made it harder to see things in the future, dreams that were once easy to imagine are now muted with doubts and wonder if I can go far away again. I will think on my dreams, the ones I can’t imagine for myself and maybe something, somehow will manifest for the future.” This post made me sigh; the capturing of the passing of time and the passing of thoughts. Plus, I love how the words form a little Christmas tree at the end.

The roundup to the Roundup: Merry Christmas, if you celebrate it. 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 18 – 25) 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.