Almost done with “the teens”

It only recently occurred to me that we are nearing the end of a decade.

Apparently the decade soon concluding will be known as “the teens,” while the one before that is “the aughts.”

Those are somewhat awkward labels and the decades will be easier to name for the remainder of this century, starting with the 20s.

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Christmas is upon us. Wife and I got the tree up earlier than we usually do, during the week right after Thanksgiving, which I realize these days is considered late.

For the first time in I don’t know how many years, we are not sending Christmas cards. I’m the one who always does them for us, and I usually try to get a family picture taken to include, and I often write a letter.

But this year I released myself. It’s not like I’m any busier or more preoccupied than usual; I simply didn’t get them done.

We tried taking family photos at Thanksgiving and they were not very good, so I decided to punt. There’s a chance we might try again next week and I’ll send New Year’s cards, but I would say the chances are 50-50. I know life will go on, but I really did miss doing the cards this year.

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We are still blessed to have everyone join us for Christmas. We will have our traditional international Christmas Eve celebration on the 24th (this year is Cuba!), and the married ones will spend Christmas Day with in-laws while Wife, Younger Son and I will spend a quiet day and go see a movie.

We will all gather back at our place on the 26th, which has become our day to celebrate Christmas. For the past several years that has worked well for us.

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I’ll be posting my year-end book reviews — non-fiction first, then fiction — soon, if not by the end of the year, shortly thereafter. I’ve read so many good books this year, it’s going to be hard to pick favorites. If I had thought of it sooner, I might have tried to pick favorites from the past decade, or “favorites from the teens.”