Holiday Blog Post (Patreon)

Happy holidays everyone!  Christmas and Hanukkah and Yule and Kwanzaa etc are over, but New Years is yet to come, so it's not too late for holiday greetings.  I thought I'd write up a little (well, probably long, I'm very wordy) blog post about how my Christmas went, some New Years resolutions, and so on.

Christmas was really nice.  I spent it with my household as I do every year, and we exchanged gifts as we do every year.  Unfortunately my wife also worked as she does every year (her co-workers beg off saying they have to spend time with their families - as if she doesn't, blarg), so we opened gifts on Christmas Eve instead.  She was able to work from home at least, but since she's support she's tied to the phone which only sits on her desk, so.  I made sausage gravy and biscuits for Christmas breakfast/lunch, as I do every year (a holiday tradition from CassioBunny's childhood that I try to upkeep so that she has some positive Christmas experiences - Christmas is tied up in trauma for her so I try really hard to keep it chill and unobtrusive while injecting as much positivity as I can), and came out really well - I used Italian sausage instead of country pork this year and I'm really happy with the flavor, definitely gonna do that from now on.  My housemate Nyghtwulf/Kyr cooked dinner with a big turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes, gravy, and veggies, and it was delicious, and we're STILL eating leftovers (though the turkey and stuffing have been finished off by now).

Christmas gifts!  I'll probably miss a few here but what I remember... From my housemates I got a Kindle Fire, (almost) the full set of Dark Crystal figurines (the one that wasn't there is so rare that I've never seen it for sale), and Zig watercolor brush pens.  Pretty sure I'm missing a few smaller ones there but I have a memory like a sieve.  From my wife I got Lisa Frank coloring books, Lisa Frank stickers, noise-cancelling ear muffs with robots on (gonna be super useful for cons), and a set of Copics.  From my other partner (Goopypanther/Hale) I got a box of very fancy chocolate truffles.  From my parents I got brush pens, a Shadowscapes coloring book (which I've been practicing with my Zigs on, though they don't blend super well on that paper), and a Dreamscapes instructional book I didn't have yet (Shadowscapes and Dreamscapes are both by Stephanie Pui-Mun Law, one of my favorite artists).  They also sent our household a giant box of cookies and brownies, which is nearly gone now.  I also gave out gifts to all my housemates (Cassio pitches in and I pick stuff out to be from both of us), to Cassio, to Hale, to my best friend Jess and her family, and to Poid (Cassio's gf).  I blew out my finances gift-shopping, unfortunately, and extra unfortunately my streams have been really sparse this month so I haven't been able to fully catch back up yet.  I still owe the wife for MFF costs too so I'm getting fussy over money, even though I know she would never demand more from me than I can afford and is happy to get us both by if I can't afford rent etc.  So it goes.

New Years will be spent with my household, though I'm not sure if we're doing anything special - we typically hang out on New Years Eve and stay up over midnight for the count-down, but it's a work night for some people this year so I'm not sure if they'll be able to stay up that late.  Resolutions!  I want to improve my style to get it somewhere I'm happy with, as well as improve my anatomy and add more realism to my work.  I want to practice traditional art more, as well as sketch more and draw more for myself.  I want to do more gift art and trades (and get better at completing trades quickly).  I want to keep improving with my self care and lose at least 20 lbs this year (though 30 - 40 would be even better).  AND I want to get and wear more interesting clothes and makeup, and queer it up a little more.  Ideally I'd also like to get top surgery but that depends on how my consult with the surgeon goes - they may not be willing to do it at my current weight, though I do have avenues I can explore to go over their heads and get it done anyway.

What about you guys?  How did your Christmases go, if you celebrate, or other holidays, or just your end of December?  Any plans for New Years?  What are your resolutions?  Talk to me!