YES!

I went wide and cropped hard and it uploaded just fine. 

Nissemen are a traditional Danish decoration for Christmas. Who made this? Not my great grandmother, because her cross-stitch was so good you could have trouble telling the front from the back. I have pieces done by her in a red box and I look at it every few years and admire her work. (No one will get it when I die. That is depressing. Does anyone have children just to leave family heirlooms too?) I bet my grandmother made this. It is part of a set of two little Christmas wallhangings. 

There is a company here that does your handyman work. Karen's dad met the owner in a hardware store eons ago and we became clients before he became too busy to accept new clients. I call them our husbands and they think that is hysterical. It is great to be able to just give them some tasks and know it will get done, and get done well, or be fixed with no hassle. Today was our appointment and we did not have him come inside and fix the shower so it doesn't leak. We can't open the window in that bathroom to keep airflow going and Karen's mom doesn't want us to risk bringing Covid to NY. She was getting a bit too lax for a while but with rising numbers she's resumed being cautious in the ways she can while still seeing the family who live nearby.

It is all a balancing act. We balance our need to be together with our need to be apart and figure out what things we can temporarily give up and what prices are too dear. The risk from letting people pet Samuel is not zero but it is incredibly small and it is important to his happiness so I allow it. Some people will see family this Thanksgiving because the need is so great. It isn't a good holiday for me so it is easy for me to be home for it, but it is a major holiday for most Americans, so important that people put up with relatives they really can't stand. Everyone is terrified about the ramifications of the holiday this year. I don't know if we are terrified about the mental health ramifications of people not seeing their relatives this year. 

When our marriage became legal we had a party. A dear friend had returned to Sri Lanka. She attended the party through the computer. I have a picture of everyone gathered around the cake, including her face on the computer screen. See how ahead of our time we were? 

Zoom has eliminated the time limit on free accounts for Thanksgiving. I hope that many small celebrations will be combined with open laptops, streaming multiple homes, and helping as many of us to feel connected as possible with no droplets or aerosols. 

But if you celebrate Thanksgiving, I hope you are with at least one someone.