Lydia Schoch

Every year I slow down my production of new content here over the holidays. It’s the only blogging break I take in any given year, and it’s only ever a partial break.

There will be something special and silly on this blog on December 21.

Suggestion Saturday posts will continue to be new because of how much I enjoy working on them ahead of time. You can expect them as usual on December 19, December 26, and January 2. I went a little overboard on curating them this year, so look out for much more material than I’d typically give to you on a regular Suggestion Saturday entry. Haha.

Other than that, I’ll be sharing a lot of great posts from the past year here over the next two weeks on the normal Monday, Wednesday, and Thursday schedule. If there are any posts from me that you loved and I missed, feel free to share them in the comment section. I love hearing that kind of feedback.

Happy Holidays, everyone! I’ll be back to my regular routine on January 4.

Christmas Trees from Treat Studios on Vimeo.

The only thing I can tell you about this incredibly short film without giving away spoilers is that it’s about a man who decides to chop down his own Christmas tree.

Go see for yourself what happens after that!

One of the things that amuses me the most about this time of year is how many different types of desserts suddenly appear in my neighbourhood shops.

There are cookies, cakes, festive candies, pies, fruit cakes, tins of specialty hot chocolate, chocolate bars in a zillion different flavours, boxes of gourmet chocolates, candy canes, and a whole lot of other stuff I’m probably forgetting at the grocery store.

Our local coffee shops always have several seasonal drinks to offer. I can’t drink them because of my dairy allergy, but the combination of chocolate and various other flavours in them always smells so good.

Even our local drug store gets decked out for the holidays. By this time in December, I like to joke that they have more candy there than they have medicine.

I have a fairly strong sweet tooth, but even I get a little overwhelmed by all of the choices there are. This month I actually haven’t had any of my normal, seasonal treats that I typically pick up when they’re available . (Yet, that is. I won’t be sticking to my healthy eating habits 100% this month!)

It’s just too much sugar in too small of a time period. I’d rather spread out my treats evenly throughout the year than over-indulge for a month and then cut out every morsel of sugar and white flour come January 1st.

Not everyone agrees with me, though, which is why I want to hear how you handle this topic.

Regardless of what you do or don’t celebrate at this time of year, what – if anything – do you indulge in? Do you like to eat a lot of sugary things over the holidays and then drastically change your diet, or do you prefer my method of spreading things out? If your indulgence isn’t food or drink related, how do you decide when to experience it?

Here is this week’s list of blog posts and other tidbits from my favourite corners of the web.

Thinking Happy Thoughts via pinkmenotmom. What a wonderful way of looking at the world.

Welcome to Heaven. Heh. This was great.

Gun Violence vs. Mental Illness: Facts Don’t Matter via gabehoward29. Everyone should read and understand this.

You Call Them Holiday Letters…I Call Them Revenge via barbtaub. I vaguely remember my parents sending out holiday letters when I was little. I never got into doing this as an adult, though.

From The Life and Times of Strider Wolf:

Strider’s face flattened in panic. Caseworkers had explained it would be like this with him. He’d lost so much, any whiff of rejection set off bells of alarm. His traumas were as much a part of him as the trees he climbed or the magic brooms he fashioned from sticks.

From Who Will Greet You At Home:

The yarn baby lasted a good month, emitting dry, cotton-soft gurgles and pooping little balls of lint, before Ogechi snagged its thigh on a nail and it unravelled as she continued walking, mistaking its little huffs for the beginnings of hunger, not the cries of an infant being undone.

What have you been reading?

The British Broadcasting Company has a quiz on their website that measures three personality traits: narcissism, psychopathy, and Machiavellianism (that is, the desire to manipulate and control others).

The quiz takes 5 minutes or less. You’re supposed to answer the questions quickly and with your very first response to them. Don’t overthink anything.

Apparently, I’m shockingly saintly. Here’s the description of this category from the quiz:

Do you ever find yourself walking on water? Because you are shockingly saintly. You are a chink of light in a dark world.

Reading it made me laugh. I’ve never thought of myself as a saint before. Even revealing my score feels too much like a humble-brag. I almost didn’t post this blog entry at all. :O

But I would love to know how my followers did. How did you score? Have you ever heard of similar quizzes that test for other negative character traits

This is one of Pixar’s newest short films.

It’s about a lonely island who wishes he had a sweetheart.

I can’t say anything else about it without giving away spoilers.

Here is this week’s list of blog posts, essays, short stories, poems, and other tidbits from my favourite corners of the web.

5 Reasons You Shouldn’t Feel Bad About Not Talking To Toxic Parents via Gaby_Moss. My parents have always been wonderful to their kids. The lessons in this post apply to all kinds of relationships, though, which is why I’m sharing it with you today. Some relationships only work if you sharply limit your interactions with the other person. Sometimes they can’t be made to work at all. The sooner everyone realizes this, the better off we will all be.

Hidden in a Suitcase. Advanced warning: this isn’t a cheerful essay. It’s about addiction, incarceration, grief, and loss. It’s also about discovering who you really are, though, which is a big part of the reason why I enjoyed it so much.

All Weather Friend. You’ve heard of a fair weather friend, right? This is the exact opposite of that.

Honesty Is The Best Policy But Insanity is The Best Defence via CrazyTrain17. Sometimes this kind of tongue-in-cheek approach to life is the best way to approach things.

Just Men via Johncoyote. Wow, this was powerful stuff.

From Waking Awake:

It turned the body’s eyes to examine Enri, who sat very still in his cell. Enri knew, Sadie could see at once. She had never told him—she never told any of the children, because she was their caregiver and there was nothing of care in the truth—but Enri had always been more intuitive than most.

What have you been reading?

I’ve blogged about my struggles with procrastination and my inbox before.

Sometimes I’m pretty good at keeping it clear.

As of this moment, though, it’s overflowing again.

I really need to clear it out and get back to the people who have been waiting so patiently for me to respond, so that’s what I’ll be doing today.

In the meantime, I’d love to know what you’re struggling to improve in your own lives. How is it going for you? What do you do when you encounter a set-back?

This game tries to find out!

It’s a simulation of driving down a rural highway. There’s a red stop signal with a white hand that flashes on the screen after a few moments. The faster you tap any button on your keyboard, the better your score will be.

My scores gave me a driving age as young as 21 and as old as 46 once when I got distracted by one of the animals on the side of the road. (The driving ages range from 18 to 95 from what I could tell).

I’d love to know what your scores are!