Written on Christmas Eve 2024:

"I'm home from Dennny's now, I just enjoyed some coffee and apple crisp by myself (as usual). I spent some time there looking at the tree they have decorated & thinking about how I'd like to have a tree for myself next year. I tried to see if Billy wanted to do a small sesh tonight, but I texted too late & he's already turning into bed. I'm thinking about the past & how it both haunts and inspires me. I'm thinking about how any nice things I experienced in the past can still be carried with me into the future... such as Christmas trees, something I largely considered a relic from my past. But right now, I think I would like to have a nice low-key 2025 year, one day at a time, and that requires me to not be haunted by my past any further.

The religion I was raised with in the past is not my own. But my true religion can and does include everything and anything wonderful that the old religion ever had. I can carry those things forward with me into the future. I don't need to abandon the past entirely. I just need to find a way to exist comfortably in the present... or else my future will just continue to be colored by the past. I hope 2025 turns out to be a good year. Only time will tell, though.

The rest of tonight will be spent listening to Christmas music on the radio and continuing to binge-watch Ghost In The Shell: Stand Alone Complex; maybe another walk around the block with Medusa will be in order as well. I'm looking forward to a potluck with my coworkers tomorrow. I just wish I knew what to bring!"

Narrator Voice: *she did not, in fact, bring anything to the potluck, because she dropped the ball and all the stores were closed by the time she came out of her shell. But her friends were very glad to see her anyways, and did not mind one bit... the best Christmas present of all!*