So, this is Christmas...

... and what have I done? Not a blessed thing. I have been felled with a cold. It started on Tuesday night and was in full bloom by yesterday. So today, as I did yesterday, I'm going to burrow in blankets, cough and sneeze, watch a lot of TV and be very quiet. Which is exactly what I wanted to do anyway (minus the coughing and sneezing part). I will probably push myself out the door to make a quick run to the pharmacy; last night when I dug through the bathroom drawer to find nasal spray, I discovered that mine had expired in 2012.

And guess what? Sure enough, John did receive a last-minute invitation (yesterday) for Xmas dinner with his family tonight. Big of them. Too bad, so sad, I'm too sick to join him. :-)

Things have settled down a bit after all the upheaval last week. My stepsister was driving me nuts, calling me once or twice every day, but now she hasn't called for the past two and I'm relieved. My stepdad had a will, and she said that I'm in it (which surprises me, considering I'm not his child, but that's the kind of guy he was) but I doubt he had much of anything left after all the years of my mother's care and then his own. It's OK. As for John's mother, that will be a lot more complicated, what with all her stuff and the money and so forth. I guess there will be a memorial sometime soon, but we'll deal with that when it happens. 

Before I got sick, I got to see Steve for some much-needed stress release. Even though I'd apologetically told him that I wasn't doing gifts this year, he still showed up with some chocolate cake and a gift card for Target. On the card, he'd written "To: TBBITW  From: YLT." Can you figure out what that means? It took me less than a minute. We had a wonderful session and he held me for a long time afterward. I crave the nurturing as much as the spanking, maybe even more so now. Then again, for me, spanking is part of the nurturing. Perverse creature that I am.

Oh, and another gift this week. After nine weeks of my right eyebrow being completely frozen, I have movement!! Not a whole lot, and nowhere near as much mobility as the left one, but it's coming back. What a relief! My doctor had told me repeatedly that it would come back eventually, that nerves take a long time to regenerate, and I believed him... but it was still unnerving, having a part of my face that didn't move. So now I really do feel like I'm on the road to recovery. The sides of my face and my ears are still semi-numb, but they also hurt, if that makes any sense. There's still a lot of healing going on. But I am so, so much better, my smile is fully back, and I no longer feel like the bride of Frankenstein. :-) Last night, John sang to me on the phone: "On the second day of Christmas, my true love gave to me: Two working eyebrows!" Hey, I'll take those over the freaking turtledoves. What the hell is a turtledove, anyway? A dove that flies really, really slowly?

This year, Spank Chief John Osbourne took over the annual spanking awards that The Spanking Spot used to do. I had been nominated for best Creative Blogger, but because of everything that was going on with me, I didn't bother posting about it. I never win these things, nor do I expect to. Being nominated feels nice, though. Yesterday, he put up the first results with three of the categories. In Creative Blog, Alex won first place! :-) Second place was Pandora, another great choice. And third place? Yours truly. I couldn't be happier, honestly. It's lovely to be in such good company.

I don't know how long I will be cooped up here, because I don't want to expose John to my cold, so I may have to forego heading there tomorrow night. He is in such a weakened condition right now, and any illness, even a cold, would knock him down hard. But hopefully, we can have some fun soon. Meanwhile, I'm reflecting on friends and loved ones, and hoping everyone is enjoying their holiday, whatever they may be doing.

I don't have a current photo for you, so here's a festive one from last year. :-)

Thank you to everyone who reached out to me this past week. I wish you happy times and peace. Be good to one another. ♥