Sunday21

As part of their contract negotiations with Santa, the United Elves Brotherhood has placed a temporary ban on deliveries to Canada. Perhaps you can bring your expertise to assist?

I feel there's a snappy Christmas tune in there somewhere...

I came home a few months ago to find two-fifths of vodka and two-fifths of rum on our counter. I wondered whether Sister Vort had made some, um, decisions of which I was not aware.
Turns out I was right. Sister Vort had decided to try out making vanilla extract, and the 80-proof vodka and rum were perfect for the job. She got some Madagascar vanilla beans, and several months later, we're giving out rum and vodka vanilla extract to our relatives. They're really cute, in little 6-ounce bottles with cool-looking stickers attached. If I remember, I'll take a picture and post it. (The first three words of the previous sentence translate to, "Don't hold your breath.")

Best soap ever!   MG is my generous soap benefactor, and has sent me soap on multiple occasions.  No idea why commercial folk can't make soap this good.

The sore loser speaks.
 

Please!  Shoes, schmoos.  Take her fountain pens!

Thank you for the clarification. Well let’s see what happens in the study. 
In my country, we have Welfare. This program is income support for people with disabilities, people in economically deprived parts of the country, temporary assistance for young mothers so we are already handing out money. I had assumed that the US had similar programs but perhaps I am wrong on that? We have a lower income pension for people over a certain age as well. 

Scents can remind you of...things...pleasant or unpleasant. These memories can help you cope with insomnia. I took neuroanatomy, not by choice, the area to do with scent weaves itself around the brain. 
Does some scent have a pleasant memory for you? Pumpkin spice? Peppermint? Lavender? Easy to find out. Go to a bulk barn or winners and sniff the bottles. Put a bit of that scent on your pillow, ban work/news/worry from the bedroom and the scent can help soothe you.

Scents can remind you of...things...pleasant or unpleasant. These memories can help you cope with insomnia. I took neuroanatomy, not by choice, the area to do with scent weaves itself around the brain. 
Does some scent have a pleasant memory for you? Pumpkin spice? Peppermint? Lavender? Easy to find out. Go to a bulk barn or winners and sniff the bottles. Put a bit of that scent on your pillow, ban work/news/worry from the bedroom and the scent can help soothe you.

As a matter of fact they do...somewhat. The hereditary peers are allowed to elect 93 of their number to sit and vote in the Upper House. But compare that with the 600+ life peers who were NOT born noble. Tony Blair tried to get rid of the hereditaries altogether, and the residual 92 were a temporary compromise he had to agree to. Their days are numbered - I reckon in another generation they'll be gone and irrelevant. Even now we don't think about them anything like as much as you seem to think we do.
Oh yes...absolutely. Every morning I put on my peasant's smock and go down to Lord Muck's pig farm, tug my forelock and say "OO arrr m'lord do you want me to shovel away all last night's pig muck, and then polish all the piglets shiny with patent piglet polish?"
Actually he was a prince, not a noble. (He only got a noble title after the marriage.) But your point is...?
You can lose a peerage. It's uncommon, but it does happen. You can do it voluntarily: Alec Douglas Home gave up his title Earl of Home in 1963 so he could stand for election to parliament. Tony Benn (Lord Stansgate) did the same thing the same year. Admittedly it is very uncommon for a peer to be stripped of their title involuntarily, but I think sooner or later there will be laws to allow this to happen more often. (A lot of people thought it should have happened to Jeffrey Archer after he got convicted of telling porkies in court!)
Also marrying into the peerage doesn't make you a substantive peer. If you were for example to marry Lord Muck you could style yourself Lady Muck - but it would be a title and nothing else. Most peers of any importance these days are life peers - they were appointed by the government and they vote in the Upper House. The closest equivalent to them are the US Senate.
To some very limited extent yes - but it's rapidly becoming a permanent nothing. If you don't have money and lands, what does it actually mean to be an Earl or a Marquis? Most of the great country estates collapsed during the 20th Century, and the few who are left are strapped for cash. Many had to marry into rich Anglophile American families to stay afloat. 
*BUUURRPP* It's a fing that's used to create objects, innit? 😁
 

@Vort  I guess I really am a Gentile...because there is no more magical animal than the glorious pig. And on the magic scale of 1-10 a turkey would be a muggle.

Ah yes, the curse of turkey. I wish some 8-year-old kid would yell from the roof top, "Turkey sucks! It's awful. It's dry, cheap, and has a distinctive flavor that must be covered up by gravy, special recipes, basting, infusions of butter, herbs, etc. Let's just admit it and move on!" [i.e. The Emperor Has No Clothes!]
My family succumbs though. We buy the smallest Butterball turkey we can, cook it properly, and everyone gets an obligatory bite or two, so we can say it was a Thanksgiving dinner. Then we move on to copious amounts of ham, and all the other good stuff.

Even though we went Vegan some years ago, I was able to "veganize" your macaroni and cheese recipe (still one of my family's favorite dishes )We will be having Gardein crispy tenders, mashed potatoes and gravy, macaroni and cheese, green been casserole, corn, dinner rolls and Daiya New York cheezecake for dessert.

We are likely found at a nearby Cracker Barrel

Despite the fact that his own party is trying to destroy his chances, I still think Biden is probably the best chance for the Democrats to win the general election.  In addition, he is somewhat more moderate than most of the other candidates and thus appeals to those that are not so far left as the fringes of the party.  Those Democrats (which I think are normally a majority) want someone who is more in the middle than the far left liberal side of the party.
I, of course, like Bernie far more, but I understand why many would prefer Biden.
I get the feeling there are those that do not want him in the running though. 

Our very favorite thing is having the primary sing. Having the primary do something ensures that parents attend. Seeing children do ...anything no matter how badly puts everyone in a great mood. We keep trying to tell the primary teachers that expertise is NOT the issue. We just like looking at the children.
Also no food that stains if you have carpeting. No purple grape juice or beetroot.
Feed the children and elderly first. (I always have a snack in my purse because this takes a while.)

I love the ham idea. We have turkey: messy, has to stay hot. Ugh. 

Learn from some troubles I've seen!
- If you're dispensing drinks from big water coolers on tables in the cultural hall, put a dang towel on the floor under it.  Not a bunch of paper towelettes from the bathroom, not a washcloth, but at least a dishtowel-sized towel - larger is better.  Otherwise, old people will be breaking hips and little kids will fall on their noses.  Lemonade and basketball court floors don't mix.
- If you let them, the kids will go through the line first and take all the good stuff.  A good solution seems to be to call folks to the food line by table.  Or have someone manning the tables to tell the kids "Go through the line with your family".
- Buffet-style is probably the best option.  Make it so people can go down both sides of the food tables.  Stacking the tables against the walls means the line moves half as fast.   If someone wants to get fancy and make plates and serve them, you'd better have at least 10 people manning the kitchen and 30 servers, or it will take an hour just to get everyone their food.
- Have someone assigned to empty garbage cans during the event.  Don't let the ward building look like Colorado Marijuana Day at the park. 

Our very favorite thing is having the primary sing. Having the primary do something ensures that parents attend. Seeing children do ...anything no matter how badly puts everyone in a great mood. We keep trying to tell the primary teachers that expertise is NOT the issue. We just like looking at the children.
Also no food that stains if you have carpeting. No purple grape juice or beetroot.
Feed the children and elderly first. (I always have a snack in my purse because this takes a while.)

Directions for a WoW-compliant CoJCoLDS latte:
1 mug of hot milk
1 Tablespoon of Postum*
2-3 teaspoons of sugar
Mix well
 
* Or whatever faux-coffee atrocity you prefer. 🙃

My guess would be...
Latte..

Oh this website (message above) is fun. Detail from Christmas traditions...
Turkeys had first been brought to Europe by the Spanish in the 16th century, but before steam they were not a holiday staple. Before the railways with their speedy transport, animals had been herded to market alive. Turkeys, however, were poor walkers: their feet were tender, and they needed to be fitted with little leather boots to protect them on the march..
.turkeys with boots! 

Beautiful comment sister. You're right about the Mormon community being amazing, we really are a family and I know I can trust any of them with my life. I don't want to keep everyone waiting for long so I think I'll just do minimal makeup or wear none at all. It will be a bit weird, but there's no other people in the world I would rather see me bare faced and drenched than my LDS family. Thank you!

Good Job you! Well done! ⭐️

This is my advice from observation:
1.) If you don’t have an all white washable dress/pantsuit, ask the missionaries for the jumpsuit ahead of time.  This way, you can go into church in the jumpsuit.  I wore my high heels with my jumpsuit.  Haha.  But most people just wear white socks/keds.  If the missionaries can’t give you the jumpsuit ahead of time, wear your Sunday clothes to the baptism and you can get into the jumpsuit right before you walk into the font.
Bring Sunday clothes (don’t forget matching shoes) and hang it in the bathroom that connects to the font.  Also bring towels and baby powder (dab yourself with baby powder so your Sunday clothes won’t be sticky on you in the humid bathroom.
Wear slip/camisole over your undies.  A lot of jumpsuits become see-through when it gets wet.
2.)  Hair:  The tight braid is the easiest.  You can get fancy with it.  I wore mine in an intricate french braid.  My niece wore hers in a braid ring around her head.  We both had flower and jewel inserts in the braid.  It gets wet and it still looks the same.  All I had to do was tap it with a towel to absorb the drips and that’s it.
3.) Make-up:  Waterproof mascara and cream foundation.  The rest you can touch up in a quickness.
Good luck and Congrats!