Last week was Mom’s birthday dinner. She came down with The Brother to Ward Manor. Original plan was to order some barbecue from a local shop. Which went awry when I found out that the place was closed for the entire week. Alternate dinner plans were hastily made with DoorDash.

Mom had The Wife for the family secret Santa. The Wife and I couldn’t make the family holiday party, so Mom brought her present for The Wife to the birthday dinner. Two pieces of uranium glass – and a small black light to make them phosphoresce. Dinner was good, and we played a pretty decent card game. Late night, but a good night.

Saturday, the plan was for Mom to come down to join The Wife, MIL, and me to go to Manatee Historic Village’s Old Florida Christmas. So, we came down to for breakfast to find the main television had taken a dump. Refused to turn on. I’m not an expert on televisions, so we consulted The Wife’s niece. Using his advice, a new tv was purchased, and he agreed to come hang it. Still, it was a fucking bit of frustration. And a non-inconsequential sum of money. Thankfully, it’s that time of year for sales.

The Old Florida Christmas was more bustling this year. Some purchases were made. Then we headed to Hobby Lobby. Because of course we did. Lunch/dinner was at Olive Garden after MIL stated she had never eaten in one.

Monday, The Wife’s nephew came over to hang the new television. Pulled the old one down, took off the rails, started to put them on the new tv – and the screws are the wrong size, No, none of my screws will work. Nephew is coming by later in the week to install the new dishwasher, so he’ll bring the proper screws then. I start going through the small parts bag. Huh, Sony has these spacers – just to make it easier to hang the television. So, now we have a brand new OLED tv. The Wife is ecstatic with how it looks.

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