WBEZ reported earlier this week that the hazardous situation with snow removal in Chicago is not only due to the record early snow, but also because 60% of the landscapers are not leaving their houses, afraid of being deported.
When I shared this news with Boris, he said: Let ICE agents do this! I said: It would be great, but on what grounds? Boris replied: Well, ICE is detaining people whom they call illegal because they believe they are taking jobs from Americans. Since apparently, nobody wants these jobs, ICE agents should be summoned to snow removal!
While this is unlikely to happen, I still think it’s funny enough to share:)
Aside from the Monday disaster and aside from the never-ending work crisis, things were looking pretty festive.
As I said, I didn’t go to the Knox party on Monday, which I now regret, but Igor and I decorated the tree. There was the Night Ministry Christmas Party on Tuesday (I volunteered there), but as usual – no pics until they post on their website.
At work, we had a bagel sandwich chief’s table (everyone could order their version of bagel sandwich with smoked salmon; this picture is very close to what I ordered).
On Wednesday, we had our building (not our firm) holiday party on the Landing:
After the party, I went to the Fannie May store and purchased chocolate to give to Anna’s family and to Mom (for her, I picked a custom selection with no nuts and no small particles, just cream filling). Also, I walked a little bit along Michigan Avenue and saw some holiday lights.
I also packed two more parcels, and baked holiday biscotti with cherries, almonds and peppermint chips.
Today, we had the Conscious Cup in our cafeteria from 7-30 AM to 10 AM, and we could get any drinks from them (same as bagel sandwiches, it is always free for us). First, I got a cappuccino with peppermint, and later – a latte with vanilla.
After work, I went to get my nails done to be ready for the corporate holiday party on Saturday, and then I did some almost-last-minute shopping in Target (and regretted the time wasted).
I hope to go skating tomorrow, and I know I won’t have time to go listen to the Caroling at the Cloud Gate, because I also need to visit my mom. Maybe next year 🙂
I am finally in a relatively calm state of mind to describe what happened on Monday.
I took Monday off because my many years of cookie shipping taught me that there is not enough time to pack and ship, especially when it comes to international shipping, and I end up having several sleepless nights and late shipments. This year, I decided to face reality:)
There was one more thing I planned to do on that day: as usual, I bought several gifts for the families in the transitional living program at the Night Ministry, but this year, there were multiple heavy items, so my plan was to Uber them to the Night Ministry in the middle of the day. Then I realized that I am running out of time to be able to do both mailing and Ubering to the Night Ministry, and besides, there were so many so heavy things that I started to doubt whether I would be able to load them into Uber. So I emailed a person with whom I coordinated the donations and asked her whether possibly someone from the office would be driving in my direction. She replied that she can pick up things and that she will message when she is close to me.
About five minutes before her arrival, I started moving things down because I realised I needed at least four trips.
I made two trips down with the heaviest things, met my neighbor, who was picking up her grocery delivery, and I helped her move her packages up, took the next portions, and went down. And then I could not believe my eyes: everything I had already moved to the vestibule was gone!
I rushed out of the door – there was obviously nobody! I asked the Amazon driver, who was taking things out of his car to deliver to the other side of the street, whether he saw somebody walking out of our door, but he obviously didn’t pay attention. And just then, a person who was picking up my donations showed up.
Even though I had a suspicion since my stolen cookies episode two years ago that someone had our master key, and suggested rekeying both buildings, my idea was rejected, and we were advised not to buzz in anyone we don’t know. This time, I am sure nobody was buzzed in, because the buzzing sound is always audible on the stairs, so I would have heard.
That’s it. I didn’t go to the Knox Holiday party at the Steppenwolf that night because I felt in the wrong mood for a party. It was only yesterday that I realized that if I went, I wouldn’t be able to talk about anything except for these stolen donations. Now, I am sort of-kind of-not so horribly upset.
The Night Ministry was able to replace my gifts, but the household items I donated were gone. The worst was not even the monetary value (the Night Ministry always asks to keep the costs low) but the fact that this episode almost destroyed my trust in my community. I will try to get over , but the words of encouragement will be appreciated!
Saturday was the day of the Holiday Artisan Market on Jarvis Square, and Lena and I decided to take a break from baking and go there. I should have planned it more explicitly and allocated more time, but I only remembered about it a couple of days before the event that it was going to happen. That’s very characteristical of this holiday season – there were only few things which I planned well; it could be much more enjoyable if I won’t have all the extra stress and could leave all non-Christmas thoughts behind for a month.
Anyway, checking out the artists was fun, but as it often happens, I couldn’t decide what I want to buy. I am not showing a couple of things because they will be given to someone who checks out this blog periodically, but I want to show a couple of new ornaments:
Speaking about my Christmas tree, once again, I ordered it from Tree Santa, and don’t regret; just this time, the delivery was late (I suspect, due to the workers shortage, like many things happening these days). Since it was delivered at 7 PM on Sunday, there was no way I could decorate it then. Igor and I did the bulk of it on Monday evening, and then I finished it tonight, placing some additional ornaments, chocolates and candy canes, and gingerbread cookies.
I am brewing this coffee almost every time I brew coffee at home, and I will soon run out of it. However, the person who came up with this recipe deserves a medal of honor!Working moments
My firm has a charitable contributions portal where you can pledge to one of the tens of thousands of charities directly from your paycheck, and in addition, you can also upload your donation receipts to be matched.
Last time I did it, it was only $500 match annually, which was very little, but at least something, so I uploaded a couple of the Night Ministry receipts, but I didn’t bother matching the monthly donations.
And I completely missed the moment when the matching amount for a year was tripled, and only saw it when the firm announced an additional $500 matching for two weeks of giving in November.
If you recall, for the past two weeks, I was under a lot of pressure at work and had absolutely no time to upload the receipts. Finally, last Friday, when HR reminded us about the last day of additional matching, I realized I did not want this money to be lost and needed to act fast.
Fortunately, my big project was on track, and I planned to leave early, so I spent the last hour and a half of my Friday workday uploading receipts. I was delighted to see that somebody had already submitted the Ukraine Trustchain to the list of approved charities, so our firm matches donations to them.
Most of my receipts are coming at the end of the year, so to speed things up, I chose from my one-time donations, which were already in my “taxes” list, but it was more than enough to use all of these 2K matching money, and I was so proud of myself that I didn’t let them go!
It used to be that around Thanksgiving I would announce on my social media that I am taking a month-long break from political and social issues and focusing on presents and cookies. This year, however, it was so much work, that all my Christmas activities would remain in the shade, and I am not even sure how I managed to get all charity presents, order the Christmas tree and schedule the holiday cookie baking.
Now, looking back at the first week of December, I am happy to report that it actually looked quite Christmasy.
I attended the first Christmas party of that season – the WiFi party – on Tuesday, and it was surprisingly fun, having that I barely participate in this group activities. I even added some LinkedIn connections!
Then it was Elf on Wednesday; and also, I went skating twice, once during the day and once after work, and saw this year’s Christmas tree.
I even stopped at the Christkindlmarket, although I want to go again at least twice!
And I already mailed all my international postcards, which is a record!
Somehow, I never saw the movie Elf (and the musical plot is slightly different), and it was the most pleasant surprise one could imagine. Now I wish they would bring this musical to Chicago every Christmas season! One small detail that brough me joy – when it is snowing in the end of the show, it’s not paper and glitter snow, but a real snow! I don;t know how they do it 🙂
Boris wouldn’t care much about Christmas decorations, but he knows it’s important for me, so he always helps me to decorate during this Thanksgiving weekend.
This year, I made some changes in my decorating routine, threw away some old and worn decorations, and just stopped trying to put everything on display. Boris checked all the lights. One of the light strings was not working, but it turned out that I bought two extras last year just in case:).
The presents are for the Secret Santa for Chicago Public Schools, which I have been doing for at least 16 years. This year, I had three letters, and I managed to fit most of the requests into budget.
Today, I dropped off the presents at a collection point, and in a week and a half, they will be distributed. Next in line are the Night Ministry presents; I already purchased pretty much everything, just need to pack.
Hettie's Reflections 