Content Note:
This post includes gentle mentions of grief, chronic illness symptoms, and holiday-related emotional overwhelm. Nothing graphic- just honest. If you’re navigating your own grief or burnout right now, take your time reading.
Welcome back to The Crippled Cryptid–
Your cozy corner of the internet where disability, chronic illness, service dogs, and everyday magic share a kitchen table and a cup of something warm.
Saturdays are usually my general health updates, and today’s post is exactly that- with a small, sheepish apology for missing Luna’s Friday update.
Please know that Luna (and her new turkey friend, Tom) were tucked in bed with us all day. Thanksgiving wiped us out harder than anticipated, so I’m bundling everything together like the chaotic little goblin host that I am.
If you’re here looking for education, solidarity, a post-holiday exhale, or just a soft place to set your bones, I’m grateful you found your way back.
🦃 Thanksgiving Chaos: The Best Kind
If you celebrate Thanksgiving, I hope yours was gentle and delicious.
Ours was chaotic in the best way- warm, loud, messy, and maybe the start of new traditions.
M&M’s Aunt Lise coached us via Facetime through what became a flawless turkey and stuffing. We paired it with my cream cheese mashed potatoes, cranberry sauce, green beans, corn, and gravy. Sam’s Club handled the dinner rolls and the apple pie that the Yard Yeti is still excavating like a determined archaeologist.
But the real showstopper?
M&M’s pineapple upside down cake.
Picture it:
Post-dinner, belly full, dog snoring, everyone gone, house finally quiet. We curled up watching Helluva Boss in bed, and that cake simply became the moment. M&M has promised to make it again for New Year’s Eve and my birthday, and I am taking that promise very seriously.
The cheese board? Beautiful.
The deviled eggs? Dangerous.
The little sausages and veggie tray? Elite.
But that cake?
That cake carried Thanksgiving on its back.
Even my uncle and his girlfriend stopped by for a bit, which was a really nice surprise.
🐾 Luna’s Thanksgiving Joy
The highlight of Luna’s day was undeniably the turkey toy she received that morning. I’d envisioned this dramatic, ceremonial presentation, but the Yard Yeti appeared early, so B handed it to her instead.
Luna did not care about the ceremony.
Luna cared about the toy.
Her joy- the tail wag, the bright eyes, the perked ears- was better than any presentation I could’ve crafted. She’s been carrying it, squeaking it, wiggling with it, and sleeping with it like a toddler who’s discovered their first emotional support object.
During the infamous pre-dinner “waiting period,” she curled up on the couch with her turkey while M&M and I finished the first four episodes of Stranger Things Season 5.
No spoilers. I’m a ghoul of my word.
But waiting until Christmas for more episodes is psychological warfare.
She also adored her Thanksgiving dinner: turkey, potatoes, and veggies mixed into her kibble (all dog-safe).
Potao the hedgehog got some turkey too!
Oreo the kingsnake, tragically, did not. (Holidays aren’t very snake friendly.)
🖤 A Mini Bear Tribute- Our First Holiday Without Him
While Thanksgiving held joy, it also carried a softer ache.
This was our first “major” holiday without Bear.
The house felt different- still full of love, but missing that warm, grumpy-old-man presence. Missing the soft weight of him curled against us, the tap-tap of his nails when he suspected food, the offended huffs when people laughed too loudly, and of course, his signature awoos.
Bear would’ve loved this Thanksgiving.
He would’ve supervised everything, judged everyone, and gotten the first turkey scrap.
We still talk to him.
We still look for him in the doorway.
We still feel him in that tender, quiet way grief shows up- like the ghost of a cold nose against the back of your knee.
Wherever he is, I hope he got turkey too.
His dish would’ve been full had he been right here where he belongs.
🎃➡️🎄 Holiday Shift, Emotional Hard Stops
M&M wants to take down the Halloween decorations (yes, they’re still up).
Normally I’d be ready- maybe excited even- but taking them down means bringing the Christmas decorations out.
And I don’t know if I’m ready to look at Christmas yet.
Not the tree.
Not the lights.
Not the ornaments.
Not the idea of Christmas without Bear.
Between the accident, the slow healing, the health spirals, and losing him… Honestly? I’d skip holidays entirely this year if I could. I barely managed Thanksgiving.
This doesn’t feel dark- just honest.
Sometimes the season arrives whether we’re ready or not, and the kindest thing we can offer ourselves is truth.
I know I’ll get there.
I know I’ll put the decorations up.
I just need a breath before I do.
🌧️ Weather, Pain, and Flare-Up City
Of course, the weather decided to be dramatic too.
Illinois is bracing for a storm, and according to my aunt in Texas, Ingleside might get up to 12 inches of snow.
I am begging the universe not to do this to me.
My body, always the overachiever, has already responded like the world’s most dramatic barometer. My leg is screaming, my thumb is cranky, and CRPS/POTS/fibro/EDS are tag-teaming me like an unwanted WWE match. The weather is the steel chair.
So I’m on cold protocol:
vitamin C, B-12, elderberry, hydration, rest, and me glaring at my immune system like it might learn shame. Campbell’s chicken noodle soup is hovering on standby if things go downhill- but we’re hoping it doesn’t come to that.
We’re loaded with leftovers and low-effort meals.
Please, someone hold me accountable to actually rest.
Meanwhile, car shopping lurks in the distance like a side quest I’ve neither accepted nor abandoned. Maybe this week’s personal growth arc is replacing doomscrolling with CarFax scrolling.
☕ Cozy Cryptid Life
So here I am- Stranger Things hoodie, coffee on one side, Luna snoring by my feet, house finally quiet. I’m trying to honor the rest my body is begging for while still sharing the small joys of our beautifully chaotic, disabled cryptid household.
Thank you for being here through all of it- the good, the messy, the magical, the mundane, and the grief-touched moments in between.
If you have low-spoons recipes, Thanksgiving leftover hacks, or storm-friendly “throw it in a pot and hope for the best” meal ideas, please drop them in the comments.
My future self will absolutely thank you.
🖤 From My Haunted Meat-Suit to Yours
Thank you for joining me for this Saturday update- post-turkey haze, Luna joy, Bear love, storm warnings, holiday overwhelm, flare-up chaos, and all.
Whether you come for service dog updates, chronic illness honesty, cozy community, or just a space that feels real- I’m grateful for you.
If you enjoy my writing or our disabled cryptid chaos, we do have a GoFundMe supporting my journey toward better health and mobility. No pressure at all- reading, sharing, and being here genuinely helps more than you know.
Support: Sky’s Journey to Health and Mobility
(https://www.gofundme.com/f/support-skys-journey-to-health-and-mobility)
© The Crippled Cryptid — Disability, honesty, and a little chaos.
https://linktr.ee/skylanarissa
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