I have an abundance of wool socks that either lost their pair over the years or developed holes from much use. I leave them out on my fence and they grab them. With the colder weather this week four socks were taken this week.

I also fill suet feeders with clumps of dog hair brushed from my dogs. Both the birds and squirrels take hair from the feeders.

I also up the quantity of food and feeders I put out for the critters. I burned through 40# of sunflower seeds this week!!

Hey OP. I’m in sort of the same boat here. I walked out of a bad relationship this year and the last of my mostly estranged family passed away this year.

I find the small talk is the worst. I am dreading the office conversations tomorrow asking about my holiday. Truth be told I haven’t left the house since Thursday haven’t spoken to a single soul other than my doggos….but I’m grateful for them.

On the flip side, I’ve got a great job, a warm house and the means to live a comfortable albeit solitary existence. I don’t think anyone at the office knows that I’m alone all the time and I don’t fault them for asking - but it’s all I can do sometimes to grit my teeth and say “oh. I had a quiet weekend” or “yeah, I had a quiet holiday”. I know they mean well but it’s exhausting to put up a brave face all the time - especially to my staff.

No real words of wisdom OP. But maybe a word to those not in this situation to be cognizant that not everyone has family or close friends to spend holidays with and maybe if you keep hearing about my “quiet” weekends that I really don’t want to talk about it and maybe it’d be best to not keep asking.