Around Malakoff: Big Christmas and a hacked Facebook

Loretta Humble
Loretta Humble

By Loretta Humble/Around the Town

This may be short, since I am out of practice, having missed the last two weeks of column writing. That is because I just can’t seem to meet early holiday deadlines, especially with all the holiday excitement going on. Sorry.

I hope you had a nice Christmas. I surely did. I had several Christmas dinners, though not as many as Thanksgiving ones this year. But the big one was the one we did as a family. It was great.

The daughters of each of my children put their heads together arranged a whole day of fun for us. One morning a few days before Christmas we all met at the movie theater to watch “The Hobbit” together. Every kid of mine, and every grandkid except one (he came later) and nearly all of their spouses and dates, saw that show together like we used to do this every time a Harry Potter movie came out. Then we we headed back to the big meeting room in the old nursing home building, where we shared a potluck lunch and made Christmas ornaments. Everybody, from toddlers to grandparents, had to make at least one ornament. Some of them were kind of pitiful. Some of them showed we have some undiscovered artists among us. Then we did the Chinese Christmas thing with cheap white elephant gifts. That turns out pretty funny sometimes. Some little kids got tools, and granddaughter Ariel’s boyfirend got a Barbie something. But it all worked out okay by the time all the trading was over. I actually got something I could use.

By the time this was all done, it was time for the next segment—a caravan of carloads of Humbles and friends driving through Land of Lights. Several carloads went, but the managing granddaughters were disappointed that some of us old fogies wimped out because of extremely long lines and waiting time. We all really liked our day, and are trying to think which holiday we can shape another party day out of. We may try making valentines together. When spring comes we want to take everybody on a trek through the woods to the back of the farm for another picnic.

We made Christmas ornaments together 10 years ago. I’ve posted pictures of that time on www.facebook.com/aroundthetown, and I think by the time you read this, we will have some of this year’s pictures posted. I am particularly eager to post the pictures of Hunter Norwood then and now admiring the ornament he created. He’s good. So is my Jonathan Lloyd, who with his bride Natalie created an amazing concoction which they were kind enough to give me for my tree. I think we have a picture of it.

The other exciting thing that has happened to me since I last talked to you here is that I got my Facebook account hacked. The hacker either didn’t know who he was dealing with, or has a real sense of humor.

This is what he wrote, pretending to me:

itѕ оfficіal!
I am аbоut tо quіt my job next week aftеr 19621 days of dеаӏіng wіth my asѕѕ of a bosѕ i just gotta dо іt. I rеаlly have no іdеa why i’m even workin’ therе аny mоre whеn I’ve bеen makіng аbout $290 dоӏӏаrѕ everydаy fоr thе ӏaѕt 5 wееkѕ workіng аt home.
Thаnk gоd I came аcrosѕ this wеbsite:######

I assume they were trying to sell a work-from-home scam of some sort. But I doubt if they got many takers using me as bait, since anybody who knows me knows I haven’t seriously worked in years, and if I have a boss it’s me, someone I would NEVER call an asss.