Christmas Week - Monday to Friday

This past year has gone quickly.  I can't believe that another Christmas is past.  I hope that you had a truly memorable holiday, and that you were able to celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ - the Savior of the World - and make some great memories with those you love!  Here are some of the things that made this busy past week and Christmas a good one for me and my family.   

Monday of this week, we went to our daughter's home in Utah County to deliver the Christmas gifts we had for them.  A flu bug in their family meant that we just exchanged gifts on the driveway of their home, so I didn't get any pictures.  Hopefully, they are all feeling better soon! Later, we stopped and had lunch at our favorite Utah County lunch spot - the BYU Creamery.   It's always fun to get a burger and fries or onion rings at The Creamery. The food there is so good that burgers from other places just do not compare at all.  The rest of Monday, we were busy making last-minute Christmas preparations. 

On Tuesday, we met our grandson for lunch because, although he lives in Utah County, he was working near our home for a few days.  After lunch, we told him to come and have dinner with us before he went back home in the evening, so he did.  We enjoyed having him here and told him to come by whenever he wants.  Here is our oldest grandson, almost 20, with his grandpa.  I have no idea where the years ago, and how I can possibly have a grandson this old! 

Here I am with Miles, our oldest grandson.  He is really a nice young man, and we are very proud of him. 

By Wednesday, Christmas Eve, our door was full of Christmas cards from friends and family.  I love sending and receiving Christmas cards, and appreciate all those who stay in touch. 

I took some small Christmas gifts and left at the doors of some friends and members of our church congregation Tuesday afternoon.  

On Wednesday, the morning of Christmas Eve, Charly and I walked at the mall.  It was early - before stores normally open, but many were open to accommodate last-minutes shoppers. After the walk, we stopped at the grocery store for a few things.  There was a Salvation Army bell ringer there.  This is the first bell-ringer I have seen around here this year.   When our children were little, we would give them money to put in the kettle, so I was happy to make a little donation to The Salvation Army in honor of good memories of our little ones. 

We had no snow on Christmas Eve, and it wasn't cold, but it was cloudy and windy.   I went for a walk around the neighborhood in the afternoon, and I listened to the Christmas Eve service of the church that my blogging friend Faith, over at Gold in the Clouds, attends. She, her husband, and her oldest daughter were all singing in the Christmas Eve service choir. 

Our  Christmas Eve dinner was slow-cooker Mississippi Pot Roast, with mashed potatoes and gravy, roasted carrots, and green salad.   It was very good. 

After dinner, Charly, Josh, and I played this new game, Runs in the Family, which I recently purchased, especially for Christmas Eve.  It was a fun game, and we laughed a lot, as we tried to read each other's minds. 

This is our living room with our Christmas gifts ready around the tree on Christmas Eve.

Christmas morning was more low-key and relaxed than when we had little ones. We slept in a bit, I made a special Christmas breakfast, we talked to our daughter and grandchildren on the phone, and then we opened gifts. 

We all got some nice things that we wanted.  One gift I gave myself was early bird tickets to BYU Women's Conference. The conference doesn't take place until April 30- May 1, but there was a special Christmas discount if tickets were purchased by Christmas, so I got online and bought my tickets and put this fun event on my calendar. 

In the afternoon, I took some cookie plates to friends and members of our church congregation. 

Christmas evening, we decided to go see some Christmas lights.  We went to Utah County to a place called Riverwoods that our daughter had told us about.  The Christmas lights there were beautiful.  Here are some pictures. 

We enjoyed walking around Riverwoods and looking at the lights.  Riverwoods is an outdoor shopping area, and while the stores were not open on Christmas night, we plan to return when they are open.

On our way home, we passed this city park that was beautifully lit up. Almost every tree in the park was covered with lights.  We got out and walked around, and I took pictures. Here is what this beautiful park looked like Christmas night. 

I am so grateful that we were able to get out and see these beautiful lights on Christmas nights.   It was a nice way to end a memorable Christmas Day!

Friday morning we walked at the mall again.  None of the stores were open early, and there weren't many people there.  I noticed some workmen taking down the Christmas decorations.  

I wasn't really planning to take our Christmas decorations down on the day after Christmas, but since we are planning a little getaway in the coming days, I decided that it was best just to get everything taken down and put away. This is what the living room looked like this afternoon with all of the Christmas decorations gone. 

While we were taking the Christmas stuff down, I finished listening to this audiobook, Lions & Scavengers by Ben Shapiro.  The author is a conservative political commentator, and this book was about politics, history, and current events.  Parts of it were interesting, and I agreed with most of what the author said, but overall it was just average, so I gave it 3/5 stars on Goodreads.   This was the sixty-fourth book I have completed this year.  I hope to finish two or three more books in the next week, but my reading dropped off this year, and I will probably finish ten fewer books than 2024. 

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I worshipped at our nearby temple Friday afternoon, which seemed the right thing to do on the day after Christmas - when we celebrate Christ's birth. 

Thanks for stopping by to share my Christmas week.  I am going to be absent from blogland for the next week or so.  I hope to see you again on New Year's Eve or New Year's Day. 

Until next time,

😊Deb💖

"What the new year brings to you

will depend a great deal on what you 

bring to the new year."

~Vern McClellan

Looking Back at Christmas and Ahead to 2025

It's almost 2025!  Here are a few highlights of our Christmas Eve and Christmas Day and the end of 2024. 

Our Christmas Eve and Christmas Day were nice.  Christmas Eve consisted of our usual KFC Christmas Eve chicken dinner and playing the fun new game Uzzle.  (If your family enjoys fun easy, fast-moving games, this one is a sure winner!)  I also baked lots of cookies on Christmas Eve.  At the end of the evening, we followed our family tradition of many years and each of us opened one present.  

On Christmas morning, I got up and made two different breakfast casseroles, and then we opened gifts.  We all got some nice and thoughtful things.  The gift I was most excited about was a new Kindle Paperwhite.  I got a Kindle Fire about eight years ago, but over time, it got super slow and the battery did not stay charged long.  I have been finding, however, that my eyes like larger print when I read, so I did some research and found out that the Kindle Paperwhite would let me increase the print size of the books, so I asked Charly if I could have one for Christmas.  He decided that he also wanted one, so we both got new Kindles and have been enjoying reading with less eye strain. 

Our daughter, son-in-law and grandchildren were in Arizona visiting our son-in-law's family for Christmas, but our daughter texted us this picture of them all ready to open their presents on Christmas morning. 

The day after Christmas, we left for a few days in sunny St. George and we returned Monday afternoon.  We had a great trip which I will post more about in a couple of days. 

New Year's Eve morning, we took Josh to catch the bus he takes back up to his college campus in Idaho.  He texted that he was safely there by mid-afternoon. 

As of this afternoon, our tree and other Christmas decorations are put away, and things are back to the way they were before Christmas.  Although our New Year's Eve will be quiet, we are looking forward to getting together with friends on New Year's Day. That will be fun.  

Now, looking back on 2024, here are some of the things I am most grateful for.

• Josh is almost finished with his Bachelor's Degree.
• Charly and I have stayed pretty healthy this year. 
• We were able to purchase another home in Ivins, Utah. 
• We have been able to see our grandchildren often. 
• I am another year closer to retirement - 12 to 18 months from now!

I ended up reading 75 books in 2024, which was two more books than I read in 2023 and 2022.  I didn't really have 75 books as my goal, until the very end of the year when I really tried to beat my previous records for most books read.    What is my reading goal for next year - probably the same as last year - 36 books.  I will probably read more than that, but that is the absolutely minimum number of books I hope to complete in 2025.  

I decided to make some goals for the year and read one article that suggested making 25 goals in 2025.  Honestly, that sounded daunting, but there are some things I want to do.  I decided to make five goals that I believe I can work toward achieving in 2025.   Here they are:

1. Read 25 minutes 75% of the days in the year. 

2. Write in my journal 90% of the days in 2025. 

3. Read the scriptures every morning or evening 75% of the days in 2025.  

4.  Walk or work out 25 minutes a day 75% of the days in 2025.  

5.  Eat healthy with an emphasis on fruits and vegetables.  Eat less sugar.  Stay on track with daily calorie goal 75% of the days in 2025. 

What else will 2025 bring to me and my family?  Here are some things we are hoping for:

1. Continued good health.

2. Completion of my second-to-the last year of work before retirement.

3. Josh's completion of his Bachelor's Degree at BYU-Idaho.

4. Completion of our kitchen re-do/upgrade project (due to start next week). 

5.  Continued financial preparation for retirement in 2026.

Finally, in today's post, I am sharing my word for 2025 - HOPEFUL. 

Not everything or everyone is the way I hoped it would be as 2025, in my family, in our nation, or in the world.  I know that 2025 will bring good days and bad days, happy events and even sad and tragic ones. Still, I am hopeful that with God in control, things can be better.  We can choose to be better.   I am hopeful that things can still work out in the best way possible. 

That's all for now. Thanks for stopping by. 

I hope that you all have a healthy, happy and 

HOPEFUL 2025!

Until next time,

😊Deb💖

"Learn from yesterday,

live for today,

HOPE for tomorrow."

~Albert Einstein

Christmas Eve and A Little "Sunday Stealing"

 

Hello and Merry Christmas from our home to yours!  This morning, we were up and off to church for our special Christmas Eve worship service which was very special and added so much to the Christmas spirit for me.  

Josh came to church with us, but took off his white shirt and tie before I could get him to come in for a picture.  It was so good to have one of my children in church with us today.  I know that both of my daughters and their families were also in church, even though they weren't with us.  3 John 1:4 is true for me - "I have no greater joy than to hear that my children walk in truth."

Charly's oldest and best friend, Craig, was in church today with his wife.  These two men were inseparable growing up, and pretty much until they got married. We both attended each other's weddings, and they were married just a few weeks after Charly and I. Craig lives in Texas but was in Utah to visit his mother who is in our church congregation.  We chatted with Craig and his wife for a while after the service.  It was so great to see them and catch up.  We hope to meet up with them again before they go back to Texas. 

Before we left for church this morning, I put a roast and vegetables in the slow cooker, and we will enjoy that later as our Christmas Eve dinner.  In the past, we have bought KFC for our Christmas Eve meal because my husband loves their fried chicken, but because Christmas Eve is on a Sunday, we opted not to get KFC. For us, honoring the Sabbath as part of our Christian faith means refraining from shopping, eating out or purchasing food to go whenever possible.  

What will the rest of our Christmas Eve look like?  I expect it will be quiet, low-key and relaxing.  Earlier, I took a little nap and made a red velvet cake with the help of Duncan Hines (box mix). We may watch a movie after dinner.  Last night, Charly and I watched Family Switch on Netflix and enjoyed that, so we will probably watch another movie tonight.   

Each of us usually opens one present on Christmas Eve.  We save the rest for Christmas morning. 

I also need to finish up some cards for Letters Against Isolation.  These will go out to Meals on Wheels in Albany, New York. 

And now, just for fun, I decided to join in with my blogging friend, The Gal Herself, over at One Gal's Musings for Sunday Stealing.  

1. Who did you spend time with this year? 

I spent a lot of time with my husband, but also enjoyed seeing a lot of our Utah daughter and grandchildren this past year.   We also met up with friends for lunch at least once a month.

2. Anything change with the pets in your life? 

We don't have any pets right now, but hubby and I are both thinking we would like to get another kitty or two when I retire. 

3. What was your job like this year? What do you do? Did any roles or assignments change? 

I still teach high school English and work specifically with 9th and 11th graders.  I've been doing this for 22 years now.  Not much has changed, except that the students become more challenging to work with.  Thanks, I believe, to smart phones and a sense of entitlement that seems pervasive in today's teens - "Gen Z."  My biggest career aspiration at this point is to teach another 18 to 24 months then retire. 

4. What was the best book you read this year?  How many did you read? 

I have read 71 books so far this year.  There are several "best books" that come to mind, including These Silent Woods by Kimi Cunningham Grant, I Can Only Imagine by Bart Millard and A Christmas Memory by Richard Paul Evans.  These three books are all very different but all excellent and uplifting.  

5. What did you do on your birthday and how old were you? 

My 64th birthday this year was on a weekday (October 9) so there was no special celebration, until the end of the month when our daughter had a special birthday dinner for both Charly and I.  His birthday is on October 6. On my birthday itself, I got phone calls and texts and gifts from my husband, friends and family.  It's always nice to be remembered.  

6. What political or social issue stirred you the most last year? 

I found the October 7th attack on Israel by Hamas to be, in my mind, an abhorrent act of pure evil.  There are few things that would stir me to join in a protest demonstration, but if I could have joined the March for  Israel in Washington D.C. in November, I certainly would have. 

7. Who was the most interesting new person you met? 

This was a hard question for me to answer because no one really stands out.  There is a very nice 91-year-old woman in our church congregation named Doris, who is so kind and lovely, I'm thinking it would have to be her. 

8. What changed in your home? 

Our actual home changed, when we moved out of our condo this past summer and back into a 70-year-old brick bungalow that we purchased in 2016 and had used mostly as income property.  We put our condo on the market (still not sold) and commencenced to to some major remodeling in the house we now live in.  We had some great contractors who took both of the bathrooms in the home completely down to the studs and replaced the cabinetry and fixtures and then retiled everything. We also had a dark, dingey and useless "rec room" in the basement transformed into a light and large 5th bedroom. In addition, we got all new appliances upstairs in the kitchen. It has been a major transformation and honestly has cost us major $$$, which we hope to recover when we sell this place in a couple of years.  It's a great old house, but we aren't thrilled with the neighborhood and hope to move to a yet to be determined area when I retire. 

9. What have you learned throughout the year? 

This answer is probably a work in process, but I think I am learning not to be so tied to a particular outcome, especially in interactions and relationships with others. Life is up and down, half good and half bad and we can give love to others without any regard for their actions, choices and responses.  

10. What was your favorite outfit for warm weather? Cooler weather? What do you wear when you dress up? Any new clothes or accessories you really love? 

I usually wear jeans and a t-shirt with a flannel or denim shirt over the top for warmth.  When I dress up, usually for church, I wear a skirt and sweater, and I love wearing boots in the winter.  I like the way boots look and feel.  I have several nice pair of boots that, in my opinion, look great with a solid color skirt and sweater.  A new accessory that I got in the past year was a beautiful blue sapphire cross necklace that my birth mother bought me when I visited her last may.  I really love it, and while I don't wear it daily, it is a new favorite. 

11. Did you make or give up on any efforts to be healthier? 

Yep, I finally got the "dreaded colonoscopy" taken care of - thanks to encouragement from my husband and cousin who assured me that it wouldn't kill me, and actually could save my life!  I am glad it is done for a number of years, and that no big problems are brewing "down there."  I am also trying to make sure that I eat more servings of fruits and veggies each day and I am cutting down on red meat.  I have exercised daily for years and continue to do that.  Recently, I am also doing a food diary and really watching and attempting to cut my daily calorie intake. 

12. Fave meals, snacks, desserts, restaurants etc? Eat out or eat in? 

When I don't cook, we usually get take-out and eat at home.  I love Chinese food, especially orange or Mongolian chicken. We do have a favorite place in Utah County we love for Chinese food.  My go-to favorite is pizza, but I also love a good roast, which is what we are having for our Christmas Eve dinner!

13. Did you learn any new crafts or techniques? What was your favorite thing you made? 

I haven't been very crafty this year, but I have enjoyed doing some drawings on cards I made for Letters Against Isolation. 

14. What are your hopes and dreams for the new year?  

I would LOVE to get our condo sold.  We are lowering the price January 1, and with interest rates edging downward, we are hopeful.  I also want to attend my son Josh's college graduation and see him employed, self-supporting and settled in his own apartment.

15. What was the best new/new-to-you thing you a) bought b) made c) acquired in some other way? 

We got all new appliances here in our house last summer.  I have a new fridge, range and dishwasher.  They are all very nice and it's fun to have brand new appliances, but I LOVE my new Maytag dishwasher. It is hands-down the best dishwasher I have owned. also I have a new slow cooker which I bought when the lid to my old one cracked. 

That's all for this Christmas Eve.  May everyone have a lovely Christmas Eve and Day doing whatever it is that you find fun, relaxing and rejuvenating.

Until next time,

🤶Deb🎄