Goodbye 2023

 Jeff and I are in Auburn resting and relaxing for a few days. It feels good to be quiet. It is cold! I am not a cold weather fan and even pulled out the jacket that I really only wear every couple of years up here. We will ring out the year out quietly. I will write more about that in a bit, but let’s share a picture or two from the last week. 

We celebrated Christmas with our little family on Friday, the 22nd. We had to share Lindsay this year but honestly doing it early since we are all agreeable makes it easy on both kids and their families. We don’t mind. Paul Allen and Lindsay usually work out a date together and Jeff’s sister and brother-in-law are fine with it too. 

The grandsons are at a wonderful age. They remind me of Lindsay and Paul Allen at that age in the same living room oh so many years ago. 

Here they are jumping on bubble wrap from a gift. It was quite loud, but little Miles was not timid at all. He couldn’t find space on it but he just jumped next to Tucker and Palmer. He stayed right in the mix of things with the big boys. What a difference a year made!

Mother spent the night with us on the 22nd since we would be opening presents until past the closing hour at her assisted living place. We got up the next morning and ate a big breakfast and leftovers for lunch before we took her home for the evening on Saturday. 

I drove her back and it was such a beautiful day that I slipped away to stroll on the beach while Jeff went over to a friend’s house to take a gift.

It was about 4:00 in the evening and let me just say I could have stayed forever. A lot of emotion was left out there on that stroll and God met me there for the walk.

Christmas Eve morning was church and such a beautiful service. Again, God met me there with comfort. After church we got Mama out and brought her back to our house and we made a pot of spaghetti. We all 3 sat down to watch a Christmas movie. We watched A Christmas… Present with Candace Cameron Bure. I highly recommend it. A nice family movie.

Donna and Al have modeled what to do with Christmas when you have adult kids. They have their own little traditions for Christmas Day. They take a drive down 30A and back. On Christmas morning Jeff and I took us a walk in the beach. A storm had blown in from the Gulf overnight and the water was still kicking and made for fun watching. I am pretty sure the waves were 7-8 feet at the second sandbar. We again picked up Mom and brought her to our house. She slept for most of the day on the couch. I think all of it had worn her out but one shouldn’t be alone at Christmas.

Still not too tired of the beach, Jeff and I once again made beach trip on the morning of the 26th. We drove west to Opal Beach and it was a bit chilly that day. The shells were heavy and made for fun scouring while we walked. 

I began taking Christmas down on that afternoon and finished the next day while Jeff and Paul Allen fished. I love the decorations but I am always ready for a clean slate.

I think it was Christmas Day evening I read or skimmed all of this past year’s blog posts. What a year! It has been a hard year… sinus surgery, 2 cataract surgeries to start with. I can breathe and see better:) Mom’s fall, spending a month in rehab and then with me, then moving and selling her home and having to get rid of a lifetime of things… then Jeff’s Parkinson’s diagnosis and retirement. That is A Lot to take in and really the year before had been hard too with Jeff’s brother passing. 

If you want to know the real honest truth I am not thinking 2024 is going to be a piece of cake either, not just with my family but with our country. You can’t have an invasion at the southern border and things not get wild very soon. Listen my own little town is seeing big problems already. 

I think I am going to need a lot of courage for the next year. I do know however that my Lord will walk with me through every hardship and provide me with the courage I need. 

I am going to rest these few days before going home. We took Mama to her sister’s to visit. I don’t think she will be able to make that trek again. I could be wrong but she really wanted to go so we took her. My Aunt Faye will try to get her to eat and cousins will drop into visit so she should be fine. 

I finished my last book for this year today. Kinfolk by Sean Dietrich. It was my 23rd book this year. A prime number and a nod to something in the book. A good one to round out 2023.

I am going to give January a couple of weeks to get used to a new routine with Jeff home before I blog again. 

Thanks for following along….

Sandy

Stitching and More

 Oh the troubles I weave sometimes. I stitched like a madwoman--- even when I did not have time. I quit working on my Florida sampler and ---went down a rabbit trail. I was obsessed in stitching the Christmas Bells. I remembered the pattern from the past and ordered it this year after seeing Faye (Carolina Stitcher) finish them for a client with blue ribbon like on my Christmas tree.

I got them all stitched last week and dreaded the cutting, because I figured it would be hard to get it just right.

And things went fine for  the first one I finished up. I was feeling confident. 

It turned out quite cute. I am just going to tell you straight up; the second one was a big ole bust. I cut it out and things looked promising once again, but when I stitched it things didn't come out so well. It simply was not repairable, so this pattern will be set aside until next July when I will stitch some Christmas in July. Sometimes it just doesn't work out!

So my Stitching Post is not all that noteworthy. I will share some oldies, but goodies.

The next 2 ornaments are from the early 80's. I stitched them both for Mom. I retrieved them this summer to bring to my tree.

The next 2 are also from the mid 80's and have graced our tree for all our married years.

Some of you probably did these too way back in the day.

That is the stitching post. 

Lesson moving in to '24. Stitch for fun and at a slower pace. 

Oh and I have mentioned many times that I would love to transition to a more Blue Christmas in my home, but have never been able to actually do it. One thing I have learned this year about actually pulling it off is that GREEN would weigh huge in that idea for me. I love the blues, but the green ribbon I have used this year would be the key to making that kind of transition. All that said....I really like what I have done this year. It is the right combination of traditional red and green and tartan and a nice amount of blue and green that matches my house

Now, for the more....

This week was about so many things to do each day and night. 

We had Jeff's retirement party at church on Monday evening. We decided to do it at church rather than at the schoolboard since it would be much prettier and take lots less work to decorate. The church is simply beautiful right now. We have a lady that is an interior designer who attends our church and is a worker bee and giver of her time to make everything just amazing each year...well, actually year round. 

I can't say enough about how nice the reception was. My good friends showed up and helped me get everything in place. Paul Allen was our worker to move tables and such. Lindsay kept me calm and all was so pretty.

Here are a few snaps of the goings on while we were getting it all in order and the tables of food and such.

I have kept my mom's and my mother-in-law's punch bowls all these years. I am so happy to see them making a comeback. They have even been borrowed by the young girls. I decided a while back to let go of all my decanters and just go with them. They are no more trouble and actually don't make the mess that those spout things do.

The memory table was a last minute thought. I am so glad Lindsay thought of it. I was more organized than I thought. I pulled out some highlights from each place he worked. I think Jeff loved looking back. I hope to make him a scrapbook in the next year. I did that for myself when I retired.

One of the ladies who works in his office made this wonderful cake. So much thought and love was in this. And then, she stayed and just worked behind the scenes to make sure the punch and food trays were full. I could never thank her enough.

My friend who has a lunch restaurant also put so much thought into the food. She had all Jeff's favorites from her restaurant.

At the end, my friend Anne grabbed all the tablecloths and took them home with her to wash. My friend Cindy was there early helping me set up and brought the flowers. I am blessed, people.

Paul Allen caught this picture of me after we had finished setting up and were waiting on the guests. It says it all for me. My happy place....

Lindsay posted this on social medias that evening. It was perfectly said. Jeff will be missed but I am gaining him at home.

Night of honor went well and Thursday was his last day.

Tuesday evening we went to see Tucker's little Christian school Christmas concert. I wish I could show pictures of how cute, but I don't have the time to blank out all the kids' faces. They were so precious. It was just the right amount of time and just perfection all around to this Mimi. 

I couldn't help but remember all the ones my own children were in. My favorite memory of those performances  is Paul Allen being Baby Jesus. He was 6 months old and they were going to sing a song where the younger girl would hold him while the adult lady sang. He was sheer perfection in all the practices. The night of the actual performance was different. The lights were different. They popped a spotlight on him about halfway the song and he erupted. I was standing up in the choir alcove and my heart sank. A nervous mama ---worrying about him and hating that he was messing up the performance. I couldn't wait for them to hand him to me so that I could comfort him. Everyone was so nice later and said that surely Baby Jesus cried. 

It wasn't until I actually saw the recording of him that I realized it sounded much louder and unnerving in the little alcove I was standing in and he didn't ruin anything after all. 

Moving on....

Thursday evening was a church staff and elder's dinner. I had thrown a pity party for one earlier that day and was dreading going. Pity parties are never very fun, but sometimes they just come.  They seem to come despite our knowing full well they are not all that fruitful. The dinner ended up being just what I needed. 

This has gone on long enough.

Hope everyone has a Merry Christmas.