Greetings, All. Happy Holidays.
I hope your December has been warm and cozy. We have had several snowstorms here in SE MN, but nothing too large or out of normal range. We are thankful for our neighbor who plows our drive for us – a ¼ mile and in front of the garage. He said he spent $800 on tires for this BobCat so we should find a good way to pay him/them back. (He does his area of course, too.)
They are expecting their second child before the end of the year. This will be a busy Holiday Season for them. I will bring them some of my favorite home-canned dinners to help a little bit.
Our driveway is a challenge. We ordered something that came through UPS. The truck got stuck on the curving hill. Hubby had to get out our truck and pull the UPS truck away from the snowbank.
Our only Granddaughter is appearing in the Nutcracker again. She has two roles this year, one is as a Russian Dancer. I am very grateful that this step-grandma is allowed to be close to her and her brother. Life does not always work out that way.
With the five high schooler’s schedules this year, we had our family Christmas Brunch on Dec. 15. It is always good food and the step-siblings and cousins get along very well. That is good. They will need to operate in order to settle our estate when the time comes.
We had a surprise visitor for our family Christmas Brunch. Our Vietnamese “grandson” came into town for a job interview. He has been at Columbia University in NYC for six years for a master’s in public health and to become a dentist. He graduates in May and is moving “home” to start a job. We will have our very own family dentist!
T.T. came as an international student when he was 16, and stayed for two years of high school, then went to a local college before going on to grad school at Columbia. He and the family just clicked. We are his family now, although he goes home regularly to visit his parents and sister. His text message to me, making sure I had his phone number because we are going to pick him up from the airport, said, “This is your grandson Tuan. <3 <3 <3.” He is coming back for Christmas break, and in July will start a job about an hour from us and the rest of the family. Some “temporary” people just make themselves a home in your heart.
For New Year this year, the Afghani “grandson” MW, and I are going to make a treat that they use to celebrate the New Year. Haft mewa is a salad with a mixture of seven fruits and nuts: pistachio, walnuts, almonds, apricots, regular and golden raisins, and Persian Olives. “Haft Mewa is given to guests and eaten with family with auspicious omens of protection and good fortune. The seven fruits represent the seven elements of life: fire, earth, air, water, plants, animals and humans.” I figure that if they are going to be part of our lives, then we should respect some of their traditions and make them ours, too.
I have been fighting a sore-throat with saline/baking soda gargles, vinegar gargles, Elderberry “vinegar”, and tea with soothers. It hurts more some days than others, comes and goes. It is under control…I think. At least it does not bloom into a full-fledged cold.
In January, I am going to try to change our diet. Hubby keeps saying he wants to live to 112, and then complains when his dress slacks don’t fit after eating the treats. I already make many vegetarian dishes, but am going to try and go more Vegan. The only reason I say Vegan is that I cannot handle the dairy; so a Vegan with egg diet. I’ll try Tofu, but it does not seem like something I can stock up on or Can. Well, Vegan without all of those expensive ingredients that avoid animal products. Animal rights is not the reason for this change. A diet change, and getting outside more for walks and exercise should move us in the right direction.
I donated 16 hats, two scarves and a set of mittens to charity yesterday. My daughter told some people that I was knitting/crocheting for charity and several of her friends gave her yarn for me. I did not need any more yarn! So, I guess my hands will never be idle in the evenings when I watch tv. I am organizing the patterns, printing them, and making notes. May as well be efficient. It keeps my brain in gear, too, with the three-dimensional problems. I will not admit that it is math, too, since I don’t like math.
It is time to open up the sewing room and work on my mending and just getting organized again. I am grateful for the TV in that room and can catch up on many recordings while I sew.
On Monday we will travel to the “lake” for Christmas with my family, three hours away, returning on 1/2/20. My Ex-husband has invited us up for the Holidays for years, now. I think he just wants me to cook. Lol. This will be the longest we will spend at his home. Things get challenging after a few days without the ability to do our own thing and needing to think of everyone else first and I pay more attention to the grandkids and Hubby feels left out. I must make a special effort to soothe his ego and loneliness.
Still, we get along great with Jim, and any issues I have are not with him, but with my S-I-L. We are grateful that we can spend so much time with the three grandsons, especially now since one is away at college. Jim wants to spend next Christmas together at Yellowstone Nation Park. That will be interesting. New coats and boots!
Take care of yourselves, everyone, and have a Happy and good New Year.