Holidays Catch Up

 

Hello Friends! 

It feels like forever since I've popped in to say hello. First of all:

Happiest of New Years to you! I hope this year ahead is filled with so many amazing blessings for you. 🌟 

Secondly, thank you so much for all of the well wishes for when we were sick and for the holiday wishes too! 🙏🏻 

Now for a long update. Grab a cup of tea and snuggle in. 

It has been such a fun relaxing holiday season and I soaked up every minute. Matt had a change with his job - so he no longer needs to travel. He's purely consulting now. It's amazing because it means as long as he has wi-fi he can work from anywhere. So we will be able to go spend lots of time visiting Annie when she's away at school next year. Or our family in AZ. We can take the pets with us and rent an air b&b and go for long periods of time if we want. Total game changer! :) 

And since his positioned changed he was in limbo a lot over these past several weeks...meaning he was free from working! So we got to spend so much wonderful time together!! It's been dreamy. We hosted several Christmas gatherings. And we had the most fun impromptu gift opening night with the kiddos on the 23rd. We were supposed to open on Christmas Eve morning - but we had a family gathering earlier in the day on the 23rd and my son hung out here the whole rest of the day. So we decided to do our exchange that night while he was still here. We put on Christmas music - had the house all aglow and the love I saw between my kiddos and Matt was the greatest gift of all. They were so mutually thoughtful in gifts to each other. And all the funny goofy stuff Matt got for the kids that I didn't even know about - that were so perfect for them and some of their favorite things. Not to mention feeling so spoiled myself from Matt and my kids! Matt and Aaron especially made me cry with a couple extra special heartfelt gifts.  We laughed, talked, ate treats and our gift opening lasted 2 hours! We finished at 11 PM. Lol The next day Christmas Eve brunch with other family and my kids again, and then mass  that night was so beautiful (I didn't get any pics mass time though) And on Christmas day (which is often tough because my kids are gone that whole day with their dad) - Matt surprised me with matching sweaters that said 'Go Jesus, It's your Birthday ' Ha! 😋 and he made homemade donuts to go with our coffee. Then thought of fun games and movies for us to watch. It has all felt like one of the most special Christmases I can remember. 

Over the long break Matt and I also played endless card games, games with the kiddos, yahtzee...and on and on. We had movie marathons. We went for walks. We went out to the movies (both the new Hunger Games movie and Wonka were great!!) It has been awesome! We also rang in the new year by going to a fun hockey game with my son, his Jill, and friend Nathan. Then came home and got dressed up and went out for a late fancy dinner. Then came home and put on pj's and watched the Packers game we taped and cheered their victory just in time to ring in the new year at midnight. We have been hosting my daughter's bf here visiting from FL and it was so fun to finally get some snow for him to enjoy during his stay. He's a sweet kiddo and it's fun hanging out with them, going out to dinner, cooking at home and playing games. It's been tough getting back to a routine and real life - but I finally feel ready to get back to it and jump into so many plans I have for 2024!! 

Do you do resolutions? I don't do those, but I typically did a word for the year. But this year I'm just doing a list of things I'm going to keep and learn and grow on for 2024. And what I'm going to let go of and leave behind back in 2023. Yay for a bright shiny new year and the magic of fresh starts! Now that I've done a long word dump of catch up on life here  - I thought I'd share a photo dump too. I hope to get around to visit you all soon. And I plan to be back to normal blogging next week. 

2024 Blessings to you! 

Now buckle up for lots of pics: 

Lots of yummy goodies over the holidays.  A fave with all of my crew every year is mugs of hot spiced wassail. And apples and toffee dip is always a great appetizer. My Gram's recipe cut-out cookies are a must. But a new favorite is a brand new hot melty dip I made that had swiss cheese, bacon, cranberry and other wonderful flavors we ate with veggies and crackers. And Matt's new fudge recipe he found and that was sooo good and such a hit!! I will share all of the recipes soon. 

We also did facetime on our phones through the tv with his folks so we could chat with them in AZ Christmas morning and open gifts together "on screen"

I also got in relaxing tub time Christmas day. 

And I have come so far with my grief over my former life and ex - but the holiday time was such a biggie in that life and included our anniversary. So it still stings a bit (but fades more and more every year). Matt was so thoughtful and surprised me with these roses that day after I got home from doing hospice work. I am SO BLESSED!

I was completely spoiled and loved the many gifts from my kids and Matt - but a few of my faves were a gorgeous cake plate from my daughter, a special ornament from my son, a gift Matt made me by superimposing an amazing letter he wrote me over our picture and framed (it made me cry 😭), and the kindle Matt got me that I've already loaded with books! 

Annie and her sweet and tall fella (6'3"!)

Between Christmas and New Year's we snuck in a trip to 10 mile to bring some things there and it was so weird that it was mild and the water was still open! 

But shortly after that trip we got snow back at home and the night it snowed everything looked so magical - even in the darkness. 

And so bright and beautiful in the daytime! Thank you for letting me share so much here. It's kind of a keepsake log too - so it's nice to put so much in here. I hope your holiday season has been equally amazing and wishing you a Happy brand New Year my Friends! 🤩