Wednesday, December 28, 2022

Abundant Joy

The wrapping paper and ribbons are tucked away for another year, but the joy that came with the unwrapping remains!  Let me highlight just a few of the presents I received on Christmas morning!  (I am joining LeeAnna for I Like Thursday.  I bet others have their own joys to share!)


LeeAnna's prompt this week is "facing a turning of the calendar page, and a new year stretching out in front of us, is there anything you would like to try or to learn this coming year?"   Faithful readers of this blog will know that I have been working on drawing skills; isn't it wonderful that #1 Daughter and The Fiance support my endeavors with tools such as this book?

 

Christmas has delivered a precious gift in the form of time with family.  #1 Son made it safely from Idaho Falls, and we are relishing these days together.  He loves documentaries, and we have watched "Icarus", about doping in sports, and "Pepsi, Where's My Jet?", the story of a teenage boy who decided to take on Pepsi after its ambitious cola-wars ad campaign.  Playing games.  Making cookies.  And good old-fashioned conversations around the dinner table.


Food in our house is always delicious, and Christmas brings some extra-special culinary delights - smoked turkey dinner with all the trimmings, and fruitcake that has been brushed with brandy for a couple of weeks.  Yum!

 


In retirement, I am with Spousal Unit for most of the day, but those days tend to be filled with a flurry of various activities.  In the week between Christmas and New Year's, life is slower and we can truly enjoy each other's company.  I call it "re-connecting".   This week, we hopped aboard the Montana Trolley for a tour of the Christmas lights around town.  Overall, the displays were underwhelming, but watching the excitement of the littles on the trolley was heartwarming.

Of course, to me Christmas signifies the Ultimate Gift, Jesus' birth and through it, our salvation.  

Wishing you a very Happy New Year, and many blessings in 2023!


28 comments:

  1. Hello, Angie

    Sounds like a wonderful Christmas, with your son and hubby. The food looks delicious. The trolley ride sounds like fun, I love seeing the lights at night. Take care, have a great day! I wish you all the best in 2023, a happy and healthy New Year!

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  2. Hi Angie! It sounds like you had a fabulous Christmas. A heated bird bath?! How cool is that! Your fair-weather feathered friends will love that and thank you for years to come. The trolley sounds so fun - those little ones get SO excited that it's contagious. Happy New Year! {{Hugs}} ~smile~ Roseanne

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  3. Your new slippers and socks look great - warm and cozy! Sounds like your Christmas has been really nice. I love having my sons here, too - there's always such good conversation! Happy New Year!

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  4. Happy and healthy new year to you and your family!

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  5. I'm glad you had a most wonderful Christmas and I wish you a most Happy 2023!

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  6. Those socks are awesome! Hedgehog cookie is cute. Sounds like you're having a lovely time. Happy New Year!

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  7. Hedgehog cookie is cute! God bless you friend

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  8. It looks like you had some great presents this year. I'm loving that hedgehog cookie mould! Wishing you all the best for 2023!

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  9. Sounds like a Merry and Jolly Christmas time. Glad your son made it safely. So thankful for the week between Christmas and New Years. A very Happy New Year to you and yours!

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  10. Happy New Year, Angie. I hope that 2023 is good to you.

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  11. You received some great gifts! Your dinner looks delicious! Enjoy your time with your son. Happy New Year!

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  12. Happy New Year, Angie. May 2023 be a great year for you and your family.

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  13. Hello Angie. It looks like you enjoyed your share of the snow and also your Christmas Day. We just sent ours back to their homes while we two prepare to enjoy New Year's Day evening home alone.

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  14. Dear Angie, your photo in the Montana Trolley is cute - it reminds me a bit of the San Francisco Cable Cars, wonderfully nostalgic! How nice that you had such wonderful Christmas holidays with your family, with lots of time for each other and for games, common interests and good food. Your hedgehog cookie mold looks nice. Great that you got this drawing book, may you enjoy it!
    Thank you for your lovely comment - you're right: PURA VIDA sounds like a perfect mantra for 2023. That's how we'll do it :-D
    Happy New Year to you and all your loved ones! 🥂🍀😌
    All the best, Traude

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  15. Fun, fun, Angie! Christmas joy and cheer, I loved reading your post and drooling over the yummy fare. That’s certainly a cute hedgehog cutter. :-) Cheers to a grounded and adventurous 2023!

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  16. Happy New Year, Angie. Christmas joy and fun was abundant at your place! Smoked turkey sounds delicious. Cute hedgehog cutter. Drawing is on my radar of things I'd like to improve upon, too. May 2023 bring you much delight.

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  17. Delightful! Thank you for sharing Angie! xx Laurel E

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  18. Happy New Year Wishes to you and yours.

    So pleased you were able to spend Christmastime with family.
    I enjoyed your photographs.

    All the best Jan
    https://thelowcarbdiabetic.blogspot.com/

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  19. you received some really wonderful gifts, ones that fit your personality, ones i would also enjoy!! you are going to love the heated bird bath as much as the birds, they need water just as much as they need food!! the slippers and socks are wonderful too!! i am taking on water colors this year, i can't wait to start!!

    a very belated merry christmas, wishing you an amazing 2023!!

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  20. Your Christmas fare, Angie, looks so delicious! You certainly received some wonderful gifts. Love those socks and slippers. They will both keep your toes warm and toasty. Love the look of the drawing book, too.

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  21. Such thoughtful gifts from your family. I've never seen a cookie from a mold before and wondered how it would look. Looks like it comes out perfectly. I love the way you enjoy life.

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  22. Happy New Year Angie! I enjoyed catching up with you and the family and beautiful snowy Montana . And Ohio -- we have so many Ohioans here in our snowbird resort and in this whole area -- there's even a Skyline Chile here in Fort Myers (it was new to us Oregonians). I'm glad you are still blogging sometimes -- your joy is an inspiration. I expect to see posts about you and the man with wings flying off to new adventures soon.

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  23. Great Christmas gifts for you Angie, love the biscuit mold, wishing you and your family all the best for the coming year.

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  24. Happy and Healthy New Year Angie and family! Your Christmas looked wonderful and your gifts delightful.
    This year my husband and I took advantage of a "Giving Tuesday" event in Colorado in December where donations are doubled, and we made donations to charities instead of purchasing gifts for each other. We did give gifts to the grandchildren but we also included donations to a horse rescue league and a farm animal shelter as their gifts. I think it will become a new tradition!
    Christmas season was very busy for us and I hardly had time to get online a I was baking and baking...and baking....lol...and we attended a lot of grandchildren Christmas events and we enjoyed our big Italian style seafood dinner for the Eve.

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