a whirlwind of holiday activity

Hi there! How was your Christmas or Hanukkah? My celebrations were good, though truthfully, I'm glad it's over for another year. Every year just seems to be too much in every which way. I'm glad I decorated less this year but next year I vow to say no to most party invitations. I am peopled out! Too much socializing for this introvert.

Christmas Eve, we went to my cousin's house. We witnessed the most beautiful sunset on the way. This photo was taken out the car windshield. (No worries, I was the passenger.)

 I didn't take many photos at my cousin's house as I kept my phone mostly put away in my purse, but I did manage to get this one of Hank the dog kissing my mom. The funny thing about this photo was my mom was scared of going to our relative's house because of her two pit bulls. Turns out, they were incredibly sweet and my mom fell in love with Hank.

Christmas morning, it was just the two of us and the kitties. This was the first time in 31 years that we didn't have any children at home with us on Christmas morning. This was our 11th Christmas without Phil and as most of you know, Tim moved to California last month.

 I still made my traditional breakfast casserole. And I poured my coffee into my new thermal Dunkin' Donuts commuter mug. That was one of Brian's presents to me ~ with a DD gift card inside. I love their coffee and it just so happens that our little town just opened a store right up the road from our house. I didn't know until I saw it on social media from someone else, that DD discounts their coffee if you bring in your DD commuter mug to get it filled.

With our temps being almost 60 degrees on Christmas Day (!!), we later took our usual walk around the neighborhood to get a little exercise, then my mom came over for pizza. After she left, we video-chatted with Tim and opened up our gifts to each other.

All over social media, I've seen memes and people talking about how the week between Christmas and New Year's Eve is weird...no one is sure what day it is, everyone is tired of heavy foods and cookies, and binging on Netflix seems to be the norm. I can relate to the too much heavy food and sweets, but otherwise I've actually been pretty busy since Christmas: Christmas clearance shopping (we buy our Christmas bags and wrapping paper, and calendars and planners for the next year all at 50% off the day after Christmas); taking photos and listing items to sell on social media; taking down all the Christmas decor and getting it packed away, plus donating a ton of Christmas decor that I no longer felt a need to keep; and deep cleaning and setting the house back to its "rights".

We took a day trip to our favorite antique store where I found this large, awesome jar for only $8 and we also tried Afghan food for the first time. I had the vegetarian platter which was amazingly delicious, especially the baby pumpkin which was cooked with honey and onions. Entrees are served with traditional Afghan basmati rice - topped with raisins and carrots. 

New Year's Eve is coming up in a few days. But that's no big deal for us. We'll most likely just have a quiet night at home. Brian's back to work super early on New Year's day. 

My hope for all of us for 2020 (sounds so futuristic!) is much love, many blessings, peace, and good health. God bless you.