and warm, which is saying a lot in Walnut Shade this evening. The current temp on our thermometer outside is 17 degrees, and it's breezy. I don't have an anemometer, but my trusty KY3 weather app says the windspeed this hour is expected to be 11 mph, yielding a "feels like" temp of 4.5 degrees. Overnight that "feels like" is expected to be around -15 degrees.
When there's no one in the first floor, we generally leave the living room thermostat set at 64, but we use a powerful and ancient space heater in our second floor office. It has a 600 watt button and a 900 watt button, and today we've had them both on most of the time. The ductwork into the office is basically non-functional, with the result that this room stays either extremely warm (in the summer) or fairly frigid (in the winter). At this moment, with the space heater having run on both buttons all day, it's 61 in the office. This makes me think of our son-in-law in Hong Kong, who would be absolutely frozen and miserable here now. I also think of my friend Danette in West Africa. When her family moved from North Little Rock to Niger some, well, could it be 25 (or more) years ago(?), they gave us the desk I'm sitting at to write this blog post. She's originally from northern Minnesota, but her blood has thinned through the years, and if she were sitting here beside me cocooned in our heavy blue and yellow afghan, I think she might still be shivering. I'm thankful that all of me is warm except my feet.
I haven't blogged in forever, which I hate. We had a wonderful Christmas, and throughout our two-and-a-haIf weeks of kids and/or my dad here, I kept wanting to write about the fun and special things we did, said, ate, unwrapped, etc. as they happened - in real time, as they say, but more and more I find that I have to choose between living life and writing about it. I know the experiences are more precious, but the writing is also fun and energizing for me. Our family is far-flung and we don't get to see them weekly like some of our friends do, so I chose to spend as much time as I could with Scott, Katie, Josiah, Andrew, and Dad while they were here, realizing that after the fact, when they returned to their homes and I returned to my "normal", catching up on piled-up stuff that I hadn't done ove the holiday, A) I wouldn't have time to blog, and B) I wouldn't remember all the special moments I hadn't wanted to forget.
It's now January 13th, and I'm living my current life, but here are a few bullet points I want to remember from our December 18th to January 4th time together, just for the joyfulness.
~ Andrew's Christmas dinner (turkey, mashed potatoes and gravy, super-flavorful green bean casserole, and the most amazing mac and cheese ever)
~ Good conversations with various ones at various times
~ The two toasters!
~ Our very fun Branson bike ride, complete with flat tire, disc search, and Andrew's solo ride to retrieve Thomas
~ Games, including Wingspan, 500 Rummy, Quiddler, and our fun new addition, Sushi Go. Andrew HATES Manni.
~ Pool with Grandpa, and his victory at Blank Slate. Now, that was unbelievable - not that he won, but that my confirmed, categorically non game-playing dad was willing to play a game, just because we asked. Well, Scott asked. = )
Many wonderful gifts were given and received. Breakfast casserole and pineapple were eaten. Josiah bought a superior mop and mopped our floors. (This had not been done in a while, and my existing mop had been declared functionally inadequate for the task.) Chex mix was prepared and consumed with satisfaction, and yes, three is the correct number of batches. Some Roller Coaster Tycoon was played, but sadly not with the full complement of siblings. I made too many cookies (not a surprise), including trying three new kinds, one of which (Strawberry Cream Thumbprint Cookies) I thought was most delicious. Bird's Nest Cookies and dipped pretzels retained their traditional popularity.
Ours was not a white Christmas, but it was a special Christmas. I am so very thankful that our kids and my dad all wanted to come. That really warms my heart. Of course, Jess and Matthias and Ezekiel, Ellie, and Nate were not with us. They never are at Christmas, but this year they celebrated with his family in Australia, where it was summer, and they got to spend time at Matthias' uncle's farm and at the beach! Jess was wonderful to share pictures, videos, and live chats of their trip, so I feel blessed to be connected to all our kids and grandkids.
I am now in a season of evaluating various priorities, simplifying some areas of my life, and in general trying to live well. And of course, decluttering. = ) In 2023 I documented the removal from our home of 369 items, the final eight of those on December 31st after Katie and Jo left. That was taking my item-a-day goal right down to the wire, so this year I am on an early roll; my Thing Counter app shows 108 items decluttered!
And now I shall leave this cozy office, which has crept up to 64 degrees while the outside has dropped to 14, and go down to get something to eat.
~
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