Well, it's now past Christmas, and I know all of you are experiencing that post-season lull.... unless you're in high gear toward the rest of your parties and family get-togethers and New Year ideas... in which case, you are in a flurry of preparations and what not. Either way, the old order changeth, yielding place to new, and it will soon be 2023... Throughout this post are little photos of a quilt I purchased on Etsy this summer. I love all the handwork! I don't think it actually does itself justice on the bed, so I plan to put it on my quilt rack, but I did want to start the year with the soft blues and whites that I so dearly cherish. I made the granny afghan a few years ago from a yarn I found online. I'm not sure what brand it was, but I really liked that dark color-change. I love doing things in that because I'm not in love with tying in my loose ends... in life or in crochet! lol... See what I did there?
I'm discovering part 2 of the unexpected pleasure of not decorating very much. I don't have anything to take down really... a few festive touches here and there, but mainly. I need to clean! That never fails. I can't believe how much dust happened... Could it have been my furnace repair? Yeah.. I'll go with that... ha! ha!
I am having a bit of my favorite, though not overly healthy breakfast. I love strawberry pop tarts. I prefer the unfrosted version, but I can't find them at Aldi's. So... I love strawberry poptarts warmed in the microwave with a daub of butter... And I can justify all that because it is quite hard to find things I can eat with joy... My dentist /surgeon was highly recommended. In fact, he had the caveat of being the NUMBER ONE dental surgeon in Columbia, MO. I am wondering just who named him that? I mean... Nobody that I know has had all her teeth removed more than once, so... how would a person compare him to anyone else? I guess he was fine. He charged so much that I will probably never ever "love" him... That's a sad but true thing about my spirit... And it's hard to say he did a good or a bad job when he sliced into my palate/roof of my mouth and stitched it up like a crazy quilt... I don't feel very good about all of it... YET... blisters on my gums and all kinds of weird thoughts about the whole aging process just make me unhappy... So I don't really plan to think about them after today... right now. Aren't you all the lucky ones to catch this last bit and bob of negativity... lol...
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My cousins and I had kind of a memory-fest on Christmas Eve. They all provided some photos of family dishes they were preparing. As children we spent every Christmas Eve together with our family in our grandparents' lovely home in Excello. I actually didn't prepare any of the traditional favorites from those day, so I provided this photo of the actual door to my grandmother's front porch. As you see, I haven't painted it in all these years. It spent the majority of time since the 1970's in Daddy's barn loft... What doesn't show well is an etched light house in the glass, which has thickened at the base and bubbled through the years.
We are all cozy and happy with our new furnace, newly fixed plumbing... That expanded (of course, to include a frantic search for a plumber at the crest of Minus 34 degree windchill. Those guys are in high demand. Our problem was located by the nicest 25 year old furnace installer. He was a jewel. He even uprooted an old phone down in that dark dungeon of a basement that belonged to my dad. He asked if he could have it, and I gladly said YES! He took a video of the leak on our main line. Who knows how long that's been happening. All fixed now. The young man was really, really kind.... and I thanked him. Then he said it. "I always like to be good to the elderly." What? My son didn't blink an eye. That child has had so many health problems I'm afraid he has felt elderly most of his life.
But I sure didn't like that thought very well... A few hours later, my son burst into laughter when he heard me mutter under my breath: "ELDERLY!!!"
We had a white Christmas, and the weather warmed up a little, so I think families could better get together. I will say my love of Winter has its limits, and that windchill with the accompanying 30-35 mph icy blasts really pushed those limits! Our windows play haunting melodies, and I tried to capture them with my phone recordings, but it just wouldn't pick them up... All that led to my believing it is entirely magical, which made me start rethinking if I want to replace these old windows at all... Ahem! And all that brings me to my typical post for the end of the year! I have to discuss my word of the year for the next trip around the sun.
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As any of you who've followed me know, I delight in choosing a word of the year, and I usually struggle quite a bit, settle, change it, and then pounce on what seems perfect. This year was not an exception to that pattern. I started with a pretty good feeling for the words MINDFUL or INTENTIONAL. I thought I needed to ground myself and plan, maybe get a groove going to become, at last, that kind of person who could actually benefit from planting some well-thought out goals and reaping an expected harvest. I reminisced and chided myself for some of my other words of the year from my past, such as Whimsy and Sparkle. "That's what you get for those kinds of words... You are mumble mumble years old... Grow up and be intentional!" I was pretty self satisfied... for a few days. Then, alas! I just couldn't do it. I do want to be intentional and mindful, but I just don't want to read it into my every waking minute. Much like a little miss I had in my English 1 class. I asked her if she liked to read, and she wailed, "I guess I like to read, but I just wouldn't want to make a habit if it!" I've never stopped laughing about her... Sweet Kelly.... I will get to the point (and the word) fairly fast. I promise! I wrote down about 30 or 40 words that my friends had used in years past. I loved them all. I could honestly see myself with Create or Imagine. I loved the idea of JOY and a year dedicated to its pursuit.
Finally, though, I just gave it all up. 2023 would be the year I just didn't choose a word of the year. It wouldn't matter. I have often forgotten what my word was the year before, and I've had to look up this very post from prior years to figure it out. I chose Encourage for 2022. I'm glad I chose that, because boy-howdy! I have needed it. 'Take Heart, Daughter." was my scripture, and I needed that one, too. As my lack of posts has shown, my little spirit has been tired this year. And I really hated that tiredness of spirit.
Then... VOILA! A word crept into my heart, and I began to sing it loud and clear. I love the word resonate... And my word of the year for 2023 resonated with my soul. My word is RESTORE. I love that! I have needed restoration. My life needs it, my faith at times, my health for sure, and my home. My goodness. How could I be so lucky as to find this word? It covers anything and everything. I'm totally happy with it. I can see it playing out no matter what dumps into my path... and hopefully as the path clears a little, restoration can continue for a long time to come. There are no shortages to the good scriptures about restoration. I like them all. I think this one is new to me, and we are just now studying Amos. So I'm starting the year with Amos 9:15, "And I will bring my people Israel back from exile. 'They will rebuild the ruined cities and live in them. They will plant vineyards and drink their wine; they will make gardens and eat their fruit.'"
So, dear friends, there you have it... My word... my mis-matched bed... all of it. I am off to explore the wilds of my Studio. I plan to get some journals done and listed in my Etsy shop. Valentines and other wintry things sound good to me right now. I'm a little over Christmas... although those lights on my tree still are magic to my soul!
If I don't see you before Sunday, Happy New Year!
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