Are You Ready For A NewYear?

Well Christmas is over for another year. It’s hard to believe it is almost 2024. The years go by so quickly the older you get. I don’t like making New Year’s resolutions because I always seem to disappoint myself. I do like having a word for the year. My word last year was “celebrate”. I decided to celebrate as much as I could all year because life is short and it should be fun. I had a lot of celebrations in 2023. I decided to take a look back at the different celebrations throughout the year. I am so blessed with such a wonderful family and friends.

In February we celebrated my niece for her Birthday.

Also a coworker brought Valentine’s Day goodies.

I made a butterfly tree to celebrate spring.

In April the hubs and I saw the musical production of Cats in Knoxville.

In April we also celebrated my birthday and my sister bought me a tiara.

In May we celebrated the end of my sister’s chemo treatments and I am happy to say she is still doing great and cancer free. Now that truly is a celebration.

In June we celebrated my niece and nephews’ birthdays. We did them together because the dates are close together.

My nephew is a drummer as you can tell by this drum cymbal.

End of June and the hubs and I had a great beach vacation at our favorite beach, Wrightsville Beach, in North Carolina.

August and we took a trip to Northern Europe to several Scandinavian countries. We also took my nephew Tyler with us.

In September I celebrated with two of my coworkers at their wedding.

Late September and we had a short Sister Trip to Gatlinburg Tennessee.

In Early October I got together with some of my cave friends for a trip to Northern California. We visited Shasta Caverns and Shasta Lake.

In October my great nephew Caleb turned 20. He is such a character he always keeps us laughing.

We also had a much needed Sister Lunch with several of the nieces and my nephew Tyler.

December was Tyler’s Birthday and we had a cook out and cake at his house.

And finally it’s December and Christmas with the whole family.

And my hubs and I and all of the fur babies, Gus, Kitty Kitty, Allie, Sadie and Izzie hope that you had a wonderful Christmas and that you are planning a wonderful new year!!

Do you make New Year’s resolutions? Do you ever choose a word for the year. I am currently thinking about my word for 2024. I know it will come to me.

As I said Celebrate was my word for 2023 and I made sure to have as many celebrations as possible. But I actually believe that our best celebrations come just by being who we want to be and doing what we want to do.

Always remember

Love your day your way!!!!!

Friday “Christmas” Favorites

Hello and happy Friday. Just three days until Christmas!!! I am off for the next three days and I plan to fully enjoy it. I still have a few presents to wrap. I will go to my sister’s house on Christmas Eve and open gifts with her family. My hubs has to work Christmas Eve but he will be home on Christmas Day.

Throughout the week my coworkers and I have been exchanging gifts. We don’t do anything elaborate. So my favorites this week have been some wonderful and thoughtful gifts from my precious work family. I also had lunch today with a sweet friend that I don’t get to see a lot. She is a former coworker who retired several years ago. We have always remained so close. I just love her and cherish our times together. We have been friends so long she is more like family to me and all of my family.

So here are a few of my Christmas presents from friends and coworkers this week. I just have to say “do they get me or what?” Of course I guess they know I love cats because I mention them a few hundred times a day. They also know that I love to knit and crochet. But oh my!!!! This work family is precious to me because they know what I love. You can’t ask for better work friends than that. THEY GET ME!!!!!

This mug is so adorable I had my coffee in it this morning. Aren’t these kitties adorable?? I love it.

Look at this cute kitty bag. Given to me by the same person who gave me the mug. I think I will use this bag for my socks that I am currently knitting. It is the perfect size for socks. It keeps everything together. And who wouldn’t want to knit something out of his bag?

O.K. Stop the clock. Look at this knitting/crochet bag. It has a place to run the yarn through so that you can work on several different colors without getting them tangled. This is very important for me because I am always getting my yarn tangled. It also has a place to keep several knitting or crochet needles. I have already started a scarf and am working on these two colors.

My friend that I had lunch with today gave me a Santa to add to my collection. I love him!!! I don’t have one like him. I am so happy to add him to my collection.

This same friend also got me this Christmas ornament. Isn’t it precious? You know when it comes down to it, family and friends are the most important people to have around you.

Now!!!! My coworker Amber gave me this present this morning. I opened it and at first I thought it was a journal. I love journals. And then I saw the word Yarniss, My breath stopped. I opened it and I think I might have screamed.

Look at this collections of crochet needles. Every size you could hope to have. Plus some stitch markers, darning needles and some very cool scissors. She told me that she had read the rubber grips were better for your hands. I felt like crying. What a wonderful thoughtful gift. I was overwhelmed.

Now if you like chocolate. These Whitman Sampler Candies are on sale at Walgreens. They are $5.00 a box. People this is a great gift to add to something you have already bought or to give to anyone. Grab them before they are gone.

I have to leave you with this very old photo of me and my brother Joe. This was Christmas and I had just gotten this Barbie Doll. I don’t remember the exact year. Joe was my younger brother he passed away in 2017. We grew up together and shared so many Christmas mornings. He still lives in my heart every day. Sometimes Christmas memories can be sad remembering our loved ones who are no longer with us. That is why it is so important to cherish every single day that we have with our loved ones with us.

Always remember,

Love your day your way!!!!

Some Cold Weather And A Family Get-Together

It’s Tuesday and less than a week before Christmas. It is really cold here and finally feeling like winter. The high today was only 40 degrees F. That is really cold for us. But I sort of love it because it really feels like Christmas. I don’t think we will have snow if anything probably some rain but that is okay too because we are still really dry in this area.

On Sunday we had our family Christmas get together at my house. I had to work all week so I knew I wouldn’t have a lot of time to clean my house. I had planned to do a little cleaning all week. I thought maybe I would do some cleaning before work and some after work. Well you probably know how that worked out. I hardly got anything done throughout the week. But it was alright. I knew my house didn’t have to be super clean for my family to have a good time. And we did have a great time. Everyone brought food so I didn’t really have to do a lot of cooking. We had a great time!!!! We played a couple of games and did a dirty Santa swap. I got a yummy smelling candle and an Elvis Presley calendar in the swap. I didn’t take a lot of pictures but we were just having too much fun. I did have the entire clan pose for a picture. I set the timer on my phone and we were able to get everyone in on the picture.

I got my nephews to recreate a photo from several years ago. They were about 8 and 10 years old here.

They are now 20 and 22. It took a lot of pleading to get one of them to do it. You can probably guess which one doesn’t look too enthusiastic. But they are both precious to me and will always be my little nephews whom I love dearly.

So a great family get together and some very cold weather and Christmas just around the corner. I hope you are spending time with your loved ones, eating a lot of Christmas goodies, watching Christmas movies, and cherishing those near and dear and those that are far away from you as well.

Always remember

Love Your Day Your Way!!

Friday Favorites

Happy Friday everyone. I have a few favorites to share with you on this chilly day.

First of all I wanted a new Christmas tree topper this year. I wanted something a bit unusual. I looked on Amazon for a cat tree topper and found this one. I love it!!! It came with two scarves. One for Christmas and one for Halloween. It looks just like my Sadie.

***I love it. I will also use it for Halloween.***

This Breyers Extra Creamy Chocolate is the yummiest ice cream ever!!!! My sister told me about it. You have to try it. It is so smooth and creamy.

I added a new orchid to the orchid family. Isn’t she beautiful? I named her May Bell. I brought her home and repotted her. She blends in nicely with the orchid family. My husband argues that I have no more room for orchids. But I always find a place.

We had our work Christmas party on Monday night. I won this small Christmas pillow. Doesn’t it look festive?

A coworker made this Santa out of pumpkins that we had left over from Halloween. I think this is a great way to keep pumpkins around a little longer. She spray painted them white and put them in some plastic flower pots. She added a Santa hat and a few other things. I think they turned out great!!!

I had to add a mini stocking for Gus this year. I couldn’t find one with a G so I bought a plain one and embroidered the G onto it.

***His is a little different but that is ok. He is the only boy in our group of girls.***

But I saved the best for last. The absolute best Friday Favorite and favorite of the last few months is my sister Sandy. We went to the doctor today to get the results from her latest CT scan and there is no cancer. She is still in remission. We were so happy. What a wonderful Christmas blessing.

What were some of your favorites this week?

Always remember

Love Your Day Your Way!!!!