Happy New Year!!! How are you? and how is your new year going so far?

I am sitting at my desk drinking coffee and looking at all of the Christmas decorations that need to be taken down. Mark doesn’t like to take down the decorations until after New Year’s Day. That is o.k. with me but it doesn’t always work out with my schedule and days off and getting everything done. I love to get all of the decorations down and get the house back to normal. I love Christmas and the decorations but when Christmas is over it is over. Time to look to the New Year I say.

I don’t like making new year’s resolutions. For several years I picked a word for the year that I would try and focus on. My word for 2020 was “Discover.” And wow what a discovery it was. I was thinking more along the lines of trying new things and discovering new places and it wasn’t really that type of discovery at all. But you know what? that is ok. It was a different type of discovery and some things I needed to discover.

I think the most important discovery I made this year was about gratitude. I have been so grateful that my family has been safe during this pandemic. I am grateful that I was able to keep my job and that the company I work for is still going strong. I am grateful for the time I had to reflect on things that were really important to me. It has been a humbling year and it makes you realize that things are not to be taken for granted and that life is so very precious and that your day to day existence is one to be treasured.

I decided that my word for the year this year would be “Present”. I want to be present in everything that I do. I don’t want my nose stuck in my phone so much that I am missing wonderful and beautiful things around me. I want to enjoy everything and everyone that I can. I want to listen and learn more than ever before.

Because taking pictures is one of my most favorite things to do I did a recap of some of my favorites through the year.

So how about you? Any resolutions or hopes, other than the obvious, for this coming year?

Always remember,

Love your day your way!!!!

Thanksgiving morning and it was 3:00 A.M. I couldn’t sleep. I guess I was thinking about all the things to do before 2:00 PM when I would have my Thanksgiving lunch. It was different this year only four of us. My sister and her husband came to eat with us. Well five if you counted Scruffy who wouldn’t leave my side the entire time I was cooking dinner. I wasn’t sure if there would be four people or eight for dinner. It was a maybe for a few people. At the last minute my nephew was sick and his brother had been around their mom, who had just been tested for COVID and we didn’t feel comfortable with him being around Mark. However, they did call with their to-go orders. HA!!! Mark’s brother and his wife were a maybe and they didn’t get to come at the last minute.

I had to work every day leading up to Thanksgiving Day. That did not leave me with a lot of time to clean my house and shop for food. I did do some cleaning last weekend but you know how that goes after almost a week. It felt like I hadn’t done anything. Plus I put my Christmas tree up last weekend and did some decorating so that took up most of the weekend. I decided to concentrate on my downstairs because I knew no one would be going upstairs for anything.

I did a little cleaning on Monday night. I stopped and bought groceries on the way home on Tuesday night. As soon as I got home on Wednesday and I had a chance to grab some dinner and change clothes I gave Scruffy a much needed bath. After that I made cornbread for the dressing I would make on Thursday. I also made the two pies. Let me tell you making two pies at once is a little tricky. One pie I had to bake, the pecan, and the other I didn’t. I constantly found myself almost putting the ingredients in the wrong pie. Ha! Luckily they both turned out fine.

So there I was at 3:00 AM on Thanksgiving morning even though I hadn’t gotten to bed until 11:30 PM the night before. I finally got up around 5:00 and started the day which always involves coffee and sitting for a few minutes with whichever fur baby hops on my lap first. Kitty Kitty won out this time and she curled up on my lap and took a nap.

It was just the four of us for dinner and we had a wonderful time. Mark wanted to know why I was cooking sooooo much food. My thinking was, it’s still Thanksgiving and that means food. Mark did not want turkey this year, he is not a big fan of turkey, so we did a spiral ham. I still did dressing, sweet potatoes, mashed potatoes, baked beans, rolls, cucumbers, cranberry sauce and two pies, chocolate and pecan.

After dinner my sister and I took a walk and enjoyed the warm temperature, which was about 65 degrees F, and the sunshine.

So yes Thanksgiving 2020 was different as so many things this year have been. But you know what? I know I am even more thankful than ever. My faith and the love I have for my friends and family are something that can never change. I am here and living in a time that will never be forgotten and I am just happy to say I am a part of this big wonderful life. So how was your Thanksgiving???

Always remember,

Love your day your way!!!

Spoiler alert, This post will end on a positive in spite of the title.

Please understand when I write this I don’t mean the actual virus I mean the repercussions from the virus and being quarantined, losing work, death, fear and on and on. It will eventually wear on anyone’s nerves. I am from the south where southern hospitality is a real thing. I guess maybe I am more sensitive to people acting more stressed, scared, mean or unfriendly or just not being themselves.

I go into a store and am working my way to the check out counter. A man is standing sort of not in line but just beside the line of people. I am not sure if he is observing the six feet social distancing or just waiting for someone. I ask him ” are you in line?”. He turns around and practically screams “YES I AM!! I HAVE BEEN STANDING HERE FOR ABOUT TWENTY FIVE MINUTES SO GOOD LUCK WITH THAT” Wow I didn’t know what to say I just stood there and waited for my turn remembering the day you could strike up a friendly conversation with other people waiting in line. Now you have to be six feet apart and if you’re wearing a mask no one can understand what you are saying anyway. I would like to say this was a one time incident but it hasn’t been. Remember this is the south and everyone talks to everyone. I am the queen of striking up conversations with people. My husband will say “who was that you were talking to?” I say I have no idea I just met them. That is the way it is where I am from. I will not stop being that way.

I guess I have noticed this shift mostly at work. I work in tourism, so yes things are different and people cannot just come and go at any time and expect no wait times or even the possibility of not visiting. To help with social distancing we do have long wait times. This makes some of our customers angry. Really angry. I have been verbally abused and threatened, on the phone, to the point I actually had to call the 911 help center and have them send extra patrol to our area. I know it was probably just someone blowing off steam but it was still very scary. You can’t be too careful. I think when people have this unreasonable reaction it is just because they are so fed up with the “new normal” way of doing things that they just take it out on the nearest person they can find. Not a good thing to do.

Some people berate you and make fun of you if you wear a mask or they glare at you if you don’t. I have been hit with both of these on several occasions.

You may be one of those people that have not let COVID interrupt your life, or so you think, you go on vacations, you go shopping and out to eat but it is still different. YOU KNOW IT IS!!! No matter what you do things are different and you feel it and you see it and there is not a dang thing you can do about it, it is affecting you in one way or another.

I go to work and I go to a few outings, I even went on a short trip with my sisters, and to the grocery store but nothing like I have done in the past. There is a big part of me that doesn’t mind because I am a bit of a home-body anyway. I wear a mask when I go out. I sanitize constantly. But there is also a big part of me that wants things to be just the way they were before COVID. I am not sure that will ever happen. No matter what I think this will leave a lasting memory or scar for most people. WahWahWah!!! I know I know. I am blessed that I haven’t had COVID or lost a loved one to it. We are in stressful times people. Be nice, be patient, be kind. When I say this I am yelling this to myself the loudest. I know it starts with me.

Now on the other hand I have also noticed some people being kinder and gentler and giving. Some people go out of their way to do for others during these trying times. Which way do you want to be remembered? we are making history here let’s make it the best we can moving forward. Too many bad, senseless and unthinkable things have happened this year. I hope we can end it on a better loving note. Are you with me?

Always remember,

Love your day your way!!!