Hodgepodging a New Year

Sunrise, December 30, 2016
View from the front porch

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1. Share one favorite moment/memory from your Christmas holiday.

My very favorite moment from Christmas and New Year's is when everyone has finally arrived and the family is all together. My next favorite moment is watching the last person drive down the driveway as they leave. I don't really mean that, well, maybe kinda.  It's the curse of the introvert. :-)

Three - Two - One - GO!!

Grandkids sledding down our hill
Neighbor Bill's farm (the subject of many IG pics)
in the background

He made it to the bottom without falling off!

 

2. What was the best thing you ate over the holidays? Was it homemade or store bought? If it was homemade did you make it?

Probably the best thing I ate was one of those Andes Mints cake balls I talked about in my last post. Definitely homemade and definitely won't make them again for a long time. They were delicious, but I don't dare keep stuff like that in the house. Mr. C. doesn't have a sweet tooth, so you-know-who feels the responsibility to eat it. You know, to get it out of the house.

Itty Bitty Pastries

made with butter, cream cheese, flour, powdered sugar

and jam. Two inch squares, pinched together at the corners

so they can all come apart in the oven and be a real mess.

But they tasted good.

3. What was one of the most beautiful things you saw over the holidays?

The most beautiful thing for me always is seeing the grandchildren playing together. The least beautiful thing was Irvine Park Christmas Village with 60,000 lights and displays when you arrive before dark. Definitely diminishes some of its charm.  So we went and hung out at Leinie's Lodge in Chippewa Falls until it got dark and then tried again. MUCH better. Next year we will arrive at 6:30 PM rather than 5:00 PM. And we will walk through, rather than drive through.

On the way to Chippewa Falls
Car rides affect me the same way.

Killing time until it got DARK 
Leinie's Lodge: The place to loiter if you want to stand next to a beautiful fireplace while you're waiting for it to get dark outside, or if you want to purchase one of a zillion items that have the name 'Leinenkugel's' engraved or printed on it. Why?

4. What does fresh start mean to you?

Mostly, a fresh start reminds me of God's mercies, new every morning, which is a wonderful, reassuring thought. God holds no grudges. Lamentations 3:22-23:

The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases;
    his mercies never come to an end; 

 they are new every morning;
    great is your faithfulness.

 I have no idea what our son is doing to our grandson in this photo, 

but you've seen monkeys grooming one another, right? LOL

 

5. On a scale of 1-10 (with 10 being very positive and 1 being not so great) how would you rate 2016 in terms of personal achievement and well being? Explain.

A seven. I was hoping to be snowshoeing this winter. Maybe after my checkup in late February.

The bulldozer. Still in our field.
The snow has an icy crust.

6. Every January 1st since 1976 Lake Superior University has published a list of words they'd like to see banished from the Queen's English. Words may be banished due to misuse, overuse, or just general uselessness. Go here to read more about how the words were chosen or, if you're like me, to find out what in the world the word or phrase even means or the context in which it's used. There were quite a few on this year's list I'd never heard before.

Here's the 2017 list of banished words-

You, Sir-focus-Bete Noire-Town Hall Meeting-Post Truth-guesstimate-831-historic-manicured-echo chamber-on fleek-bigly-ghost-Dadbod-listicle-get your dander up-selfie drone-frankenfruit-disruption

Which word on the list would you most like to see banished in 2017? What word or phrase would you add to the list?

'You' is a banished word?? And many of the others I'd never heard. I guess they haven't made their way to deepest, darkest, coldest northern Wisconsin. Usually I could name a few words or phrases that annoy me, mostly because people overuse them. This year I can't think of any. 

 Stop me if I've already shown you this photo.

7. Large or small, light or deep, share with us one goal you have for the new year.

Kayaking. Sometime after the ice melts.

8. Insert your own random thought here.

 Tuppence, lounging on the sofa during 'Poirot.'

A photo, lest you think I've abandoned all affection for her.

It's hard to tell where cat ends and blanket begins, 

but it's mostly sweet old cat.

Thank you, Joyce, for always putting together this Hodgepodge of questions for us.

***

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On the Fourth Day of Christmas

Good morning, friends! 

I had my carry-on sitting out because a friend had asked to borrow it for an upcoming trip, but the kittens thought it made a great snuggly bed. I'm not sure she's going to get it away from them.

So here is it, the Fourth Day of Christmas. Did you receive your four calling birds yet? And in case you (like I), had forgotten what 'calling birds' are, let's review, shall we, class?:

'Four Colly Birds: The birds are really Colly Birds, not Calling Birds.  

Colly birds may be any of several coal-black birds – crows, jackdaws, rooks, or ravens. These birds of the night carry the power and mystery of the dark season of the year. The raven was the bird of battle.' That's one definition (from somewhere on the internet). Another says that the four 'calling birds' referred to the four Gospels, Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. Hmmm. I'm thinking the first is more likely. Colly, as in Collier, Coal, etc. etc. Well, anyway...moving along...

 

I spent all day Christmas Day and the Second Day of Christmas in bed with an intensely achy virus. As they say, 'I'd like tuh died.' Once when our younger daughter was little, she and I came down with the flu on Christmas and spent the day in bed, listening to Christmas carols on the radio. She was selfish enough to grow up, get married, and move away, so it was just the cats on the bed with me, attacking my feet through the blankets. Mr. C. was very kind and compassionate, however, which is always much appreciated by someone who feels they're at death's door - or wishes they could be and get it over with.

 How can I even look at these right now??

All better on The Third Day of Christmas, so that I was able to do laundry, do a little walking, and make another double batch of Andes Mint Truffle Cookies - recipe at that link - (but not in any mood yet to eat them). I'm letting you know right now not to bother to make a single batch. Start out with either a double or quadruple batch. They're so easy and there's enough time to make them for New Year's Eve. And you can even get a half dozen eaten before you start your New Year's resolutions!  You know, the one where you're not ever going to eat sugar again.

Little grandsons, budding artists, Christmas Eve

I wonder if this is how Ferrante and Teicher started out. 

For some reason, the past couple nights after being sick I've been on a Hercule Poirot (David Suchet) marathon. I didn't care much for some of the very earliest ones, but then they start getting pretty good, like The Yellow Iris, The Case of The Missing Will, The Chocolate Box, etc. It's been fun to see them again after all this time.

I might have to replace the lights out by the pond next spring.

Christmas Eve Eve

Neighbors with two combines in the corn field,

trying to beat an incoming snowstorm

We're expecting family to start arriving Friday and we'll spend the weekend together. It's always wonderful to have them here. That's also why I made a quadruple batch of those chocolate mint truffle cookies! 

I hope you all have a wonderful New Year's Day. Have you made New Year's resolutions?

Mine involve more exercise, getting out of the cold at least a few days during February, more Bible study, and cleaning out the house. I know, I know, I said the cleaning out the house thing last year, but 2017 is THE YEAR.

See you in the new year!

 Princess Elsa

 ***


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