Happy New Year

Hello everyone, I'm just popping in to let you know I've been enjoying my Christmas holiday.

I spent a few days doing a bit of last minute shopping for stocking stuffers, tidying and cleaning and preparing for the Christmas meal which was loved and enjoyed by the invited guests. One of my guests was sick so didn't come but the 6 other guests made it and we had great time of feasting and fellowship.

I especially enjoyed seeing that my guests not only enjoyed the food but in some cases had 2-3 helpings.  I remember several of these same guests to dinner about 3 years ago when they were still fairly new to Canada. At that time they only ate sparingly. I don't know if it was due to cultural differences of what is polite, they didn't like the food or they were unaccustomed to the flavours of a Canadian Christmas.  What a difference a few years made!

I did a bit of last minute baking and one of the new to me items this year was Chocolate Crinkle cookies using Betty Crocker cake mix. I got the idea from Affectioknit's blog. My crinkle cookies didn't crinkle quite enough but they were tasty. I do hope to make them again as they are very simple to prepare.

Since Christmas, I've been slowly clearing all the dishes from Christmas Day and general tidying up. I've also gone out several times to shop for sales and to run a few errands. It has kept me busy enough though I made sure to skip the Boxing Day madness.  There are always so many people in the stores on Boxing Day that I prefer to avoid the shops. There are still lots of sales for the week after Christmas though you will have less selection as people go crazy snapping up the goods while they are on clearance prices. As for me, I try to do my clearance shopping throughout the year.

One of the places I went to was Michael's. I was looking for a small, table top Christmas tree to replace the one I've been using (above).  But they were practically sold out of Christmas items and there was not one tree in sight. Instead I purchased yarn, also on sale. I started making a new to me crochet afghan. Figuring out the pattern was a bit frustrating so after several tries I gave up and went looking for help on YouTube.

Fortunately the pattern is relatively simple once you figure it out! I normally gravitate toward brighter colours and was very tempted to buy bright blues or reds this time too.  But I like the soothing quality of the colours I selected. This afghan will be used as a throw in my living room on those chilly evenings.  The colour in the finished product will complement my living room furnishings better too.

Today (December 27th) I must go out and  buy a few items for New Year's dinner. It won't be a big dinner as we have a family tradition of remaining quietly at home and contemplating what is before us in the New Year.

Like many of you I do not make New Year's resolutions but several years ago I started setting out goals in several areas of my life (things I wanted to accomplish in each area of importance). 

This method has worked well for me to keep me moving forward in several areas of my life.

A few years ago I added a guiding word for myself to keep me mindful of a key theme I need to focus on over the year.

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In 2017, I set my intention to rest but was only partially successful. 

Or should I say intermittently successful.

Mom's health deteriorated progressively in 2017 and she ultimately passed on Good Friday. 

After that I did take a good long rest which I sorely needed.

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In 2018 my word is "act" or "action".
(Col. 3: 23-24, 1 Peter 1:13, Titus 1: 16)

 Over the course of years a number of things on my personal agenda had to be pushed back or left undone due to circumstances and other priorities. 

I won't list my goals for 2018 as I haven't even set them down in writing yet.

There are a number of things to get done in 2018 (crocheting, knitting, a bit of quilting a bit of traveling) so I will be moving forward on those.  

Last year I also set a very modest reading goal of about 32 books. I say about because I don't remember the original number and it kept increasing as I read more books. In the end I finished off 47 books without having my nose in a book every day.  

In 2018 I will keep my reading goals to a modest number once again. For now it is set at 35 books and that number will likely inch up again.  A lower number lets me feel like I have time to do other things as well as partake in reading, one of my favourite hobbies.  If I didn't take the time to set other intentions then reading would be all I ever did.

 The goal will inch up fairly quickly at first because I already have about 7 books on the go which are at various stages of completion.

As for other goals those haven't been fleshed out yet but I have enough to get started.

We've had a few beautiful sunny days which usually means colder weather. It will warm up approximately 6 degrees and bring the rain.

Before I go I wanted to wish each and every one of you a safe and peaceful the New Year. 

 May 2018 be all you hope for and more.

 So teach us to number our days that we may get a heart of wisdom.  
(Psalm 90:12)

Joining in with Lady Fi and the gang at Our World Tuesday