Dear Neighbor . . .

 

 

(source)

3 ESTATE LANE, N.S.
-9*C/15.8*F
mostly cloudy

Dear Neighbor, 

So, Christmas is over with for another year.  We spend so many weeks preparing for it and anticipating it and then it seems to be over in a puff of smoke. Here in Canada, we have Boxing Day, which was yesterday, the 26th of December, the day after Christmas. This is also a holiday in the U.K. Traditionally it was the day that the servants who had worked so hard for their Masters on Christmas received their Christmas Boxes and a bit of a rest and celebration for themselves.  No stores were open here yesterday, but today will begin the Boxing Day sales, when all of the Christmas merchandise will be reduced in price as well as other things.  Many people save their money to spend in the Boxing Day Sales after Christmas. 

After the shops having been closed for two days and the sales beginning, I would imagine the shops will be as busy as ever today.  I have no plans to go anywhere or spend any money.  I have all that I need right here.

 

(source)

I picked my daughter Eileen and her husband Tim up yesterday and we spent Boxing Day together. Normally each year they spend Christmas with Tim's parents, but they were away this year and so they spend Christmas Day with me as well as Boxing Day. They were invited to go to Eileen's dads, but they didn't really want to go there. Not that she doesn't love her dad. She does very much.  They just wanted to be with me instead.  I am not sure why, but I was not going to complain about that!

I cooked a simple meal yesterday.  I had picked up some frozen lasagna at Costco several months back when Anthony was supposed to come over. So, I cooked one of those and I made Hawaiian Pizza, just in case Tim did not like the lasagna, and I had made a salad. We had plenty of sweets here leftover from Christmas.

Surprisingly Tim wanted the lasagna. He says he is not big on pizza, so that worked well.  I found the lasagna to be very spicy, so I was not that keen on it. Eileen liked everything. Hawaiian Pizza is one of her favorites.  It was a very simple make. Just a Pillsbury refrigerate pizza crust, pizza sauce from a squeeze bottle, some good mozzarella, and pineapple slices with some torn Italian ham. It was very good, despite the simplicity of the ingredients.

 

(source)

After our Boxing Day lunch, Eileen and I cleared everything up so that was not left looming over our heads. (I like to get things cleared up right away if possible.)  Then we decided to facetime with her brother, my oldest son, Anthony and his family.  Anthony was cooking his turkey yesterday.   He had cooked Peking Duck on Christmas Eve and so they didn't cook their big Christmas turkey on Christmas Day.  It was nice to see him and the boys and Anne. 

The boys were doing the dishes!  I was surprised. It was the first time I have seen them doing something like that.  So that was nice to see.

Afterwards we messaged Doug, but there was no response.  I supposed he was busy with the family and would get back to us at some point.

 

(source)

It was game time then.  I have lots of board games that I keep for when the family comes over from New Brunswick or Prince Edward Island.  Games to keep the grandsons busy and contented.  We went through the games and picked one to play.  They each enjoyed a slice of pumpkin pie and whipped cream while we were deciding which one we wanted to play. 

We settled upon a game called Things.  I am not sure we played it the way it was supposed to be played, but we sure had fun playing it.  Some of the answers we came up with for some of the questions were quite funny. It was fun making each other laugh with our responses. 

For those who don't know, Eileen and Tim are both developmentally challenged so we keep things on a simpler level for them. We had a great time with this game, and enjoyed many, many laughs together, which was the whole purpose.

 

(source)

I used to make these wire bodied dolls a few years back and I had thought to make some again.  I had picked up supplies to make them and had them in a snap top plastic storage container.  I had bought a pack of 100 pipe cleaners in several colors.  Black, white, brown and beige. They were in the box.  Cinnamon loves to play with pipe cleaners.  I had coiled a few into cork screws and she was enjoying playing with them.  She kept trying to get back into the box and so I ended up locking it up in my closet.

Odd though, each day I was finding a few pipe cleaners on the bedroom floor.  I couldn't figure out where they were coming from as the box was locked up and in my closet.

I can't get down to look under things these days with my knees being the way that they are. To put any pressure on them at all is excruciating.  I asked Tim while he was here would he have a look under my bed to see what was under there. 

Guess what he found.

A plastic bag of 200 pipe cleaners in several colors.  The sneaky little minx must have taken the whole bag out when I wasn't looking and before I locked it up and had secreted it under the bed.  Taking a few out to play with each day and when I would get rid of those, she would take out a few more.  Naughty little monkey.  Smart though.

They are all gone now and her little game is finished. She was giving us dirty looks as we disposed of them.  Poor thing.  I will have to find a better place to hide my pipe cleaners from now on.

 

(source)

It was starting to get dark then and so it was time for me to take them home and our day together was ended.  All in all, though we did enjoy ourselves very much both on Christmas Day and on Boxing Day.  They really enjoyed going to Cindy's as well, and spending time with them and with Grampy (my dad).  We also got to facetime with my brother David and his wife Christine when we were at Cindy's, which they also really enjoyed.

Last evening my son Doug called me back on the facetime and we got to talk for a bit, just us two.  He wasn't feeling too well as he had a bit of a toothache and had been laying down resting when I called him earlier.  He has to work today but has a couple of days off this weekend I think, and we decided we would have a longer conversation then and the boys would be home as well so I could talk to them also. He said that the boys love me very much. That made this grammy's heart feel very good.

I hope his toothache feels better soon. There is nothing worse than toothache, or any ache in the head part of the body.  Tooth, ear, head, etc.  All are a nuisance and hard to ignore.

And so, I got to spend some quality time, even if only visually, with most of my loved ones this holiday season. Time spent with loved ones is never wasted and always a blessing. I love my family very much.

 

(source)

These few days in between Christmas and New Years are a time of quiet for many people. A time to catch your breath after all of the festivities and to just relax a bit as we start to ponder and think about any goals we might have for the coming year.  I try not to call them resolutions because it seems that most resolutions end up being broken.  Instead, I try to pick a word for the year to follow and focus on that. Simplicity is my word for 2025, as I make an effort to pare down things in my life and to pay attention to the things which matter most and are important to me.

Faith, family, friends and home. Those are the things which matter most to me. 

Being present in the moment. Finding peace and clarity in the moment.  Focusing on the important rather than on things which really don't matter at all in the eternal scheme of things. 

All my life I have cared far too much about what other people think of me. At the age of 69 I have finally come to realize that it doesn't really matter all that much what other people think. If I feel good about things and am doing my best, how other people think about me is really quite irrelevant. My best is my best. I do pride myself on being authentic, or as authentic as possible, and I aim to keep being so. We live in a world where we are surrounded by lies. In the media, in the shops, etc.  Everyone is very busy telling us how we should live or should look, what we should buy, eat, etc. People are not really very nice anymore.  

Kindness matters. In my life, kindness matters, and if I strive always to be kind and always to be true to myself and my God, then all will be well.  It is the simple things in life which matter the most and which bring us the most joy.  And so, Simplicity.  Simple pleasures and joys.  That is my word and my plan for 2025.  Being present and finding joy in simplicity.

Peace instead of chaos.

 

(source)

I hope that these past few days have been very good to you. I hope that you have felt loved and at peace with your lives. That you have gotten to eat some really delicious foods and spend time with people that you really care about and that really care about you. I hope that there is more to come.

A thought to carry with you . . . 

° * 。 • ˚ ˚ ˛ ˚ ˛ •
•。★★ 。* 。
° 。 ° ˛˚˛ * _Π_____*。*˚
˚ ˛ •˛•˚ */______/~＼。˚ ˚ ˛
˚ ˛ •˛• ˚ ｜ 田田 ｜門 ★

 *.Using your talent, hobby or

profession in a way that makes you

contribute with something good to

this works is truly the way to go.

~Simon Zingerman  ° * 。 • ˚ ˚ ˛ ˚ ˛ •

° * 。 • ˚ ˚ ˛ ˚ ˛ •° * 。 • ˚ ˚ ˛ 

There is really nothing new in the kitchen today as I was too busy enjoying my family yesterday, so today I am sharing my recipe for a delicious pea soup.  If you have a ham bone leftover from Christmas, you can make some stock and then make this soup.  Of you can use ham stock cubes.  Heck, I think chicken stock cubes would also work when it comes to this delicious soup called The London Particular.  So called after the thick pea soup fogs that used to plague London.  A hot bowl of soup is a beautiful thing on a cold, cold day.

I hope your day is filled with peace, love and beauty.  Whatever you get up to, don't forget!

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And I do too!