It's a new year ripe with new challenges and opportunities. I hope they're all good ones. 2023 was okay, though it didn't end so good. I'll talk about that later. Right now, I want to talk about Christmas. I had a wonderful one, despite the bad stuff before.
We had a peaceful Christmas Eve watching tv and I puttered with the knitting needles. We needed that. I roasted a nice Turkey Breast for dinner that was so moist and tender. My gosh, it was amazing! Mashed potatoes with gravy, and string beans. No dessert because I'd spent part of the day making dessert for Christmas Day.
Christmas morning I got up pretty early-7 am. I couldn't sleep, so I thought maybe I'd get up and fall asleep in the recliner. I do that sometimes and it works. It didn't. So I got my Christmas stocking and dug around in it and logged into Facebook. Later when Doug got up I brewed some coffee. Ruth was really late getting up. Ugh! I wanted to open my presents! Had to wait for her. After our coffee, we finally opened presents.
My daughter and I were especially excited to have Doug open his present because he'd been out of town for a few days and we'd figured out what to get him. It is a Shaq office chair. He really wanted it. In fact, we visited Office Depot a couple months earlier because he wanted to check it out, but they're so expensive! We were out and about Christmas shopping and I mentioned it to Ruth. She suggested we go look at it. I'm glad we did because it was on sale! It was a great deal too!
I put it on my credit card. I haven't used my credit cards at all for almost 3 years. We usually use them when we travel, like on cruises. Haven't been doing that kind of stuff since Doug started school. Earlier this year I'd lost my Capitol One card because of that. Capitol One closed my account. So I have been looking for ways to use the second card I own because I don't want that one cancelled too.
It came in a huge box that was pretty heavy. Quite frankly, I was surprised it even fit in my car. Thankfully we own a hand truck so when we got home Ruth and I were able to wrestle it into the house. We bought extra large wrapping paper and wrapped that giant box. Geez! That was a difficult thing to do because the box was so heavy we had to slide it around to move it. Picking it up was a strain even with both of us doing it together. We would lean one side over a bit and slide paper under it, then lean the other side. Trying to get it all flat and even around the box was almost impossible. I was pretty tired when the wrapping was done.
Anyway, Doug is pretty happy with the chair. Ruth is happy with her main gift, which was the Chiaogoo Twist interchangeable Mini needle set. There was chocolate and nuts and snacks and silly things like felt tip pens and stuff too.
My main gift was a huge surprise. I am the proud new owner of an iRobot vacuum cleaner! I love it!
I was never keen on these things, but a few month ago I started wondering how much help it would be with my war on loose fur floating all over the house. I will spend half the day carefully vacuuming every nook and cranny in the whole house to get rid of it. Then, I'll be leaning against the pantry door observing how wonderful the floors look, and a giant grey fuzzy ball rolls past me. I hate it! I just can't keep up with it.
Well, I've been sending the iRobot, which I've named Fuzzkiller, all over the house and it's working! It doesn't get every bit of it because there are places it can't get into, but I can't believe how much better it is in this house! I've been running it every day. At first, it was filling up pretty fast with fur, but the last trip it was only half full when it was done. The floors look so much better. I'm very happy with it.
My daughter, Ruth, knit me some beautiful fingerless mitts. I love them! Tiny stitches and tiny needles and they're so perfect. They fit me perfectly. I will enjoy wearing them.
Husband also got me a couple chargers. This first one was in my Amazon wish list. It's a solar powered portable charger for charging phones and stuff like that. I think it will be great for camping.
My husband also got me a NOCO Boost Plus, which is a portable device to jump start your car if the battery should go out.
Two Fridays before Christmas Doug's nephew called to tell him his mother was really sick and could he come over? She lived over in Westport, WA. Doug was in the middle of grading papers and projects because it had been finals week (He taught a class this semester.). He said he couldn't head over until Wednesday. Then, as his sister progressed to worse, he ended up going over on Tuesday. She passed away from Congestive Heart Failure an hour before he got there.
Doug came home Friday. Saturday I got word that my dear friend, Early, passed away from Congestive Heart Failure. I'd just seen her a week before! We had lunch together. I met her when I had my shop. A group of ladies started coming to the shop to eat lunch and knit together every Tuesday. After the shop closed, we got together once a month for lunch. Been doing it for more than 20 years. Early was such a kind wonderful person. I will miss her a lot. So, I'd been crying a lot by the time Christmas eve rolled around. It was a difficult week. I'm managing it okay, but --- darn!
On Christmas Day we went to my best friends house for food, fellowship, and fun. I took dessert, which I made the day before. I made a Chocolate Victoria Cake. Just an idea I thought up. Looked in my cook books for a nice cake recipe that used powdered cocoa (The Joy of Cooking won.) and went with it. I put Raspberry filling and whipped cream inside and fresh Raspberries on top. Oh my gosh, that cake was SO good! Definitely gonna do that again some time.
Live long and prosper. \\//
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