Merry Christmas Friends,
Today as I was listening to Christmas music at work and helping mail Christmas cards and packages out for people at my store ( Yes people do send out tons of cards at Christmas! I feel a bit like Charlie Brown at my mail box this years "Hello in there....where are my Christmas cards?) I thought "how can it be December already?" It seems the years zip by so fast. Our year was filled with great sadness and great joy.
We lost our beloved cat of 12 years to breast cancer this past January. As I have been preparing for Christmas this year I have realized that last year while we did enjoy Christmas I spent a lot of my time caring for my sweet sick cat. There are still moments where I miss her. We also lost two very special friends to cancer as well. These losses still weigh heavy in our hearts and so while this is a time of joy, I understand also how this is a time where you can feel great sadness too. I feel sadness for the families of my friends who do not have them to celebrate with. There are no words that can heal that hole in a persons heart. I have learned a great lesson in loss this year. Time is precious. Spend time with those you love as often as possible because there is always that chance that your time or someone you loves time is almost done in this world. So I make it a point to spend time as often as possible with my little family.
We also had great joy this year as our son came home in April from his two year mission. Having him home has brought us much laughter and joy. We have had a wonderful time learning about his mission, reconnecting and just being the little family that we have always been. Our summer was filled with stories about Mexico, and taking adventures together in Utah. Our son and my husband even took a trip back to New Jersey to visit with family.
Here is a little of what everyone did this year.
Our daughter is just finishing up her first semester of her second year of college. She had an amazing first year in college. She is in a business scholars program at her school, her focus is math as she wants to get into the quantitative analysis side of business. She is hoping to have a double major and also study Japanese. She hopes to study abroad in the summer. She will be getting her black belt in karate soon. This is a big achievement for her and I can't wait to go see her achieve this goal that she has worked towards for 8 years.
Our son is finishing his first semester of college. He is the Artist of the family. He is hoping to get into the industrial design program at the school he attends. He has had some really interesting assignments such as making a purse out of items from home depot. He also does a lot of drawing which he loves. He has set up a new YouTube account for his animations. He came home from Mexico very fluent in Spanish and he is also continuing to study Spanish in college. He learns languages pretty easily I keep telling him to go into language studies, but what do I know, right?
My Husband continues to work as a machine mechanic for a large company. I think he enjoys fixing machines. On his days off he helps friends fix their old cars. He has had success finally getting his old car running at the speed that he wants it to run. For him speed is what makes a car. It's the engine performance that he loves. Many of his friends who have seen the movie Ford vs. Ferrari say that he reminds them of the man named Ken in the movie. I guess I will have to go and see the movie.
I still work as an account/banker for a lovely grocery store. I really love the store I work in, its so beautiful. Right now the Christmas decorations around the store are so beautiful to look at, I walk into work and feel like I am in a winter wonderland. ( I have shared a few of my favorite photographs with you.) I am lucky to have a boss that allows me to set my schedule to my husbands schedule so that we have our days off together. I plan weekly adventures for us to take so that we can learn more about Utah. ( I have been trying to share them on this blog site.) This year I walked the gardens by our house every week. (also something I blog about if you like to see flower photos) I love to play photographer and while I am not ready to open up a shop and sell my photography for thousands of dollars, I do think I have a pretty good eye and get some amazing photos. I love to make cards with my photos and if anyone would like a photo card from me leave me a message with your address and I will send you a card. I have a lot of them. Now that it is winter I am planning to embrace being cozy and enjoy the winter as much as I possibly can. I also have a list of indoor places that I want to visit with my husband as our day date adventures continue. I'm a bit behind on blogging, but the rush of the holidays has kept me from my computer. I am trying right now to get myself organized so that 2020 will be a focused and productive year. Trying to think of a "Word" for my year. I have the goal of de-cluttering my world.
Last but not least we adopted a teen cat. She is probably 3 in cat years which I think makes her a teenager in human years. If you read this blog or follow me on facebook or instagram you already know about Miss Dynamite. She is another source of joy for our family. She is my furry alarm clock at 5 Am. She is my happy welcome committee when I arrive home from work. She is what causes things to not get finished as I need to play with her, and snuggle with her. For quiet awhile I didn't know if I would keep her name as Dynamite, I know it's not her original name, it's her shelter name. But then recently I realized it is purrfect for our family. (which everyone else is glad about because they all liked her name, it was just me having issues with it.) My husband in his young wild years liked dynamite, quarter sticks of dynamite, he liked to blow things up. So it's fitting to have a cat named Dynamite. He loves her and she loves him. I hope to continue to blog about her adventures with us. I think it so important that we adopt cats and give them homes. There are so many animals in need out there. So if you have room please adopt.
Well friends of Facebook I hope you have a wonderful Christmas season, that you are surrounded by those you love. I hope you have a wonderful new year filled with adventures. I am looking forward to seeing more of Utah. I hope that I will be able to share some of it with you as the new year progresses.
G.G.
