Monday: Busy Baking

I woke up late, made an early lunch for Mr Husband

who had a 11:45 meeting,

and by 1 PM something I was feeling tired;

I had cleaned up the kitchen; laundry is in huge piles

waiting to be folded; still is.  

I had wanted to bake today and so I roused myself 

and got baking. 

***

I made a single batch of chocolate and cranberry cookies (vegan)

and a quadruple batch (which I should do in 2 double batches for the dry ingredients

with half the wet as mixing it was nearly impossible) 

of vegan brownie cookies.

Whew.

I listened to this Christmas album, here, on repeat.

It's cheesy and maybe British pop-y? I just know I like it

(and that it drives my Husband crazy, he's more a fan of older music!) :)

***

We took a walk, I had dinner part 1 (I was crashing, it happens),

prepared cookies and dinner part 2 

and we had dinner and cookies hot out of the oven.

***

I am going to NYC tomorrow 

and had to figure out exactly WHERE I was going.

I found a Trader Joe"s near to my appointment (!!!) and will be 

I hope to be scouting out the delicious crackers 

that they only have this time of year...

***

And I had all those dishes to do.

Did those in 2 goes, as we had family prayers too.

***

I am worried still about one of my godkids Dads who is sick.

Please, if you pray, can you pray quickly for him,

before finishing reading this nearly done blog post?

***

It is wonderful to have the quiet of the night.

My Husband is already sleeping; the dishwasher is 

running; all the Christmas lights are on.

It's a wonderful quiet that I only get if I stay up

like this.  

I've been struggling a bit to stay in the present but

when I do, and really look at what I have been given in my day,

then I am so thankful.

Today I was able to bake cookies 

(they are now in the last of our freezer space! to be DV

given away this coming weekend for St Nicholas day Part 1).

I can't remember if I shared the above before.

It is so beautiful and encouraging.

***

I was able to light my lampadas today and that was such a blessing.

We really need all the LIGHT we can get!

***

Well, it's late and I need to be up a bit earlier tomorrow!

God BLESS you and shine His face upon you!

May He have mercy on us and 

save us in whatever

situation we find ourselves in.

Take courage; God is with us. 

Sunday, Beautiful, Restful, Mainly

Today was a good day 

(I think all the pictures are actually from yesterday...)

Local church, a much needed rest, good fasting food.

We caught up on card writing.

The house is pretty picked up for once.

Our home is attached to other homes and sadly,

we heard some disturbance in another home,

later help came but we can tell there is just some real

unwellness going on and so we play this to not hear

and pray for them.

This pandemic is really hard.

We are all, as in our world, so tired.

I managed to finish getting all my Christmas decorations up

yesterday.  It is great to have the extra beauty.

We just have to keep holding on.

It will get better.

I am excited for Christmas, excited for the future,

I really hope this year we can stay going to church;

I really want Lent again; we missed so much,

last year.  I want, liturgically speaking, it all.

I am so hunger for that.

And also for May.

For the dream of travel again.

For hoped for visits to family sometime come summer.

But for now, I pray that we get to have Christmas

and that we can have peace and be in church...

May the Lord have mercy on us! 

Day After Thanksgiving: Bringing Out the Christmas Tree!

Guess who woke up a bit before 7 AM and began setting up the 

Christmas tree at 7 AM?

Yep. Me. It did me good.

Boy, that's a lot of work!

Of course I would get all done, and 

our main window shade DIRECTLY behind the 

Christmas tree would break and I had to move the

WHOLE quick-unplug-the-lights tree. 

Sigh. 

But it's back in place now 

(without a window shade to pull down behind it)...

***

Mr Husband drove me down town (in our NJ town)

so I could get my boots (they were being repaired)

and (I asked) he picked me up some lentil soup for dinner!

***

Pilgrim:  I think what you were referring to is this person 

which poem did she mention? 

I see she referenced it but did not name it.

So neat that there are so many valuable 

resources to think upon!

***

This week was good but tiring,

hard but worth it.

***

We are staying local for church DV and resting.

I need to go to NYC next week

and I need to rest up!

***

Tomorrow I hope to finish the Thanksgiving cleanup

(still a few things to wash) and finish the Christmas

decorating.... of course I got most of it done today,

Thank God.

***

May God bless and keep you all,

dear readers and many blog friends! 

Thanksgiving 2020

 I think for most people celebrating Thanksgiving today,

it was a day of gladness and sadness 

all wrapped confusedly into one day.

***

I don't have much more to say about it

but that our hearts were blessed, were glad,

and our hearts were heavy and sad.

***

It was a different type of Thanksgiving.

***

One HUGE thing I was super thankful for, 

other than the amazing food of course and a blessing

of a select few coming over,

was that the weather went from rainy to sunny and,

for November, warm.

We even had a walk....

***

I pray that no matter what your personal situation is,

that you know that God sees it, 

that He cares and that His mercy and lovingkindness

never fail.  God bless you.