Hey Hey Hey! Happy Holidays!

 I love that you are with me in spirit right this moment.  

I feel the glow.

A neighbor at my RV Park who is a Florida Gator fan got this cute Christmas Decoration from her Gransdon.  It lights up at night.

May you be blessed with some pain-free days and good nights of peaceful sleep (can you tell I am getting old?), lots of warm hugs and laughter, positive thoughts and good news, and of course fun, fun, fun in the next few weeks as we slide into 2024.  Time seems to go faster and faster as the years go by.  

Tonight, Steve and I are hosting our first Christmas Eve party together.  We have some of his friends from his neighborhood coming, and some of our bicycle friends are coming.  And even, Joan who we met briefly in North Carolina at Oscar Blues Brewery is coming with her son from Zephyr Hills, FL!  

We attended another large Christmas Party with many of our biking friends in attendance.  We did a white-elephant gift exchange of $10 gifts.  Steve got these cute socks.

We had a little test of our ability to co-host a larger number of guests this past week when we hosted his neighborhood Tiki Party.  Tiki Parties happen every other Tuesday on his street and neighbors take a turn hosting.  Last year we had to cancel when it was Steve's turn to host because we had been exposed to someone who got COVID.  This year we had over 25 people, I think, and four of them stayed and chatted with us afterward which was super nice.  I think it was a success.

I am excited to be doing the Christmas Eve party again.  I stopped hosting it in 2020 due to COVID.  And also my sciatica was hurting so bad at the time I couldn't do all the standing work required.

This time, we hope for warm enough weather so that those more vulnerable to infection can visit on the screen porch in the fresh air.  (Things we have to think about, it is the new normal.)

I was emptying my storage area and found my bin of decorations.  I have a stuffed frog that sings, "Jolly Old St. Nicholas."  Steve had never heard the song!  I was so surprised because he pretty much can name every song and the artist that sings or plays it when we listen to Pandora or Spotify or the Radio.  But he didn't know, "Lean your ear this way, don't you tell a single soul what I am going to say..."  

Speaking of cleaning out my storage area... Boy did I purge!  I no longer have a rented storage area!  Man, dumping stuff that holds memories or that I will have to replace when I buy a house again was difficult!

Fortunately there are thrift stores, a few things I sold on Facebook Marketplace, and a neighbor in my RV park offered to take stuff and find homes for it.  I thought she was going to give it to her daughter that sells things at a flea market, but no, she just likes finding homes for stuff!  Boy am I blessed with good fortune.

I sold a bed, a dresser, a steam cleaner, and a 30 amp cord.  Steve offered his attic and empty cupboards for some storage of the small stuff.  And he hung my most charished artwork, thank you!  

I had a whole big plastic bin full of pre-digital photos.  I took pictures of some to keep.  I just turned my head and threw them away.  This picture is of George and my grand daughter and Mr. Alexander Brown.

This is one of my favorite pictures of me and my grandaughter on our way to visit my mom.

My sister and I when we both had short hair dyed red.

Isn't it funny how we don't think we are good looking until we get old and look back at old pictures of ourselves.  

Me, my sister, my mom, my brother are in the front row of this picture taken at a family reunion in Phillips, Wisconsin.  Our spouses and our nephew and his wife are in the back row. 

I store my journals at Steves.  I have been keeping a diary on and off since I was sixteen years old.  I put them in his attic, but I may have to find a cooler place to keep them before we leave in May.

Yesterday was our last ride with the group before Christmas and I forgot to attach the frog to my bike and play it while riding.  Oh well.  A few fellow riders remembered their decorations.

On Christmas Day, Steve and I are packing up the camper and leaving on the 26th for a few days of fun over by Cape Canaveral (Titusville, FL).  There is really good birding there, a bike trail, and places to kayak.  Our friends, Christie and Mark are coming part of the time in their camper.  Fun!

We are excited to be going with them also to St. Croix in the end of January.  And looking forward to having Steve's daughter come visit in February.  

We have lots of fun to look forward to in 2024.  I hope you do too.  And let's keep our fingers crossed for world peace.  It is getting pretty messy out there.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year and Happy whatever holidays you celebrate this time of year.  

Yep, I even purged my pretty painted chairs.  Gone, gone, gone.  I now have room in my life for even more fun!