Oh, hello there. I didn’t mean to just disappear for nine days. But sometimes you have lots of things to post about and sometimes you don’t.
Let’s see. I am feeling chatty, but don’t feel like I have a whole lot to chat about. The massive scary storm that affected so much of the country didn’t do a whole lot around here. We were very fortunate. It was cold and quite windy – though not windy enough to knock out our power – and we got plenty of snow to admire from our warm and cozy house. How did the storm affect you and your family? I hope you and your loved ones are all warm and safe.
Hannukah was lovely. Carla got Monopoly which we all played together. After an epic multi-day game, I crushed my husband and daughter into bankruptcy and we were finally able to clear off the kitchen table.
Our Christmas was lovely and quiet and perfect. We all, I think, got everything we wanted and more. Santa brought the cotton candy machine and we made several batches of cotton candy. It is a beast to clean, but other than that it is quite fun. I also think that perhaps we have now exhausted our collective desire to make cotton candy.
My husband is off this week, so we have been puttering around the house. He and Carla have been building robots and Pokemon block figures and playing video games, and I have been writing and reading and writing about reading. It’s been very relaxing and delightful.
We have been completing some tasks, like making plane reservations for upcoming trips. I am excited about the trips but very unexcited about the plane rides. My plan is to continue to wear masks on the plane from now until forever more, but I am still feeling pre-anxious about any or all of us getting sick, and then carrying the germs to and from our destinations. Well, there are still a few months left to fret about it.
Even though you haven’t seen any blog posts, I have been writing them and thinking about them. I dredged up Carla’s birth story, which I wrote on the eve of her third birthday. I’d like to post it at some point, even though it is growing a little stale, nine and a half years post-actual birth. But it was so stressful for me, even though it obviously all turned out okay, and I can’t seem to approach it with the clinical distance that time and Everything Turning Out Okay should afford. Oh well. Maybe I just need to post it as it is.
I have also been considering very gently and glancingly things like goals and New Year’s plans. I haven’t yet given a single look at my aspirations from last year, not even when I collected that link, and have only in the most general terms considered aspirations for the year ahead. This is, in part, because I really only take a very loose approach to setting any sort of goal-adjacent objectives. Also because my biggest aspiration for 2022 (find an agent) remains unmet, and is so lofty a goal I feel like there’s no way I can achieve it. (Not with that attitude, missy.) Also because I keep feeling this strident, tears-hovering-under-the-surface desire to make goals around friendship, when honestly there is only so much I can control in that sphere. And in final part, it is because I feel like so much of my feelings about change for the year to come evolve around my body and my relationship to it and with food. Sounds like a real downer, honestly. So I keep playing delay and avoid.
One thing I have been doing, with perhaps slightly more intention, is thinking about a word of the year. I love reading about people’s word of the year and how (and why) they choose a word to guide them. It’s something I’ve done for myself the past two years and I find it fits really well with my more laissez faire approach to “goal setting.” Having a word as a guidepost is something I really like, and it doesn’t feel super aggressive or overly intense. In 2021, I chose the word “forward” and in 2022 my word was “light” and I liked how both sort of cast a warm glow over the year without being scoldy or insistent. So I’ve been mulling over what I might choose for 2023. Allow me to get a little woo-woo for a moment please: The words really come to me unbidden, so I feel almost that they choose me rather than the other way around. Some of the candidates, so far, are “nurture,” “joy,” “gratitude,” and “cultivate.” We’ll see which one of these – or of options yet to make themselves known – rises to the top. Do you choose a word of the year?
Since we have all been home together for a very long time, the house has degenerated into chaos. My family refuses to consider putting the tree away until January 1, so I have resigned myself to living with the detritus of Christmas for a few more days. But I am now at the point where the urge to tidy and clean is no longer suppressible, although I have yet to erupt into the nagging that is still bubbling under the surface. I have made piles of gifts and books and treats that need to be tidied away. I have piles of laundry that need to be whisked into the washing machine. And that’s where I’ve stopped and have escaped to the treadmill where I am writing this post.
As far as exercise goes, in the New Year, I want it to include time on the treadmill but also time outdoors. And I have loose ideas about maybe trying a Pilates regimen. If you do any online Pilates courses, especially if they are beginner friendly, please let me know.
I realize that I completely skipped my Dinners This Week post. We have so much food in the house that I haven’t had to set foot in a grocery store since last week. (Fortunately, because my last two trips made my husband squeak with concern about how much I spent. THINGS ARE PRICEY, MY DEAR.) (He wasn’t mad, he just literally has no idea that most things are twice what they used to cost. Did I pay $20 for six chicken breasts? Yes, because that’s what it cost.) (That will get us four meals, though. Sounds better when you say $5 of chicken per meal. STILL OUTRAGEOUS.)
New bullet, same topic: We had chicken paprikas for dinner one night, and leftover steak one night, and leftover egg and potato casserole one night. This casserole – our make-ahead Christmas morning breakfast – was delicious. This from a person who really avoids eggs if possible. Even better, it was SO EASY and didn’t involve peeling a single potato, AND it heated up the next day to be just as delicious. My husband and I going on a double date with friends one night, so dinner is sorted for that. I am not sure what we will eat for New Year’s Eve. We have some leftover crab cakes in the freezer, so maybe those? My husband wants to make these Swedish kanelbullar one day, but that’s not exactly dinner food. Well. I am sure we will figure it out. What are you eating for New Year’s Eve / New Year’s Day? My mom used to make a ham for New Year’s Day, but I’m not a big ham fan so haven’t continued the tradition.
That’s all I have for today, Internet.
I am heartened to hear that your friend has been somewhat responsive in your outreach. I know that maintaining adult friendships is so hard and I am not sure what the breach in your friendship was/is, but I am proud of you for prioritizing your friendship and your bravery in reaching out.
I can’t believe how much food is. We shopped for three days (THREE DAYS) and it was over $80. What the what?!
Everything is just enough more expensive than normal that it still seems fairly reasonable until you add it all up. I swear my jaw drops every time the checker lists the total.
The breakfast casserole does sound delicious! That goes on my list to try. I’m glad you’ve had peaceful holidays. Cozy for the win.
It was so yummy!
I’m so glad your friend reached out. That is happy news indeed. I hope that this upward trajectory continues!
I was actually wondering how the cotton candy machine worked out!
I do not choose words for the year but I’m always interested in other people’s. 2023 is going to be a year of massive change for me, and as one of my very dear friends says, change is not one of my strengths. But I am aiming to deal with it all (omg, SO MUCH) one step at a time. That’s all you can do, right? Eeek.
Groceries, omg, groceries. In the last year my bills have gone up an average of $100/ week. Now, a “good” week is less than $350. Like, how are people doing this? How?
I am going to make falafel for me on New Year’s, and shawarma for the boys – it’s the recipe you posted long ago and I think of you warmly every time I make it. So, if you feel Care Bear Stare-like beams coming from the north, it’s me thinking of you. xoxoxo Happy New Year!
I love that shawarma recipe and am glad it’s a hit with your family! I will bask in the Care Bear beams. 🙂
Chatty is good! I love the time between Christmas and New Years when I have no idea what day it is and the house is a disaster.
I’ve never done a word of the year but I like it as a spectator sport. I haven’t had any solid resolutions for a few years now so I’m thinking about that. I’m pondering over whether I should take another stab at shedding extra lbs or just accept them and move on with life. I’m on the fence.
Dinners and meal plans…I don’t know the meaning of those words this time of year.
I think I will adopt the approach of eliminating dinner and meal plans for the rest of the year!
More than anything I’m so happy to hear about the hopeful turn of events with your friend. Regardless of what happens I’m so, so glad you made the gesture of mailing her the gift.
It sounds like a wonderful Christmas – relaxing with special memories. I also completely relate to wanting to CLEAN EVERYTHING UP. I have seen so many real Christmas trees at the curb today (our town recycles them for free), but ours will be up for almost another whole week because we have company coming and the thought of taking it down before they arrive is sad…but the thought of taking it down while they’re here sounds ridiculous…so it will stay up until at least next Tuesday.
This is going to sound utterly bizarre but our grocery spending is actually slightly lower this year, but I have reasons! For one, my husband has traveled about 2.5 months total so we had one fewer adult a lot of the time? Also, as horrible as this sounds, I think since I switched to intuitive eating I buy fewer veggies/fruit/meat, so that lowers the bill, too. I track our groceries every month and it’s averaging $670/month this year; last year was $706/month. Another thing, too, is the fact we spent almost 2 months AWAY from home this year (visiting family or on our roadtrip), so those meals were either provided or I lumped them under meals and entertainment or travel in our tracking spreadsheet. So I’m sure in reality we’ve actually spent MORE this year on food, but I’m shocked it hasn’t skyrocketed.
A) I love that you track your spending so closely. My husband and I did that for many years and then (this is going to sound ridiculous) the app we used stopped being free so we stopped tracking. SO DUMB. B) I totally get your Christmas tree dilemma. You have to leave it up. At least you have a specific end point in mind, that’s always good.
I’m glad you guys had a nice Christmas. Great news on the ‘friend’ front as well.
I have a feeling iff I left the tree up for six more weeks, my husband wouldn’t notice, but if I took it down the night off 12/25, he also wouldn’t notice.
I’ve never chosen a ‘word for the year’ nor have I ever made a resolution….I suppose I’m stubborn like that.
Your husband’s powers of observation sound very unique, Suz!
I have never chosen a word for the year; but since I don’t really do resolutions, that might be the way to go.
I like eggs and breakfast casseroles and potatoes but, for some random reason, do not like the egg/potato combo at all. We have a recipe that calls for sausage and it is amazing.
That storm. It was so freaking cold, I didn’t think I’d ever warm up again. We lost power twice. Once due to wind and the other was an unannounced rolling black out. Then we were told to use as little electricity as possible. Ummm, how? Just about everything uses electricity.
Our decorations and tree will most likely come down this weekend.
I am so sorry you lost power! That is the worst! And yes, please do tell, HOW is one supposed to use less electricity? No lights? No fridge? HOW??? I hope you are all warmer now and back to normal with the electricity situation.
My word for 2023 (first time doing this) is manifestation.
Ooooh! I love it!
I’m glad your holidays were nice! Even though I’m working this week, my husband and kids are off which actually makes things so much easier for me, so it still feels holiday-ish. I’m also sitting here looking at the Christmas tree and wishing it could magically disappear. I mean, I love it, but now it just represents work… I can’t stop thinking about how much work it’s going to be to de-Christmas the house. SIGH!
So, about my word of the year- Nourish. You could say it “chose me.” I was scooping out protein powder and looked at the name on the package- “UpNourish”- and I KNEW, nourish is what I need to do this year. The concept was obviously in the back of my mind and just needed to be nudged forward.
I’m glad you’re back from your nine-day hiatus! After all the blogging in November I got addicted to checking blogs every day- this past week has been hard for me with so many people taking a vacation 🙂
I also miss the daily posts from everyone, even though at the time I felt overwhelmed and like I couldn’t read or comment the way I wanted to! I love that your word chose you. Nourish is such a great word and I think I need to add it to my list as well.
Good luck de-Christmassing the house! I am itching to do it but promised the family a few more days! (TWO, that’s it!)
As a school vacation activity on the colder days earlier this week, my girl and I made dream boards for 2023 with words for the year as the centerpieces. We are totally woo woo and did a writing exercise about goals and hopes, walked away for a snack, and then came back and let the word rise up from our brainstorming. Her word is “happy”, which I love for her at 9 years old; mine is “steady” which feels right for me and where I’m at. Hope you and yours have a lovely New Year’s weekend!
Ooooh I love this! Such a good idea! And what excellent words.
You have a whole other blog and it’s about books? I LOVE THIS. I just read a million of your monthly reading posts, and I put a bunch of thrillers on my holds list— thanks!! Also, that’s my exact approach to grocery shopping— I spent X dollars because that’s how much it costs. **Shrug**
I am terrible about updating that blog, even though I love to think about books most of the time. Glad that you found some good thrillers to add to your list!
Last year I took our tree down on 12/26!! I was so ready to move on! But this year it will come down on 1/2 which may be the longest I’ve ever kept it up ever? But my MIL is coming to our house this weekend to celebrate Christmas since she was too ill to join us last weekend. So I figured I had to keep the tree up. And I have been enjoying the warm glow. And it gives Will something to look at when I get him dressed in the morning (which he wants to do on the ground in the living room – not on the changing table in our bathroom, go figure).
I never used to choose a word for a year, but last year I chose connection. I went off social media in Dec 2021 so I knew I would have to be more intentional about connecting with others since I couldn’t just look at their social media – which gave a false sense of connection anyways… I think I will focus on connection again this year because I want to keep reaching out and making plans. I’m so much happier when I have some social plans even though I am an introvert!
So the weather here was pretty horrid leading up to Christmas but majorly improved this week. I think we got about 8″ of snow. I felt bad that I couldn’t help with any of the snow removal. I had a really really bad flare in my hand so shoveling was out of the question. I felt bad that it was so bitterly cold. My husband cleared snow in spurts since it was so very dangerously cold out there. But this week has been amazing – temps in the 30s!!! Feels tropical after -30F windchills!!!
Our snow is nearly all gone today! It has been so warm! I love that Will wants to be dressed in front of the tree. That’s really sweet. And I am looking forward to 1/2 when we can put Christmas away for another year!
I do not do a word of the year. I like your ideas though. I do not have a meal plan for NYE. I was gifted with a VERY large air fryer, so that has changed my constant need to plan things well in advance, I guess. As big as it is, the air fryer cannot hold enough food to feed my family.
I’m not big on resolutions. Not sure why. I would REALLY, really like to make progress on my writing. I’ve been working tirelessly the last few days (even though I’m hosting in a few hours, because I’m sort of on strike as far as tackling anything house related on this, my birthday) to get some stories prepped and ready to be submitted to literary magazines. Getting a few of those published this year would be amazing. Fingers crossed. I hope you find an agent. I’m not there yet. It sounds daunting and defeating. Ugh.
Your Christmas and relaxing time with the Husband sounds delightful and cozy. Hooray for that.
The storm delayed our travel by a day because there was one little stretch of road we had to drive through that was treacherous. But I know plenty of people who got stranded mid-travel, so I feel relatively lucky.
Because we spend the holiday away from home, our tree doesn’t go up until Christmas Eve and then it comes down several days later. I’d like to still have one up.
I don’t choose a word for the year. For some reason, it feels like I’m limiting myself? I don’t know why! I like having a solid list of goals to try and conquer, even if I don’t conquer most of them. It’s fun to think about!
Your Christmas sounds wonderful. I’m glad it was a cozy holiday!
I am glad to hear you had a lovely Christmas and a low key week “between the years”.
I do choose a word for the year and last year my word was “forward” and 2022 has kinda lived up to that. I haven’t chosen a word for 2023 yet, but I am mulling some over…
Ok, but one thing I have to ask about: 6 chicken breasts will get you 4 (!)meals??? HOW?
Is that a weird amount? I count two breasts as one meal for me/my husband, and then sliced the remaining two into stir-fry pieces which will make two meals (I tend to eat less chicken than my husband when we have stir fry). Sometimes I freeze breasts individually, and then I eat a vegetarian meal and my husband has a breast for his meal… so that would make it five total! I hope this makes any sort of sense LOL.