yesterday I had one of the chocolate covered macadamia nut clusters that were part of my Christmas present from the kids in Ottawa…
for fun, I went and found one of the little dishes that we took to Hawaii when we went in April of 2019… it looked very cute with the nut cluster on it…
so happy that we were able to go, and have such wonderful memories from our time there…
as I ate the chocolate I spent time remembering the same chocolates that we enjoyed throughout our trip;-)…
had a quiet day yesterday… spent time taking photos of ornaments on the tree and the orchids…
a friend dropped off the fixings for turkey dinner which I warmed up at supper time… it was a lovely treat and made for a relaxed and enjoyable meal… ended the day with hot lemonade in my new mug and gifted shortbread…
this morning the living room looked lovely and I enjoyed the serenity as I sat in the quiet and enjoyed the lights…
the Ottawa kids and I Skyped and we opened our presents together… following our usual pattern, in this unusual time, we opened the gifts one at a time… it was great fun… they liked all their gifts, which made me happy…
one of my gifts from them was all the fixings for my New Year’s Eve dinner… usually on New Year’s Eve we have steak and lobster, although for the last number of years that meal has happened on New Year’s day… there was beef carpaccio, lobster, truffle chips, olives, red peppers, cookies, a lovely glass of wine (with gold in it) and a festive cracker…
there were also gifts from a number of friends, filled with goodies… I am blessed…
a bit later the Winnipeg kids FaceTimed as they opened the gifts I had sent over… I didn’t do so good with their gifts as two of them had received the same gift from their parents, lol…
yesterday I peeled potatoes and turnip, made stuffing, and produced Thai Shrimp soup so that there wouldn’t be too much to do today… I had decided that, even though I would be here alone, I wanted a proper Christmas dinner… it was delicious;-)…
today I got a lovely surprise when the doorbell rang and a bouquet of flowers was delivered…
I have been missing fresh flowers and they were even on my christmas list…
they were from a dear friend, and I have spent a good portion of the day taking photographs of them…
I have moved them from area to area as the day has gone on…
often I look up words to see if I have already used them for a post title, and today I found this post… it was for an event that this friend and I were both working on, lol…
on Wednesday I ordered sushi for my dinner from Sei Sushi... it was so nice, although I missed my grandson who is my usual sushi partner, lol…
yesterday, I spent time in the morning making mashed potatoes so that when I warmed them up at supper they were better for me… I even made gravy to go with the chicken… it was delicious… although a more colourful vegetable would have looked prettier…
today I had a charcuterie board from Modern Plate Catering for my lunch… it was fun to set all the bits out on a tray and make it pretty…
yesterday my middle grandson came over to shovel for me… there wasn’t too much snow, but after the last snowfall, everything froze and the sidewalk was crazy icy… I didn’t want that to happen again, lol… there had been a skiff of snow and I had gone out and swept the sidewalk just the day before…
it was cute watching him put his hoodie up over his baseball cap, which he had on backwards, lol… of course there were earbuds in as he listened to his music while doing the job… he did have gloves because I couldn’t give him grandpa’s to wear which often happened before when he forgot…
he did the front, the driveway and all of the back decks and pathways… the garage camera even got a few photos for me… he was happy to get the December payment which will help with his Christmas gift shopping…
it was wonderful to see him, even though it was only through the windows… and now all of the spaces are cleaned…
sitting in the hot tub last night, remembering my beloved on what would have been his 72nd birthday, I was reminded of all the fun things we have done together during our forty plus years…
I’d been wanting a hot tub since our anniversary many years ago when he rented one for a weekend, but we couldn’t afford one until 2009…
once I chose the one I wanted, he built a deck to put it on, and then a deck to go in front of it… easy to get to, it is now perfect for dips… he never loved the hot tub the way I did, but wanted me to be happy…
when we had friends over (you remember that, right?) for a hot tub, if we needed a drink or towel or anything, we’d bang on the wall of the house and he would come out to see what was required, lol… he’d also take photos when I wanted them…
with the new security light/camera on the garage, I have to go to the side door of the garage and turn off the power so that the light doesn’t keep coming on while I’m in the tub… thankfully the deck goes right there so it is easy to get to and from…
some of our best talks happened late at night in this hot tub… I sure do miss him…