Lights still glowing!

Admittedly...every morning I arise early and sit in the darkness of my living room.  Not totally dark though...Christmas lights still a twinkling!  Loving it!  Reluctant to bring it to a close!  and by the way...who dictates that I must bring it to a close?  The same invisible beings that tell me what is fashionable and current?  Me, rebellious me.  I will take them down next year! but not today.  It's so cold and icy out and a skiff of snow makes winter so wintry.  Enjoying and loving it.  This year when all the Christmas things are packed away, I'm not going to take the garland down over the mirror.  I'm going to leave it in place until Easter!

So how was your Christmas?  Ours was wonderful.  No stress.  No muss.  No fuss.  and....No Turkey!
Turkey was to be the centerpiece and it was thawed and ready and I decided it took up to much room in the fridge so I put it in the garage to keep chilled.  Uh-huh...you guessed it!  When I went to get the turkey it was frozen!  Again.  So...I really like those Costco frozen turkey breasts.  (the ones they only sell November-December until they are gone) You can even cook them frozen and I usually keep one in my freezer.  I got it out, brought it in, and discovered it was a Safeway one and the directions were so explicit about not even taking it out of the wrapper until totally thawed that it scared me off!  so we ended up with Zaycon deboned chicken thighs!  Browned and baked in my trusty cast iron skillet.  Delish!

A great dinner with just the two of us.  Very relaxed and comfy with hours of Christmas music from the Mormon Channel and also hours of watching A Christmas Carol.  So many available from so many years ago.  The oldest one was from 1935 (Terry's favorite one).  I watched one version of The Nutcracker.  I no longer have access to all of the different ones that I had DVD'd because we no longer have TV channels.  (we do not miss cable at all.)  I know I could have looked more and found some but we ended up enjoying a series called When Calls the Heart.  Hallmark.  you know how fairytale those productions are but it was sweet and clean and enjoyable. 

Aging has so many luxuries when you are retired and don't have the pressure of getting out and going to work.  We don't fret about weather and driving on hazardous roads.  We are warm and comfy and blessed beyond measure.  We are thankful, so grateful, for our lives and living and being an American.  We love our country and the spot that we live in.  We are thankful for so much.  We are even thankful that the Church is practically in our backyard!  and our Temple only 55 minutes away!

My heart feels happy with anticipation of a New Year and everything fresh and starting over.  A newness.  I like the thought of newness and regeneration and getting things in order.  2018.  I will welcome it gladly and embrace it and love it and live fully. 

I'm still in love with lights and these two memes caught my attention.

 

I would love for my blog, A Candlestick, to illuminate and warm my readers.  I will be more consistent in posting and hope that I can give that to you as I certainly receive that from you!  I love visiting with you and sharing my thoughts!

Gratitude for a great day!

Today was a day that seemed unusual to me.  Again...I was not at Church.  4 weeks in a row.  In all of my years of membership, I've never done that!  A month of Sundays that just streamed by.  I'm surprised at how isolated I feel.  Uninformed.  Excluded.  Unknowing. Left out.  Did I reach out?  No.  I thought about the importance to our spiritual health and Church activity, is our regular attendance.

I gave this scripture a lot of thought...

Moroni 6:
4... they were numbered among the people of the ^bchurch of Christ; and their ^cnames were taken, that they might be remembered and nourished by the good word of God, to keep them in the right way, to keep them continually ^dwatchful unto prayer, ^erelying alone upon the merits of Christ, who was the author and the finisher of their faith.

5 And the ^achurch did meet together ^boft, to ^cfast and to pray, and to speak one with another concerning the welfare of their souls.

6 And they did ^ameet together oft to partake of bread and wine, in ^bremembrance of the Lord Jesus.

So enough about missing Church!  Terry is feeling somewhat better.  I'm feeling good.  so life is moving ahead.

Our Thanksgiving was wonderful!  David and his family came.  I protested that we were not prepared for anything or anyone- infirmary here!- and he reassured me that he was bringing the fixin's and cooking and they wanted to be with us.  And so they came.  And it was wonderful!  

They did some finishing up for winter prep...gutters and final raking and cutting back some things and ended up loading the truck with stuff for the dump.  Plus scrubbing and cleaning a couple of things!  My kiddos are hard workers.  So thankful for that fact.

As promised he delivered on a grand dinner.  We enjoyed each other and played games and watched some TV and visited.  Kiddos spent time on art projects with their Uncle.  Plus our Grandson and his family came by.  

I think it was at that time that I felt so happy and content and glad they had pushed their way into coming, by refusing to listen to me, telling them to stay home!  It was that feeling of gratitude for family and for love and for my own life and all that is in it.  Such a feeling of bliss. Peaceful.

Dave has taken his family to Seattle to fly home and he will come back tomorrow and pick up his sister at midnight from her long flight from Florida.  She will stay for a week!  I look forward to her visit plus it makes me happy that 3 of my children will get to see each other. 

I've been so excited about getting our tree up so Gracie and I did it!  Friday we enjoyed every minute.  Plus we hung the big wreath.  Now I want to put the garlands out front and find the Nativities and get them out.  All of the festive things make me think of the Savior.  The Light of the World.  The reason for the season.  The source of Peace for all of us.

Pictures?  not a one.  sorry. 

I'm looking forward to December.  Actually I'm looking forward to tomorrow!