December 30, 2023
Today, I wish to document some of the special moments that I shared with my family and friends during this
Christmas Season. I also wish to thank my family and friends for all my beautiful Christmas gifts. This year has been extra special, because I have been able to stay present to fully soak up each beautiful experience with my family, and friends. I have been able to cultivate peace & tranquility among the holiday rush. I have enjoyed the present, with the assurance that eventually life would soon return to the normal routine. I remember briefly worrying about cleaning, and other household tasks. Yet, I knew that if I focused on these I would be missing the Magic of Christmas.
As I look around today, I see that life is slowly back to a routine. I am tackling the household chores, one little piece at a time. I am still remembering all the special moments from our wonderful Christmas Holiday. I love looking at all the snapshots of my lovely family, and friends, some who will not always be with me. One of the special ways that I cherish these memories is to review the thoughtful gifts that they have given me this Christmas Season. I cherish each gift, and look forward to using it all yearlong!
Crochet Queen Blanket
My holiday season began in July! That is when I started crocheting my son & daughter-in-law a custom 100% cotton queen blanket. I also utilized every spare moment to constantly add to my crochet mini gift projects: keychain pouches, glass case holders, beannie, vests, kitchen towels, and granny square bags. The amazing thing is that although I started very early this year, the Christmas Season seemed to arrive very quickly. I soon discovered that my extra preparations allowed me to be more present in the very special moments that I treasure every year with my family, and friends!
"It’s never too early to start planning and prepping for the holiday season." Martha Stewart
As Christmas approached this year, I derived great pleasure from searching for each specific gift for everyone on my list. I made lists of those special gifts that I wanted to get each family member, and friend. I believe that Christmas is a great time to show my family & friends how much I love and appreciate them.
First Christmas Present: New Nintendo Switch & Animal Crossing
One quiet afternoon, I was invited for tea to my son and daughter-in-law's home. I was immediately excited to attend, because I cherish these unique moments that create the most memorable memories. Soon, they surprised me with my very first Christmas gift! They gave me the new Nintendo Switch! My son had already taken the time to charge it, and had already loaded the first game: Mario Super Smash Bro. I had never played any video games prior to that day. Thus, this gift has brought countless moments of fun memories for myself and my family. I was also super surprised at another day when they took me to buy me a new game: Animal Crossing. I must confess that I have become obsessed with this game! I even found myself playing it on our special trip to the cabin! Thank you Candace & Matthew for such a wonderful gift! I am enjoying it more every day!
Disneyland Christmas Shopping & Snow
My family and I had reserved our special Disneyland Christmas visits ahead of time. We love to go to Disneyland during Christmas to soak up the special Christmas magic: special food, beautiful decorations, unique shopping, and lots of snow. We were lucky enough to visit Disneyland on December 11. A Disneyland Magic Key is especially beneficial for the local Southern California resident. I love to go to Disneyland & California Adventure with my son and daughter-in-law. Each time we go to Disneyland I experience something new. This Christmas, I got to go shopping for my very special Christmas Day sweater. I also love the simple pleasures of sipping a delicious Starbucks coffee, watching the people stroll by on Main Street, and experiencing a unique "Snowfall." Guests can catch the “Magical Snowfall” at Sleeping Beauty Castle and on Main Street, U.S.A. nightly at Disneyland Park. The evening snowfall will happen every half hour from 6:00 PM to 10:00 PM, November 24 to December 31, 2023. During this particular visit, I was able to experience the "Snow" hitting the ground. It was a magical snowfall! I have already renewed my Disney Magic Key subscription, for the 2024 New YearI can't wait to soak up another year of special memories! Thank you Candace & Matthew for always taking me to Disneyland with you! You always make it extra special!
Vacation Trip to Idyllwild's Zen Cabin
One of my favorite Christmas customs has become our yearly trip to the cabin: Idyllwild's Zen Cabin. This year we reserved it from December 20th to 23rd. Yet, my son and daughter-in-law surprised me by announcing that we were leaving for the cabin a day earlier. I was beyond thrilled! I have never packed so quickly. The cabin provided us with the peace and tranquility that we all craved. I believe that the best indicator of how much we enjoyed our time together is that we never watched tv. Instead, we enjoyed meals together, sat out on the deck, had countless conversations together, and played many games. I wish to say a huge THANK YOU to Candace & Matthew for inviting me to the cabin, and creating some of the best memories of this Christmas Season!
Neighborhood Christmas Lights & The Mission Inn
After returning from the cabin, we continued creating our special holiday memories. One of my favorite little evening activities riding around in the car with my son and daughter-in-law looking at all the holiday lights around our neighborhood, and other sorrounding neighborhoods. This is a Christmas custom that my daughter-in-law still cherishes from her childhood. As we visited the different locations, we enjoyed discussing our favorite decorations. We saw many different types of homes. Some were the historic Sears Kit Homes. The Sears Kit Homes or Sears houses, as they are commonly known, were a housing solution first offered by mail order company Sears, Roebuck and Company in 1908. In contrast, we also saw custom mansions that are located in the hills, and were covered in very professional display of lights. Finally, we also drove by the historic Mission Inn. The Mission Inn Hotel & Spa's Festival of Lights is one of the nation's largest holiday light collections, voted "Best Public Lights Display" by USA Today. Every year, the Inn's festival gains new energy, grows in popularity, and ushers in an increasing number of visitors to the Riverside area.
Mona likes the Granny Square Crochet Bag & Scarf that I made for her.
Breakfast With My Best Friend Ramona
This year my son helped me reconnect with my very best friend from high school Ramona. I am honored to report that we are still the very best of friends. Right away, we spoke on the phone for hours. Soon, we planned to meet up. In our first get together after 20+ years, we spent hours talking, visiting, and playing tourists. Surprisingly, Ramona lives very close to me in Northern California. This Christmas we planned to get together in my local Southern California. We scheduled a special breakfast at one of our local favorite places: Simple Simon's. This gathering was made even more special when Ramona brought both of her beautiful grown daughters for me to meet. We ate a delicious breakfast, told many wonderful stories, went shopping, and took photos by the Main Street Christmas tree. Yes, I consider my breakfast with Ramona as one of my most special Christmas presents! Thank you Mona for giving me such a special Christmas present. I loved spending time with you and your two beautiful daughters!
Christmas Day Celebration: New Lenovo Laptop
We finally gathered with the extended family three days after Christmas, and did our official Christmas celebration. My son and daughter-in-law hosted the celebration. They decorated beautifully, and prepared a delicious buffet of vegan options: Tofurky, mashed potatoes, fresh baked green beans, honey glazed butternut squash, and Oyester Mushrooms dressing. I also made a 15 Bean Soup with potatoes, eggplant, and corn. For a light dessert, we had Candace's special Hot Chocolate with marshmallows. Finally, we sat down to open presents. I believe that everyone received more than what they had anticipated. I presented my son and daughter-in-law with the blanket that I crocheted. They seemed to love it. I was shocked to receive a very special gift from them this Christmas: a new Intel Core 15 Laptop Computer!!
Lenovo ThinkPad T480 14" HD Business Laptop, Intel Core i5-8350U up to 3.20GHz, 16GB DDR4 RAM, 1TB SSD, HDMI, Type-C, USB 3.0, SD Card Reader, Windows 10 Pro 64-bit
Upgraded Configurations Processor; The Lenovo ThinkPad T480 14 inch, Core i5-8350U, 16GB DDR4 RAM, 1TB SSD supported Window 10 Pro Laptop is the most secure and manageable laptop with the performance and configurability required by today’s workforce.
Windows 10 Pro Operating System; if you're looking for the best Windows 10 Pro operating system laptop with an Intel Core i5-8350U specifics, this Lenovo ThinkPad T480 Laptop is the masterpiece to manage the overall system by providing all you want.
Portable Powerhouse; Lenovo ThinkPad T480 14 inch HD Laptop combines high-performance technology, like its Intel Core i5-8350U and 16GB RAM, with long-lasting battery life.
Power & Performance; originally designed for heavy use in the corporate environment, this Lenovo ThinkPad laptop has been Renewed with higher quality components and tested for full functionality to ensure years of ongoing performance and reliability
For years, I have been writing my blogs using only my phone. Now, I will be able to enjoy creating my blogs using this new beautiful computer. They even loaded it up with lots of extra memory! I want to say a HUGE THANK YOU to Candace & Matthew for my gorgeous new Laptop Computer! It amazes me how well you know me!
Some Last Minute Amazon Shopping: SanDisk Flashdrive & Misc.
The fun continues even after Christmas Day! Yes, It is not only fun to consume all the leftovers, but I find it quite enjoyable to continue spending fun times with my family. We got together to play with the new Nintendo Switch games. I am also very excited to spend a generous Amazon Gift Card that I received from my friend Collette. I decided to utilize her special gift to finally buy the Flashdrive that I have had in my Amazon cart for over a year. Yes, I was hoping that it would go on sale. Now, I can easily manage the more than 10, 000 photos that always end up on my iPhone! Thank you Collette for such a generous & thoughtful gift! I will be able to use my flashdrive throughout the year!
Front of my Christmas Card.
Back of Christmas Card.
Front of Thank You Card.
Back of Thank You Card.
My Christmas Card & Thank You Card
I would like to take this opportunity to say a special Thank You to all my family and friends! This Christmas I designed and ordered special custom Christmas cards and Thank You cards. I have distributed the Christmas cards, and I believe that they were all well received. I am now excited to send out my Thank You cards. I will be saying Thank You to each person for the very generous gifts that they gave to me. I can honestly say that I love each and every gift that I received this Christmas!
I want to dedicate this Thank You to Candace, my daughter-in-law, and my son Matthew. Thank you for making all my dreams come true this Christmas Season! Most importantly, I Thank You for always loving me. Thank you for all the beautiful presents! You have both created the perfect Christmas Magic!!!
