Welcome to 2022!

 

2022. Otherwise known as "The Year of Dickens".  For I have declared this to be the year where I read all the best of Charles Dickens. I've been wanting to do this for years, ever since my friend Christine said she had a year of Dickens and I became smitten with the idea. I immediately put the books on my Amazon wishlist and waited for someone to make my dreams come true. I waited. And I waited. And I waited some more. I was starting to think that my family wasn't taking this seriously. Finally for this last birthday, my dear son fulfilled my wish by gifting me the whole beautiful set and I've been waiting ever since for the new year to start so I could get this party started. It's now almost the end of January and I haven't started yet. 

So which one first? There's Bleak House, Hard Times, Oliver Twist, Great Expectations, A Christmas Carol, and A Tale of Two Cities. Obviously I know the Christmas Carol like the back of my hand (reference to the Muppet Christmas Carol there) and it makes more sense to let that be the last one I read at the end of the year. Oliver Twist would be the next familiar story as I've seen the movie and play several times. I'm thinking that would be an easy read. Which brings me back to the question ... which one first? Any suggestions? 

Ahh, Christmas in Texas. It means I might not have to wear a coat. It was actually so warm this year that I was totally comfortable going sleeveless! It's the little things....

As the kids get older, I treasure more and more when they come home for holidays and we're all together.  It was wonderful!! Zanna flew home and Will drove to Texas. He spent most of his time in Dallas with Emily and her family but we were grateful when they ventured out to the country. 

Zanna did a lovely job playing some preservice music for Christmas Day church service!

We had a chance to visit our family in Ft Worth and the cousins got to hang out. 

So this was crazy ... Wayne and I went to the Galleria in Dallas one afternoon during the holidays. I have memories of visiting this mall with my mom back in the day (the 90's). They have this big ice skating rink on the bottom floor and during Christmas they have a gigantic Christmas tree all lit up. Now most ice skating rinks in Texas seem to be the fake ice. I assumed this would be no different. But it was totally legit - real ice and all. The crazy thing was that the area wasn't cold. The ice was kept frozen from beneath so the air around it wasn't really any colder that the air elsewhere. Magical, I tell you. The funny thing was watching a bunch of Texans try to ice skate. On top of that, no one we saw of any age was wearing a helmet which was a given for kids 12 and under in Canada whether they could skate decently or not. Not that I think we should bubble wrap kids and put a helmet on them while they're walking around. All I'm saying is that some of those Texans trying to ice skate probably could have used some extra cushioning in the likely event of a crash or stumble, even if it was only some bunched up toilet paper stuffed into their pants. Or bubble wrap. 

Food is always a big deal during the holidays and my mission is to try to make some of everyone's favorites while they're home. We enjoyed Shepherd's Pie for Christmas Eve and were able to have our traditional Ikea Swedish Meatballs and Grilled Lobster Tails for Christmas Day. 

We had Emily's family over for New Year's Day. Since the kids wouldn't be home for Chinese New Year, we decided to do our homemade Chinese dumplings and chicken chow mien noodles and vegetables. It ended up being more work than I bargained for and by the time I sat down, I was a sweaty and exhausted hostess. Not exactly what I was going for. But looking at Zanna's smile and how much it meant to all of us, it was worth it! 

Zanna also made a Blackberry Pie from some of our frozen garden blackberries and put a New Year twist on it! 

For Christmas, Emily gave Will a Lego set! It was like old times with him at the kitchen table putting his Lego set together. Only difference is that his girlfriend supportively sat by his side reading her book while he was fully engrossed in his project.  And just like old times, I found myself throwing out all those little clear plastic bags that piled up and never quite made it into the trash - haha! 

My parents headed our direction after Christmas and were here through New Years. It's always fun to have them around! My Dad was super helpful in taking care of a few chores that Wayne has been unable to do because of his shoulder surgery. 

They are enjoying their new home in South Carolina and have been busy settling in and making new friends. We look forward to visiting them over Spring Break this year. 

I don't know if it's a pandemic thing but even though I know it's 2022, when I see anything referenced to 2020 I still think present day and not two years ago. Such a strange phenomena to have essentially three years all meld into a chunk of time in my brain. Is it just me? It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair, we had everything before us, we had nothing before us....

Bring on Dickens.