Wow, we have come to the final day of 2023, at least that is when I've started to write this. It has been an interesting year for sure. During Advent, the season of waiting, I found myself in the "both/and" of life. Some joy mingled with sadness, but choosing to trust God with it all. Once again I'm joining Jennifer and the other writers in sharing my four somethings for December. 

Something Loved: We had more family fun packed into a long weekend as we celebrated Christmas at our house. We ate and laughed, watched some Hallmark movies, attended and ministered together at church, and enjoyed just being together. We also took in the sights (and the cold) of the ICE! display at Gaylord Opryland Nashville and played 2 new games that I bought - Tenzi and Sequence. It was fun to get a couple of new games since I haven't done that for the past several years. 

Something Read: This month I read/journaled through Louie Giglio's Advent study Waiting Here for You. It was good and made me slow down a bit. I loved how it focused not just on us waiting with expectancy for God, but how He is truly waiting for us to turn our focus to Him. 

I also read A Simple Amish Christmas, by Vanetta Chapman. It was a good, easy, simple read for slow, quiet evenings by our Christmas Tree.  Here is the synopsis from Amazon: "Annie Weaver always planned to return home, but the 20-year-old RN has lived in Philadelphia for three years now. Her time of rumspringa is about to come to an abrupt end, bringing for Annie an overwhelming sense of loneliness as the Christmas season is in full swing. When she receives a call that her father has been in an accident, Annie returns home. She soon finds herself questioning her purpose in life, even as she finds herself face-to-face with a budding romance with an Amish farmer. As winter settles in around them, Annie has several important choices to make."

Something Learned: Even when reading on a Kindle, one should still look at the Table of Contents. I realized, after I read the book above, that there was a glossary of Amish terms in the back of the book. That would have been so very helpful if I knew it was there as I was reading. Although, after I perused the list, I did very well at "guessing" the correct meaning due to good context clues the author provided.  

Something Eaten: We had our fill of food - some savory, but many sweets! I baked candy cane cookies and sugar cookie cut-outs with our daughters. I also made my mother-in-law's recipe for cinnamon rolls. (I forgot to take a picture after they were baked, we were ready to eat them.) As my family says, it wouldn't be Christmas without those rolls and it's the only time I make them. Not because they are complicated, but because that is what makes them special. 

.              

However, the sweetest thing we experienced was the passing on the tradition of candy making, moving from my mother, to my oldest daughter. It was precious to hear my parents' gratitude in knowing the tradition of chocolate-covered oreos, marshmallows, and peanut butter fudge will live on. 

Happy New Year to you, my friends and readers. I'd love to hear what your Christmas or New Year's Eve/Day traditions include or what you added new this year. Closing the door to 2023 and looking forward to the hope and newness of 2024!