December Reflections

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December Reflections

As I am sure is true for most of you, December has been a busy month. We’ve pared down some activities: I didn’t do any holiday baking except for apple pie for Christmas day. Jesse made cheesecake and Mittu made chocolate pie, so we had more than enough sugar to go around.

We seemed to have a good blend of activities to go to without feeling overwhelmed: the Fantasy of Trees, a Christmas play, a Christmas concert, Family Fun Night, a Christmas Eve service.

Jim and I celebrated our 45th anniversary! I shared some thoughts on 45 years of marriage here.

We’ve enjoyed time with the whole family since Jeremy came and we’ve seen Jesse a little more than usual.

Despite getting sick in the middle of the month for a week or so, everything got done that needed to get done, and we had a good month.

Now we’re in the phase of asking ourselves “What day is it?” several times a day. 🙂 Jeremy is still here for a few more days, working from our home this week.

Watching

As I write this, we haven’t watched any of our usual Christmas movies–or any movies at all, really, except A Biltmore Christmas. It’s main draw was being set in one of my favorite places, the Biltmore House in Asheville, NC. The plot has a screenwriter tasked with drafting a remake of a (fictitious) classic Christmas movie set at the Biltmore. She’s not getting it quite right, so her boss sends her to the Biltmore at Christmastime to get inspired. She finds a broken hourglass that, when turned, sends her back to the 1940s when the original movie was made. The ending everyone knows and loves has been lost, so she has to try to get the writer to change the ending he has in mind–and along the way she falls in love with the leading man. It’s a Hallmark movie free for Netflix through December. The fictitious old movie is similar to The Bishops’ Wife. Though it was Hallmarkish, it was fun.

Creating

December was a busy month for cards. I didn’t get started when I wanted to, so I relied on decorative paper and stickers.

This was for our anniversary:

Anniversary card

It was funny that Jim included my favorite candy with his card, so he literally did make life sweeter. 🙂

This was Jim’s Christmas card:

husband Christmas card

Jeremy’s:

handmade Christmas card

Jason’s:

handmade Christmas card

Mittu’s:

handmade Christmas card

Timothy’s:

handmade Christmas card for grandchild

Jesse’s:

handmade Christmas card

I don’t feel like this was my best-ever batch of cards–but the sentiments were heartfelt.

Reading

Since last time I’ve finished (linked to my reviews):

  • 2 Corinthians for You by Gary Millar. Our ladies’ Bible study at church went through this. Very good.
  • Waking Up in the Wilderness: A Yellowstone Journey by Natalie Ogbourne. Very good.
  • Across the Ages by Gabrielle Meyer, audiobook, the latest in her Time Crossers series. In this book, the heroine knows no one else with her “gift,” so she doesn’t know what to think about living in both 1727 as the granddaughter of a plantation owner and in 1927 as the daughter of a famous preacher. Very good.
  • An Honorable Deception by Roseanna M. White, audiobook, the latest (and I think last) in her Imposter’s series. Excellent.
  • The Painted Castle by Kristy Cambron, the third in her Lost Castles series. This one involves a replica of a famous portrait of Queen Victoria over three timelines: England in 1830, then in WW2, then modern day. Very good.
  • Christmas at the Circus by Joanne Bischof, an okay Christmas novella.
  • Bespoke: A Tiny Christmas Tale by Amanda Dykes, very good.
  • Christmas at Sugar Plum Manor by Roseanna M. White, audiobook, a very nice Christmas novella set in Edwardian England with nods to Jane Austen and The Nutcracker.
  • Christmas With the Queen by Hazel Gaynor and Heather Webb, audiobook. Could have been great; some language and immoral behavior marred it. The parts with the queen were excellent.
  • Everyday Gospel Christmas Devotional by Paul David Tripp, not reviewed yet.
  • The Christmas Hummingbird by Davis Bunn, audiobook, not reviewed yet.

Tin Can Serenade by Amanda Dykes was a delightful short story.

Our Sunday School class went through selected psalms with a booklet put together by the teachers from some of their resources. One lady mentioned In God I Take Refuge by Dane Ortland, so I got it about 2/3 of the way through the class. It has each of the psalms printed along with some devotional thoughts. It’s not as in-depth as a study Bible or commentary, but was very good. I’m looking forward to reading the whole thing next time I am in the psalms.

I’m currently reading:

  • Ezekiel: The God of Glory by Tim Chester
  • What’s a Disorganized Person to Do? by Stacey Platt
  • The Collected Letters of C.S. Lewis, Volume 3: Narnia, Cambridge, and Joy, 1950 – 1963, compiled by Walter Hooper.
  • Winter Fire: Christmas with G. K. Chesterton by Ryan Whitaker Smith
  • A Holy City Christmas: Charleston Holiday Tales, short stories by various authors.
  • Hans Brinker or the Silver Skates by Mary Mapes Dodge, audiobook.

Tomorrow I’ll post my top books of the year.

Blogging

Besides the weekly Friday Fave Fives, Saturday Laudable Linkage, and book reviews, I’ve posted these since last time:

Sometimes at the end of the year, I’ll have a post with the most-viewed posts of the year. I like to see what kinds of writing people are interested in. The timing didn’t work out for such a post this year, but I did take a peek.

My top posts published this year:

My most-viewed posts of all time:

Writing

There’s been nothing on this front besides blog posts and Christmas cards. 🙂 Our critique group has been off for about six weeks but will start up again in January.

Looking ahead, I plan to spend the latter half of this week resting and maybe puttering. Somehow I ended up with four medical appointments in January. 😦 Thankfully, they are all just regular check-ups.

I don’t usually make resolutions or choose a word for the year, but somewhere in January I like to evaluate habits and schedules and see where I need to change or tighten things up. I especially want to make time for my manuscript and hopefully get it ready to submit.

How was your December? What are you looking forward to in January?

(I often link up with some of these bloggers.)

15 thoughts on “December Reflections”

  1. Your December sounds busy but delightful! That’s so nice that Jeremy is staying a bit longer and working from your home.

    It is a strange, disorienting feeling between holidays. I have to remind myself each morning what day it is!

    Wishing you and your family a very Happy New Year!

  2. Oh MY there’s a lot here! It sounds like a wonderful month for you; the cards are very sweet and I’m sure the recipients enjoyed. I enjoy both sending and receiving cards from all over each Christmas. A friend/acquaintance who I met at the writers’ conference I attended in 2011 has got me thinking. He is so organized, but in the past few months has had heart issues and a stroke. He and his wife were in the process of what they call “dis-acculumlation,” and since these health setbacks he’s feeling a bit more frantic about that. It reminds me that I too have quite a bit of “stuff” that I’d like to pare down. Maybe I can work more intentionally on that in the new year.

  3. Dear Barbara, I love these end of the year reviews – the books, the posts, and oh those cards! Your Old Age Syndromes post was one of my favorites this year as I am heading toward 70.

    May God continue to bless you with time and space to do more terrific writing. New Year’s blessings to you and your beautiful family.

  5. I enjoy your month-end wrap ups. Thanks to you, I’m also enjoying the Imposter series of books and just finished the wonderfully executed Last Christmas in Paris audiobook. While beautifully written, it made me think how true hope is so needed.

    My Mom has Netflix, maybe I’ll mention the Biltmore movie to her. The sheer number of books you get through in a month is amazing! Thanks for links to your reviews. Happy new year, friend.

  7. Sounds like a nice December! I started watching Biltmore Xmas and never finished it! My oldest daughter loved it and said it’s like a remake of It’s a Wonderful Life although when I googled it, it said the movie was actually based on His Merry Wife which i had never heard of (1947). I’ll have to see if it’s still on and finish it! Haven’t been watching much online these days.

    HAPPY NEW YEAR to you!!

    • His Merry Wife was the fictitious old movie in the film. I had wondered, too, whether it was a real movie from the forties, but when I looked it up found it wasn’t. It’s similar to The Bishop’s Wife with Cary Grant and Fred Astaire.

      • I decided to look it up too! I was so curious. I watched the Bishops Wife years ago with my parents!! they loved the old classics from the 40s and 50s.

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