Looking Back, December 2022

 

On the 2nd we had quality time with Isaac and Logan during Daniel's basketball game.  D made 4 points!  

On Saturday evening the 3rd, all the kids were here to celebrate Bekah and Nicole's birthdays.  We had vegetable soup and a charcuterie tray!  

On the 4th I was still ordering more Christmas gifts.  Every day I say I am going to scale back, and every year, I don't.  

On the 6th, Daniel came down with Influenza A and a red ear.  I made and delivered my usual: herb-infused, prayed-over, chicken soup with homemade noodles.  

We spent the evening of the 9th with our dear friends, Jim and Myrna, and exchanged Christmas gifts with them.  

On the 15th, Nicole was very sick with the flu and Rebekah had it as well.  Nic was very sick which was worrisome and we prayed hard for her and for Kathryn.  By the 17th Jonathan had also tested positive for influenza.  

Throughout the month I made and froze food for our Christmas celebrations including brown sugar bacon, ham sliders, soup for Christmas night, homemade meatballs with sauce.  Other food listed this month were two meatloaves, baked sirloin, hamburger for freezer, (I use this for weeknight meals such as spaghetti, sloppy joe, or chili), and a batch of cheesey potatoes for a funeral dinner.  Our regular Christmas morning brunch menu was, as always:  

Corn pancakes with maple syrup

Cinnamon rolls 

Bacon and sausage

Biscuits and gravy

Hot spiced fruit

Coffee and juice

Afternoon

Christmas cookies and treats

Cheeseballs, summer sausage and crackers

Sugared cranberries

Punch

Evening

Chicken noodle or Vegetable soup

Bread sticks & crackers

Charcuterie tray

Vegie tray

Treats from the snack table

This was a beautiful, scary, and blessed year.  My exhaustion was from being low thyroid, not from something worse. My eye seems to be gradually improving. No one has had lasting ill effects from Covid or influenza. Baby Kathryn was born healthy and safe.  The Lord has been with us through many frights (including a tornado and a hurricane for Nicole and Jonathan respectively, while each was on a business trip far from home) and has brought us safely through.  

This favorite quote by Matthew Henry seems right for our 2022 and for our future:  

The Lord shall prevent the evil thou fearest, and sanctify, remove, or lighten the evil thou feelest. He will preserve the soul, that it be not defiled by sin, and disturbed by affliction; he will preserve it from perishing eternally. He will keep thee in life and death; going out to thy labor in the morning of thy days, and coming home to thy rest when the evening of old age calls thee in. It is a protection for life.

Matthew Henry