The Memory Bee

December 31

I do a review of the past year every year on December 31, but I have to admit that it is a little painful this year. I have so many mixed feelings about the mix of happy times and very difficult times, the disappointments and hard decisions that we've all had to make. I feel like I've done pretty good at being optimistic and in good spirits, reminding myself regularly that my faith is in God and not in the circumstances, people, and leadership of our country. It's all been pretty stressful, to say the least!

Last year at this time, I posted these travel statistics: I had spent...

• 3 days in Colorado
  
• 4 days in Scotland
• 5 days in Texas
• 5 days in London
• 6 days in Arizona
• 9 days in Greece
• 13 days in Pennsylvania
• 19 days in California
• 24 days in Italy
• 31 days in Paris (the exact same number as 2018)
  
• 42 days in Florida (between the east and west coasts and a new baby!)

Here are my statistics for 2020:

• 3 days in California
• 4 days in Pennsylvania
• 8 days in Arizona
• 13 days in North Carolina
• 16 days in Florida

It was definitely a different year with no international travel and no trips on an airplane after the beginning of March. I flew 8,049 miles this year, compared to over 100,000 miles last year.

I think my biggest take away of the year is that you have to find joy in little things, often creating your own joy, and finding little things to make you feel happiness.

Here's a picture look back at some of the highlights of 2020:

We started out the year together in Florida which was our last time all together...

In January I went to San Diego for classes and then to Arizona where I did a little exploring...

and went to the Craft and Hobby trade show in Phoenix....

I loved this mural that was on the parking garage that I passed each day...

Jeremy was home for a few days in February...

I worked on my new classes that I thought would debut in the spring in Italy and then at stores and venues in the US...

We went to see the frozen, ice-covered houses just south of Buffalo...

And made another trip to Florida for some grandma and grandpa time...

As it became clear that travel plans were going to have to be canceled, I mourned and was super disappointed that the rest of this year was going to look very different than past years...

I began a huge cleaning and purging project....

We finally saw our first blossoms on trees in May...

And took our first of many, many bike rides around our area...

I worked on a Corona scrapbook faithfully from March until June, recording the days and the news of our first pandemic...

In June I went to Pittsburgh to visit Brandon there...

And I spent a lot of time in my pool (my 12" deep kiddie pool!) that was a lifesaver on the hot days of spring and summer...

In June, I fell off my bike and had a scare but the biggest injury was a sprained thumb that just recently stopped being sore!

In July we gathered to celebrate the 4th of July...

And I did something that I always wanted to do - climbed down to walk along the Niagara Gorge...

I made a lot of collages of photos and screenshots for my little scrapbooks, ate a lot of ice cream cones, and shipped a lot of kits to my Zoom class students...

We went to Panama Rocks for the first time and it was spectacular!

In September Brandon finished his Army Reserves training and went to another leadership training until Thanksgiving...

The family gathered for an early Thanksgiving celebration before my parents returned to Florida for the winter...

Dave and I went to Holiday Valley where we used to ski and rode the chair lifts and walked the trails filled with happy family memories together...

Brandon came home for Thanksgiving...

I taught 17 Zoom classes (something I never dreamed I would do!) with a total of 393 students! What a blessing! I am thankful to each person who joined me live or watched a recording and kept my classes alive and helped keep me sane! I loved connecting with each one of you!

I completed six Little Books - filled with a collage a day for six months. It has brought me the most joy during this difficult time!

Brandon was home again for Christmas and we enjoyed a snowy walk on Christmas day together....

Here's a page I filled with some thoughts and reflections when I was on my retreat this week...

Some random thoughts and feelings and lessons learned...

I thankful that we survived 2020! At the beginning of last year I thought that 2020 was going to be the best year ever - 2020 vision, etc, never dreaming that what we would face over the months to come. I pray that the days ahead will get better and that eventually we'll be able to gather again and travel again and see family freely... I have hope!

I hope you have a safe and happy new year. Thank you for your friendship and encouragement near and far!

With much love, Debby xoxo

December 28

I've gone to Rochester, NY, the last several years for a couple days between Christmas and New Year's for a little personal retreat, using the time to reflect on the year that is finishing and to plan and set goals and pray about the year soon to start. This year I wasn't sure if I wasn't going to be able to go because of COVID restrictions, but I felt comfortable with the precautions taken by the hotel and with a really good rate from Hotwire, I was able to make the drive and stay for two days.

The Woodcliff Hotel is perfect for my retreat because each room has a comfy chair in front of a low picture window that overlooks the country (with the city far in the distance).

I bring comfy clothes and my own blanket and pillows and coffee and snacks and books and settle in for my quiet time alone.

I bring my Bible and the notebook I'm journaling my quiet time in and the calendar notebook where I am still writing a verse a day since 2019. I'm still writing in the Grace Notes book we made in a class a few years ago based on the book 1,000 Gifts by Ann Voskamp. I'm up to 459 things that I'm thankful for. Of course, I have my Debby-dori with my planner in it, and a set of books that I review every year: Make it Happy by Lara Casey, and Big Magic by Elizabeth Gilbert. I've read them both several times and now just review all the highlights and notes that I've made, but they are both great for creative people who make a business from their creativity. They motivate me every year.

The gorgeous sunset last night seemed a fitting end to my days there!

Tomorrow I'll share some of my reflections on this year... and hopes for the new year!

December 26

The snow continued to fall - it was a winter wonderland! The good thing was that it was very fluffy - perfect for Brandon to get out the snowblower and use it to clean off his car. Good invention, Brandon!

I found these photos in a scrapbook from December 2001... the journaling says that we got 85" of snow in five days! That's crazy! I'm pretty sure that this is the year that Brandon snowboarded off my second floor porch roof!

The snow almost completely covered the windows of my office, piling up on the roof of our back porch. (Ugh! I had so much stuff on my desk! How did I get my work done!!)

Brandon left on Sunday to go back to Pittsburgh. I loved having him home and am glad that he lives only 3 1/2 hours away. We played our competitive games of Sorry, watched movies (we finished the Mandalorian and watched Star Wars episodes 4, 5, and 6 again) and frosted more cookies (I tripled the batch this year and made too many! Good for Brandon to give away to friends!)

I left when Brandon left and went to Rochester, about an hour away, for my annual year-end evaluation retreat for just me. It was really good to get away and think and write and pray about the year ahead and reflect on the crazy year we've had. More about that next time...

December 25 Part 2

When our sons were young, we had the tradition of opening the kid's gifts for the whole extended family at our house on Christmas and then the adult's gifts at my parent's house later in the day. When they moved to Florida for the winter, we started a new tradition of going skiing on Christmas day. When the boys were grown and we weren't skiing anymore, we started a new tradition of going to see a movie on Christmas afternoon, but that option wasn't available this year since so many of the movie theaters are closed (and there isn't any movies we think are worth seeing) so we were really happy for a beautiful snowfall and the chance to take a hike in the fresh snow. I've always wished to do that, so this was a little dream come true for me!

It was a beautiful walk - so peaceful and pretty - and then we came home and had our traditional chili for dinner and played games and watched a movie on TV. It turned out to be a quiet but really nice day. We loved video-chatting with our families, too. It's hard to not be together but we're thankful that everyone is healthy in their own homes this year.

December 25

Christmas morning! It's bright and cheerful with lots of light because of all the snow that fell overnight! It's a winter wonderland outside! It looks like we have a ton of presents under the tree because we have the tradition of wrapping each tiny thing in the biggest boxes we can find to disguise what it is. The pile would be very, very small if we wrapped the actual package things come in!

Brandon still gets a stocking (although the gifts of mostly candy get pretty lame as you get older!) He's a good sport to still pose for me.

Buddy is keeping an eye on Dave and his presents... he opened new sweats from me...

Brandon shakes his box to see if he can guess what it could be...

It's a nice big box...

And inside is a new power cord... LOL - I said the gifts were tiny!

Brandon got Dave new grips for his bike...

I got a cashmere set from H&M that is cozy and so soft!

I got Dave the large print Bible that he requested - those eyes are getting older!

My present from Brandon... love the tiny bow...

I trained him well! Inside was a smaller box - and some candy taped to the sides!

It's exactly the bike basket that I've wanted - made to go on my Townie bike.

I love it!

We gave Brandon money toward his big gift...

A new computer monitor for college...

Another tradition is to have Pillsbury cinnamon rolls for breakfast, but this time I grabbed the strawberry ones by accident. They actually weren't bad and they're pink!

Beau enjoys Brandon's new bike tool - it's good for a scratch!

I'll share the rest of our day in the next post. I hope you had a good day on Christmas. I know it looked different for most of us... maybe we thought more about the reason we celebrate or treasured little things more. It was just plain hard for many. My prayer is that Jesus will be your Peace, your Father, your Counselor... be all that you need every day!

Much love, Debby xoxo