Candles by Deganit- Diary of a Chandler: Happy new year

Hello

It has been a long very busy time away from here: from home, from my studio, from my laptop.

My Etsy's shop is opened but the truth is I was far away from it. Did I lose the momentum of the Holidays sales? I sure did but that's a price I willingly, gladly pay for being a very active grandmother for the last… I lost count of the weeks. The year comes to its end, and being together with at least part of the family is a grand happy finale!

We had Hanukah together, all eight days of it!

And then Christmas was marching in when one afternoon on the way to run some errands Ethan (almost 4 years old) out of the blue told me:" you are going to be the only one without a Christmas tree"

We couldn't leave it there so the next day we went and were probably the last ones to get a tree. For the first time in my life I actually had a Christmas tree in my own house.

Ethan worked hard to make very original creative decorations and now we were not out there without…

The routine with the kids makes me feel blessed.

From waking up in the morning with them all pink and fresh, smiling for the new day to keeping them busy around the house. Feeding them, go out for exercise and fun in the playground and then the long walks on the beach finding with them all the great shoreline life from rabbits and chipmunks on the shore cliffs to seagulls, pelicans and …whales… and more inside and above the ocean.

Now that they have gone to the park with their parents I put some more clothes in the washing machine, picked up some of the toys…auch my back! I straightened up trying to stand as straight as possible…It isn't easy and even a bit sad to be so aware of my age. I am not old! I am not old! I am not! It is just my aging bones and muscles and joints. It is not me it is just my body who, sometimes refuses to serve me as well as it used to. But…I am not complaining. This is how it goes and all together it is what makes life worth living with the good and the bad, happy and sad – flowing on the stream of time.

This year with the bad moments, the sad moments, and the pure happy ones was a good year. Still is to the last day of it.