It’s a very rainy morning. No walk since it’s more than an umbrella would stand plus I need to leave a little early to head to Sacramento. There’s a winter storm watch with lots of snow and wind for the Sierras. I -80 will be affected for sure but since I’m headed in the opposite direction it should be ok( except for the crazy drivers).

It’s hard to believe it’s almost the end of the year. 2023 is right around the corner. I was thinking back on all the wonderful Christmases we’ve had. A few were more somber like when B was diagnosed with MDS and me with myeloma and last year Heidi died shortly after Christmas. Really though most have been happy occasions, especially with children. Neither of my kids probably will have children so no grandkids but that’s their decision, not mine. I probably wouldn’t be the greatest grandparent anyway as I’m not into kids but then again, I didn’t like kids a lot before I had any so maybe it would be different. Who knows?

I’ve been working on a gratitude journal for next year and want to write something I’m grateful for every day. Right now I’m just waiting in my daily to -do/budget book. Maybe that’s all I need instead of something separate. I’ll think about it.

Our first Christmas together after we were married was in Tucson. We had rice with nuts and raisons in teak salad bowls my mother had sent us. I’m sure we had a tree of some sort as we used to work the Uof A’s forestry tree lot but I don’t think we did that first year. The following year started our tradition of lasagna for Christmas. We didn’t have an oven so I went to the landlord’s house next door and used his oven. I’m sure there have been a few Christmases we didn’t have lasagna. And that’s on the menu for this year too.