I received a complaint!

Yes, a friend complaint that I have not blogged in a while. Sigh! Sigh! Sigh! Not much to report even though we feel we are busy all the time. No boredom here.  Of course we are very careful in this pandemic situation. James does most of our shopping. When he does he always goes when he thinks the least people should be around. With other words ... we are spending most time at home. The orchid is blooming just at the right time. 

I can report that James' top of his head is healing nicely. At the last visit his doctor was kind of excited how good it already looked. His 'nurse' must be doing ok (ha-ha). We change the dressing every morning and wash his head. I am not scared any more about doing it. The things you learn.

Weather is not so friendly right now. Even with blue sky it is very cold right now. Well, it's winter and wind makes it worse. James still seams to get his 10,000 step walk in every day. I still can not really go on walks since mid-December. I am getting better every day too though. Next week I will start physical therapy ordered by a back specialist I saw last week.

At the beginning of January we had a few really lovely days. The wind was cold but on the sheltered back patio it was lovely around lunch time. As I can't go on walks right now I enjoyed sitting there for a while. With my eyes closed I listened to the "very noisy" birds. 

Saturday the 16th we decided that you can adapt to the pandemic in some ways. You know that we have season tickets to the Richmond Forum ever since we moved here. Of course going to the theater is not possible right now. They decided to have virtual events and they are quite good. We were in our comfortable chairs upstairs in the loft where it is warmer with our feet up and a glass of wine. We listened to the pre-music which was a classical guitarist. He was very good and we even stood up for the national anthem.

The speaker this time was Former Prime Minister of the United Kingdom Theresa May. It started at 6 pm because of the time difference. It was after midnight where she was when it was finished. She must have had a nap earlier because she didn’t show a sign of being tired.

The PM (Prime Minister) first made a speech and later answered questions from the audience. It was all very interesting. A PM is similar to our President of the USA but there are also differences. She was a MP (which is a voted Member of Parliament similar to our House of Representatives) and still was that when she was also the Prime Minister. So different. Now she is an MP again which means still in politics which our Presidents never do.

Just a few days later (Jan.20) was Inauguration Day in the USA. 

And the following Sunday was Helen's birthday. We missed not being able to drive to Nashville to celebrate with her. I made a birthday card for her and found these photos. I have to share. 

Brrrr, it is cold outside. Our new camellias are trying to put a little color into our landscaping though. Promises. Promises.

I said that we are not bored. I have not made any lace or done any sewing in quite a while but was able to design three new Chrismons, write the patterns and post them on my Chrismon blog. 

And when we are watching TV I work on the Chrismons for the coming Christmas. James as always helps by wrapping them up.

Yes, we are doing really well and are not bored. Now I had better get back to working on the February issue of our church newsletter. It's close to the end of the month.

Happy Birthday, Jesus ... and Christa

Better catch up before the year is over. Yes, there were lots of challenging situations this year. But still, we are grateful for a lot of things. We are hopeful that we get through the pandemic without our family being directly effected. James is getting better every day. So do I. We could not go to church at Christmas but we could enjoy services online. Christmas Day we spent with Sarah and her family. Of course we missed Helen and William very much but it was the right decision for them not to come this time. The news on TV is so sad about the pandemic getting totally out of control again. Better safe than sorry. We will get the opportunity again to all be together!

We went as early as we could because the boys were so excited. It was fun swatching them play.

We did FaceTime with James' sister Jane in Windsor (England) which was a lot of fun. 

More playing. 

More opening of presents. 

Sarah and Wade took care of Christmas dinner which of course was delicious. And everybody had fun with the traditional crackers. Even the twins knew about them because their teacher had talked about it at their school.

Well, and then the next day ... of course one of my first thoughts is always about my father because it would have been his birthday too. Oh, the memories!

It was a very nice day. Ha-ha, if even your dentist congratulates you. 

We had a simple lunch at our house. Sarah had brought the cake and the boys were eager to help blowing out the candles. 

Thank you to all who made me feel so happy.

And on Sunday I finally felt a little better to do something special for James. I made the mince pie. His words: now it's Christmas. 

And here is another surprise. I had to look and look again. Yes, my orchid has buds. First I saw 4 but no, there are at least 7. My mother had a yellow one of this kind. You don't see this kind often for sale and when we had the opportunity once we took it. This will greatly improve my winter time.

Wishing lots of blessings to all our family and friends for the coming New Year. And yes, at this time the biggest wish is for Health. 

Role reversal

Guilty. I carried the amaryllis flowerpots wrong. They were in the garage, dried totally out since fall and I really didn't think they were heavy. It was time to put them into the sunroom and start watering. Something went wrong though. I must have picked them up wrong. It was midweek and everything seemed fine. In the following days though something happened to my back and Saturday December 19 I woke up and could not walk because of incredible pain. Just could not. 

Dear James was very worried and I just felt helpless. Sarah and Wade insisted on coming. Luckily they just could leave their house because the boys had fun with Wade's visiting parents.

James, Sarah and Wade decided to bring me to the Emergency room not far from us. It took them a while to figure out how to get me into the car. Strong pain medicine and an X-ray later I was diagnosed, mainly with sciatica. So glad my 3 angels had decided to take me because now with the medicine prescribed I started to, very very slowly, get better every day a little. I gained a new understanding though about the suffering some people have to endure. 

Yes, role reversal. Instead of me taking care of James he now took care of me. He even made soft-boiled eggs for breakfast. They were perfect.

Christmas was just a few days away. At mealtimes our Advent-candle burned which made it very visible. But because of the covid situation and social distancing etc nothing really was planned and I resigned myself to 'what is not done must not be so important'.

Happy to say that James feels better every day. He has started doing some walks in the neighborhood again when the weather allows. 

I on the other hand was very stationary. Some things came to a screeching hold. So sorry I could not keep up with my Advent calendar project on FaceBook. I had so enjoyed that. This year everything is so different.

Christmas Eve - going to the outdoor service at our church was out of the question. Our church also has  a streamed service though and one can find other uplifting services like Carols & Lessons from King's College Cambridge and even a Christmas service in German from an American Lutheran Church we enjoyed lately. Yes, still plenty to enjoy.

These are the days to meditate and contemplate. We are blessed, our health improves every day and our children are so sweet and caring. We have nice friends. One of them brought this beautiful poinsettia to the door. Happy thoughts!

What a week this was. 

Merry Christmas to our family members and friends near and far. There is plenty of love to go around.

It's different this year

Advent time is such a special time. Every day we are reminded what an incredible gift our God gave us. All we have to do is accept it. When we traveled to Israel in September 2017 we learned so much about Jesus' life and it all makes more sense now. It has made Christmas even more special.

Because of covid it is different this year though. No guests, no parties, no simple gatherings. But we still wanted to decorate in the Christmas spirit ... not quite as much. November 29 was the 1st Sunday of Advent = time for our "Hartensteiner Adventsstern". 

The Chrismon tree found its usual place in the sunroom. We also put the straw ornament tree up in the living room (like every year) but didn't take a photo yet. Ha-ha, it looks pretty much the same as every year.

The quilted Advent calendar with the lace Chrismon is ready for Tuesday December 1.

We did make changes though. Instead of putting everything out right away I started setting the nativities up one each day and posted it on Facebook = like another Advent calendar. Here only the first ones. Every one has a special memory for us. I must say that it was much more meaningful to look at the nativities one at a time. They are from different parts in the world and it is amazing how the Holy Family is seen in other countries.

Sunday December 6 was the day for the Chrismon giving. The children were invited to claim their gift after the outdoor service. 

Because it is "covid time" I had also set up a drive-by pick-up in the church parking lot in the afternoon. On the way to it a man just set this up. I see it every year and think it gives such a good message. Santa is kneeling before Baby Jesus.

The man was still working on his display and I hopped out of the car, thanked him and gave him one of the Chrismon. I hope he likes it.

The "drive-by" was a good idea. It was so nice to see several of our church friends. It was a crisp day but lovely in the sun.

The next day we had a sprinkling of snow in the morning. 

We are so happy that James feels better with every day and is eager again to go for walks and we could see our neighbors are decorating their houses too. 

The following Sunday it was warm enough to have lunch outside and go for a walk in short sleeves.

And with this years Chrismon taken care of it is time to think of a new one. I have at least three more designs in my head. Getting them out on paper is the difficult part.

As always there are things to do. We are never bored. 

But I would not be honest if I said that I did not miss the celebration like in years before. Advent/Chrismas time is so special. On the other hand this is an opportunity to focus on the real meaning of Christmas.