Happy New Year (7 days late)

Happy New Year, all my fine fellow bloggers. I hope the holiday season was as good for you as it was for me. I have been enjoying reading about Christmas on the blogs and thought I should get my act together and do mine.

We had a quiet day here at the Braxton household on Christmas Day. I was spoiled this year with a new quilt and blanket to fit my bed. Since I downsized from a king to a full, the blankets I had would not stay on the bed. They kept sliding off and were cumbersome to deal with. The blanket is lightweight and, layered under the quilt, it keeps me warm and toasty all night. I've needed this the last few nights as we have had temps in the teens and single digits. Thankfully, we've not had snow; just really cold temps. My body doesn't do well with these cold temps. I have had a couple of days of pain in my joints, especially my hands and feet. I also got a Chicago Cubs ornament, 2 thermal bottles so my water will be ice cold (I can't drink water otherwise) and a "learn to knit" kit from Knit Picks. Or rather I got a copy of the page which said it was out of stock. HA! I'll be getting that as soon as it is back in stock. I don't know why I wanted that but I thought it might be fun to learn and if I can do it, at least I'll be able to make dishcloths and scarfs......maybe!

We had our family Christmas on Friday, December 29. Our house was full to the brim. Both of our children were here with the grandkids, my sister, niece and nephew and my sister- and brother-in-law (husband's sister and husband). Sadly, my son-in-law was sick and stayed home and my brother-in-law had to stay home because of repairs to their water heater. BUT, we had a great time. The tree was full of presents:

the food was spread out everywhere and we had a glorious time. At least I did. I'm in heaven when all my fam is around and I got a huge dose. AND I have photos!

The oldest (Ella) and the youngest (Sam)

James, Lilly, Ella, Sam, Elijah

All the grands on the front porch swing!

Lilly and her Papaw. 

Poor Lilly. I got a text last night around midnight from my son. Lilly fell yesterday and broke her arm; specifically her elbow. He said it was dislocated and a piece broke on the end of the larger bone in her forearm. The ER sent her to Atlanta to the Children's Hospital by ambulance with her Mom. Doug called on the way and told me she will have to have surgery. As of the writing of this post, she is in surgery where they will do pins to hold the bone in place and she will have a cast. I hope she gets a purple cast; that's her favorite color. Doug said she had been amazing through everything, very calm and very tough. 

I did make my goal of 65 books in 2017. I barely squeaked by, reading the last book on Sunday, Dec 31. I've started my new goal for 2018. I'm trying for 70 books. That works out to 6 books a month. I might have set myself a hard goal this year. If I make it, fine; if not, that's fine also. It's just the pleasure of reading, both ebooks and regular ones and listening to audiobooks. 

I'm still working on my WIP parade. I need to get everything listed in my cross stitch journal and then photographed. I had plans to do that this week but the weather decided to get so darn cold, I just couldn't.

Anyhoo, I want to thank each of you who visits my blog. I hope 2018 is a year of happiness and joy for all of us. Thank you for being my bloggy friends.

Hugs,

Sharon