If you’re a regular here at Out and Back you’ll know that I’ve been posting a list of goals/adventures each season.  I’ve had SO much fun doing this!  You MIGHT have also noticed that I didn’t post a Winter List last month.  I have wrestled and wrestled with this one; my brain has adamantly fought against making a list this season.  Winter has been and is going to be just a little different than other seasons.  Some pretty big things are happening, but a lot of what is happening is not anything I can control.  I feel like I need to just stand down and roll with it.

AND I ran across this quote the other day. “Winter is the time for comfort, for good food and warmth, for the touch of a friendly hand and for a talk beside the fire: it is the time for home.” – Edith Sitwell  (Thanks, Tsh Oxenreider of The Art of Simple for sharing that in your email this month.)  This is how I’m feeling right now.  I just want to focus on home.

BUT I still wanted to play along with all my bloggy friends who faithfully share their lists and progress each month.  THUS!  I finally figured out what I’m going to do!

I’m doing a reverse list for winter!  Yep!  I will make a list of happenings/adventures AFTER they happen!  My brain and heart are SO happy about this!

So let’s get to it!  Here are a few things that’ve already happened.

 

1.  Christmas! My favorite time of the year!  We took it slow and easy.  I watched way too many Hallmark Christmas movies.  (Wait.  Is that even possible?)  We did some baking and enjoyed some special treats.  We spent some time with our families.  We went to our church’s Christmas Eve Service.  We focused on Jesus.  *happy sigh*

2.  Family Time: Our son came home on leave!  I don’t talk a lot about him here for security reasons, but our son serves in the military, is stationed in Alaska, and came home for a couple of weeks of leave!  Hallelujah!  He came home primarily to see his girlfriend (she’s WONDERFUL!), but I got some time with him too, and this mama’s heart is thrilled!  I SO enjoyed having all four of us—my husband, our two “kids,” and me—under one roof.  It’s a rare thing, and I savored every second!  I was very, very thankful that he was able to have this time with his girlfriend and that they graciously shared some of that time with us.

 

3.  Kitchen: Two dear friends of mine drove 2 hours to my house to wrangle my kitchen cabinets and pantry into submission!!!  WHAT?!?  We’re always looking for an excuse to get together, and I needed somebody(s) to help me assess my kitchen storage situation and make it work better.  *I* thought we were just going to look and come up with theoretical options and then go get some coffee!  Well, these girls came ready to work, and work they did!  I showed them which cabinets worked and which didn’t, and they very quickly came up with some great solutions for me.  They weren’t scared off by the crumbs and dust and mystery gunk in my pantry (a sign of true friendship if ever there was one), and we got it whipped into shape in no time!  I owe big thanks to them AND to my sweet husband who pitched in with some heavy duty help for us before he left for work.  Sheila and Lisa, THANK YOU!  Thanks for listening, giving advice, being gracious when I pushed back on a couple of things, and for working HARD for MY benefit.  I love y’all!

 

4.  Prep Dish: Prep Dish is continuing to rock my world! I know I’ve said this before, but I really am writing a post so I can share all their food prep wonderfulness with you!  Stay tuned!

 

5.  The Greatest Showman:  Gene, the aforementioned sweet husband, took me out for a date night last week.  We had a great dinner then went to the cinema to see The Greatest Showman.  WOW!  Who makes movies like that anymore?!?  We loved it so much that we went straight home, snagged our daughter, and went right back to catch the next showing!  LOL!  Seriously!  We really did!  The music!  The cinematography!  The themes!  Wow!  We recommend this movie if you want to escape for a while and enjoy something beautifully done.  The movie isn’t intended to be an accurate biography, but as good movies do, it piqued our curiosity about P. T. Barnum and his life!  Time to open more tabs on our laptops and do some research…whilst listening to the amazing soundtrack!

 

So that’s my Winter List for the first month of the season!  Link up your own list and or follow along to see what the others are doing!  You’ll be inspired, I promise!

Follow me in social media:

• 
• 
•