2024. In many ways, the days of 2024 passed in the blink of an eye. But, the year also seemed to be one relentlessly long election year. Although we had a good year, we are happy to put 2024, and the election, on the shelf and get on with the business of living.

2024- I’m not a big fan of New Year’s Eve and all that it entails.  I’d much rather snuggle up for the evening with the one I love most, with a big bowl of popcorn and watch a classic movie, such as the one I share every year at this time, “When Harry Met Sally.”  Post a comment and tell us how many times you’ve seen Harry and Sally find their way to each other.  As we move forward in to a new year filled with hope for new beginnings and world-wide healing, we once again share this post.  Cheers!

We relocated to the east coast, near Washington, DC, approximately 10 years ago. In all of that time, we haven’t had the joy of a white Christmas, nor have we seen the National Christmas Tree, in person. It was long past time to make at least one of those two things happen.

Grateful -vs- Thankful

I originally wrote this little ditty nearly 10 years ago.  Where do the years go?!  It turns out that over the years this little grateful – vs – thankful tale attracts a great deal of traffic to our site, about this time, every year.  Which tells me I’m not alone in my thought process of trying to distinguish between the two.

Given the state of world, and at a time when it can be difficult to remember what it means to be grateful for what we have, I thought it might be the perfect time to write a new introduction and republish it.

Looking for the Spirit of Christmas. I wrote this piece in 2020 but it still seems quite relevant. Once again, I’m hoping for a white Christmas, but since it’s unlikely to happen I’ll be at peace with the beauty of twinkle lights, the creativity of our spirited neighbors and beautiful music. With that being said, I decided to pull this piece from the archives, update it a bit, and publish it once again.

I’ve been dreaming of a White Christmas for 8 1/2 years, ever since we moved east. One would think living on the east coast of the US, it would be a given to see a blanket of white on Christmas morning, but alas… it has yet to happen. We’ve come close, maybe a few days before or after, but never on the actual holiday. Maybe this year?

Halloween.  Dia de Los Muertos. It’s not so much that I’m madly in love with the holiday, although I do think it’s crazy fun. I am, in fact, madly in love with all things fall. The trees are bursting with color and mother nature is gearing up for winter as we near the end of October.

 Norooz UPDATE:  March 20, 2024

In March of 2015 we were in Iran celebrating Norooz, the Persian New Year, with our BIG extended family. It was my first trip to Iran and it was quite the exciting experience to see the whole country come together in celebration of spring and the new year. It is the #1 celebration in the lives of the Persian people.  In honor of the new year, we are dusting off this post and sharing it in celebration.  Norooz Mobaarak – 1400!

Road trips are probably our most favorite mode of travel, followed closely by train travel.  We decided to jump start our Christmas holiday with a yuletide road trip that took us just beyond our backyard to the Brandywine Valley which stretches across the borders of Pennsylvania and Delaware.

Because Washington, DC is almost in our backyard and because it’s that festive time of year, we took ourselves on a fun holiday outing to the United States Botanic Garden.  But, wait!  What happened to the month of November? How did we get to December so quickly?  Is it just me?