A New Year's Hodgepodge

 I am really liking this hodgepodging.  It's really nice, once a week or so, to have someone (in this case,  Joyce) asking questions that get me thinking.  Wouldn't you like to join in?  If so, or just to catch up with what others have shared, head on over to From This Side of the Pond and check it out. In case you are thinking of putting it off until next week, there will be no Hodgepodge next Wednesday.  So here we go with the questions and answers:

1. Share one favorite moment/memory from your Christmas holiday. 

That is really a tough call.  One of my favorites was two days before Christmas when our tree was up, but not the lighted village we usually put under it.  The buildings were stacked in boxes in the living room.  I asked my grandsons (8 and 12) who were spending a few hours at my house if they thought they could set it up.  My hubby has a complicated system whereby he joins some of the cords together and uses a power strip so the village can be turned on and off with the flip of a switch.  Of course you just know the boys figured it out, even though they had never seen it done.   And of course you probably also know that I didn't get a picture of the process or the result.  The pics below are older.

The village in a long-ago Christmas

Some of the houses as they will appear after the tree comes down

2. What was the best thing you ate over the holidays?

You know, that is a really good question.  It may have been a Raspberry Almond Shortbread Thumbprint Cookie.


Was it homemade or store bought? Homemade.  If it was homemade did you make it?  Yes.

3. What was one of the most beautiful things you saw over the holidays?

I saw many pretty sights, but I would say one of the most beautiful was in photos my daughter sent me of her 10-year-old helping her 2-year-old (just up from a nap) to decorate Christmas cookies.

4. What does fresh start mean to you?

It means a chance to start every day anew by God's grace and with His help.  As Anne of Green Gables once said (or something like it), "tomorrow is a new day with no mistakes in it yet."  I'll make some -- I nearly always do -- but I can have a fresh start with a new day if I choose.

5. On a scale of 1-10 (with 10 being very positive and 1 being not so great) how would you rate 2016 in terms of personal achievement and well being? Explain. 

Hmmm.  I'm not sure about the personal achievement part, so I'll go with well-being.  For the first 2/3 of the year I felt good and stayed with a program that kept me feeling more energetic.   Say, a 6.  The last third of the year, maybe a 3 or 4.

6. Every January 1st since 1976 Lake Superior University has published a list of words they'd like to see banished from the Queen's English. Words may be banished due to misuse, overuse, or just general uselessness. Go here to read more about how the words were chosen or, if you're like me, to find out what in the world the word or phrase even means or the context in which it's used. There were quite a few on this year's list I'd never heard before.

Here's the 2017 list of banished words-

You, Sir-focus-Bete Noire-Town Hall Meeting-Post Truth-guesstimate-831-historic-manicured-echo chamber-on fleek-bigly-ghost-Dadbod-listicle-get your dander up-selfie drone-frankenfruit-disruption

Which word on the list would you most like to see banished in 2017? 

 I guess I would say "selfie drone" because I would like to see "selfie" banished from the lexicon due to overuse.

I would hate to see "you, sir" go because of one of my favorite lines from the Disney read-along book my kids used to have, Winnie the Pooh and the Honey Tree.  When Pooh visits Rabbit, eats too much, and gets stuck in Rabbit's front door.  Owl, in an effort to cheer Pooh up, says, "You, sir, are stuck.  A wedged bear in a great tightness.  In a word, irremovable, ha, ha, ha!"

What word or phrase would you add to the list?

"Crack" or "cracked out" as a description for some supposedly addictive recipe.  Drug addiction is no joke.

7. Large or small, light or deep, share with us one goal you have for the new year. 

Do something creative every day.

8. Insert your own random thought here.

I'll be glad when the Christmas cookies are gone.  I haven't had one since Sunday, but Mr. T is doing his part and then some.  Says he can hear them calling his name out of the freezer.

Happy Hodgepodge Day, everyone!