2023 christmas/new year message

from me to you

I thought about doing a year end wrap up and realized that the first eight months of 2023 were miserable, filled with hospital stays and stress and pain. Let’s not talk about that, ok? It’s done, it’s over, we can put this year in the books (almost).

But let’s take a look at August on. I retired on August 31st, after 26 years on the job. Physical and mental health were the main reasons I retired, but let’s not kid ourselves. The thought of not having to go to my job anymore was certainly a mitigating factor.

A few weeks after I retired I adopted a kitten (Reilly) and then two weeks later adopted a buddy for him (Pixies). This has been the greatest thing I ever did for myself. Pure joy. I also got a part time job at a Firefighter’s Museum and Education center and it’s a fun, interesting, no stress job that gets me some extra money and allows me to venture out of the house a couple of days a week.

On the personal front, I found out a lot about myself this year. I discovered I am more resilient than I thought. I found out I could be really happy on my own. My mental health has improved so much it’s astounding. My physical health is the best it’s been in three years. So, 2023 was not so great to begin with, but the last four months have been a whirlwind of doing, fixing, creating, growing, and becoming a better me.

It is now Christmas morning. It’s always a little surreal to spend weeks preparing for something and then it arrives and is gone before you can blink twice. I’m trying to be more present, to appreciate things while they are happening instead of constantly worrying about the future. We have a full day of family activities planned and I want to revel in it, enjoy it to its fullest. Christmas should be a day of warmth and love and happiness and I’ll do my best to soak it all up.

I’d like to wish all who celebrate a very merry Christmas. I hope your day is delightful. And if this is a hard day for, I send you my love and a warm hug. The new year is right around the corner and while I’m not making any resolutions, I do hope to keep changing and growing and finding ways to make the most out of the rest of my life. My hope for you is that 2024 is filled with dreams coming true, fun and adventure, love and friendship, and a warmth to keep your heart filled all year.

I’ll be back posting regularly in January, and I will welcome in 2024 with a collaborative project I’ve been working on and which you will see come to fruition over the course of a full week of newsletters. Then we’ll be back on a regular schedule here.

On a programming note, I am going to be leaving Substack soon for a different publishing system. It’s a complicated story that can best be summed up as “there are Nazis on this platform and no one seems to care.” More on that in the weeks to come.

Thank you to everyone who visited the site this year, whether you are a regular subscriber or a paid subscriber or someone who just stops by after I post a link on twitter. I appreciate every one of you, and your readership. It means a lot to me. I hope to bring you a lot of good reading this year.

To sum up: Merry Christmas, Happy New Year, much love and happiness from my family to yours. I am grateful for you.

merry christmas from pixie and reilly