Happy New Year

Category Archives: Happy New Year

Merry Christmas & Happy New Year

Posted on December 24, 2025 by Miriam Hurdle 111 comments

December is always a full month for our family, and this year was no exception—each week brought its own music, traditions, and moments worth savoring. Esther Chilton’s Christmmas Eve Writing Prompt is Family. I tagged this post to her prompt.

On Sunday, December 7, our entire family attended The Wizard of Oz, a stage production by the Northwest Children’s Theater & School. The acting and singing were impressive, and even five-year-old Nora stayed completely engaged from beginning to end. For the past three years, we’ve taken the girls to see The Nutcracker, but since they were performing in it this year, we changed things up and followed the yellow brick road instead.

On Thursday, December 11, Mercy and I enjoyed a special mother-daughter evening at the Messiah highlight concert. Rather than the full three-and-a-half-hour performance, this two-hour version focused on all the solo parts and most of my favorite choruses—perfect, especially since Mercy had to work the next day. It was a lovely night of beautiful music and time together.

Saturday, December 13, was especially busy for me, with two Christmas performances at 4:00 pm and 7:00 pm. I joined Blueprint Ensemble Arts this past September, and Christmas marked my second performance with the group. With four seasons of concerts each year, it’s been exciting to be part of something musically rich.

On Monday, December 15, I attended the Women’s Advent meeting at West Hills Covenant Church. It was a quiet, candlelit, reflective evening filled with traditional Christmas carols and scripture readings. Mercy and Nora were there as well, which made it even more meaningful. I would happily attend more gatherings like this—an hour or two devoted entirely to singing traditional hymns feels like a gift in itself.

Then, on Friday, December 19, Lynton and I enjoyed a Candlelight Carol Concert featuring a wind quartet. They performed about twenty well-loved carols, filling the evening with familiar melodies and festive warmth.

The weekend of Sunday, December 20–21, brought a special moment for Autumn and Nora, who performed in The Nutcracker as mice. Watching them on stage was a joy and a reminder of how quickly they’re growing.

On Monday, December 22, we gathered for an early family Christmas dinner at my daughter’s house. Since the girls were out of school for two weeks, we spent the day watching them on Monday and returned them home in the late afternoon. They opened some Christmas gifts before dinner and saved the rest afterward. They were proud of the gifts they made for their mom and dad.

My daughter and her family have traveled to a Christmas town in Washington to celebrate the holiday and her special milestone birthday. We’ll have her birthday dinner once they return—another celebration to look forward to as the season continues.

With My Whole Heart, Wishing You a Joyous Christmas and a Blessed New Year!

From our family to you and yours! See you in 2026!

Posted on January 1, 2025 by Miriam Hurdle 79 comments

This post is in response to Terri Webster Schrandt’s Sunday Still Challenge, an annual Year-in-Review: Memorable Moments 2024, part 1.

New Year Resolutions

According to Columbia University, nearly half of Americans make New Year’s resolutions, but only 25% of people stay committed to their resolutions after just 30 days. And less than 10% accomplish their goals. Why is that? For me, I know by now what works and what doesn’t work for me. I follow my routine and do what has been working for me? How about you? Do you make new resolutions?

January

We started 2024 with a winter storm from January 13 – 16. This storm, nicknamed Winter Storm Heather, brought freezing rain and damaging ice to the Pacific Northwest. In Portland, Oregon, the coldest temperatures were 15 and 17 degrees, recorded on January 13 and 14. Snow came on Saturday, the 13th. Portland General Electric alone reported nearly 3,200 outages affecting over 127,000 customers. My daughter’s house was one of them. They bundled up to sleep in front of the fireplace. It was a rough night. We invited them to our house on Sunday as our power lines are underground. While at our house, the girls had fun going down the hill on the sled. Fortunately, the power resumed in their area by the afternoon, so they returned home.

February

We attended two wonderful musical and theatrical performances in February. My daughter and I enjoyed a mother-daughter night out at the Oregon Symphony’s Beethoven’s Fifth Symphony at the Arlene Schnitzer Concert Hall in downtown Portland on the 12th.

My daughter and her friend subscribed to Oregon Ballet season tickets. They took their girls to Trey McIntyre’s Peter Pan at the Keller Auditorium in Portland. I was delighted to join them.

March

Our backyard renovation started in December 2023 and was finally completed in February 2024. These are my first daffodils. As I walked around the neighborhood, the cherry blossom was in full bloom.

My younger granddaughter, Nora, turned four in March. We had an indoor birthday party for her. Easter came early in 2024. The girls had an Easter egg hunt at church and had another one at our house in the afternoon.

April

My older granddaughter’s school had an art show. Every student chose four pieces of artwork they did during the year to display at the show. One piece of Autumn’s work was a painting of Van Gogh’s Sunflower.

I’ve been actively blogging since 2016, have made many online friends, and met a few in person. I met Terri Webster Schrandt in 2021. She and her husband visited their relatives in Portland in April this year. While in town, they came to see me. We had lunch together and went for a walk in my neighborhood.

Hubby’s sister also visited us this month. We had fun taking her to Multnomah Falls and Cannon Beach.

May

My garden was gradually in good shape with my favorite flowers.

I coached my grandkids to create gifts for their parents on special occasions. After the Mother’s Day brunch, the girls eagerly watched my daughter open her mother’s gift.

Nora was in a dance class at Moonstar Dance Studio, which conducts an annual student performance. Nora’s class was the youngest, but they did a marvelous job making the teachers and parents proud.

June

Portland Public School’s last day was June 14. Even though my daughter signed up for summer camps for Autumn, we helped care for her when she was not at camps. Local parks, school playgrounds, and OMSI were our frequently visited places. Autumn did some acrylic paintings this summer.

More flowers in June. Jay!

Wishing you a

Prosperous and Successful New Year!

Year-in-Review with Photos 2023 – Part 1

Posted on December 31, 2023 by Miriam Hurdle 81 comments

The theme for Terri Webster Schrandt’s Sunday Still for December 31, 2023, and January 7, 2024, is Year-in-Review with photos.

On December 7, 2022, we drove to Portland upon closing of the escrow on our California home and brought a small trailer full of basic items. We stayed with my daughter for a month.

We moved into our new home in Portland, Oregon, on January 10th and lived in the empty house for six weeks. All our belongings were in the public storage in California. Hubby’s niece was getting married shortly after Valentine’s Day. Rather than going to California to fetch our stuff and then return in February to attend her wedding, we decided to wait until February to kill two birds with one stone. I borrowed the blankets and mattress from my daughter and slept on the floor for six weeks. It turned out perfect because some upgrade projects for the house were accomplished during these six weeks.

In March and April, the house projects continued while we took time to unpack. The kitchen was demolished and we moved the range to the laundry room with the gas hookup for cooking. We put the coffee pot, a small microwave oven, dishes, and utensils on a folding table and continued to eat in our office for another six weeks. It was a good chaos.

On the pleasant side, in March, we took a family trip to Tillamook Cheese Factory and watched the action from the arrival of the milk to the cheese production. We also had a party celebrating Nora turning three years old. In April, we went to the Tulip Farm. It was my first visit. Even though the weather was gloomy, the rain stopped on that day.

In May, we had Mother’s Day dinner on Saturday to avoid the crowd. My daughter invited us to visit the Crytal Spring – Rhododendron Garden on Sunday. It was a popular site on Mother’s Day. I loved Rhododendron flowers and ended up buying several pots of flowers after returning home.

In June, Autumn graduated from preschool and only parents were invited to their small celebration. I appreciate my daughter sharing the photos with me. My daughter adopted two kittens this month. The family named them Copper and Whiskers.

This is Year-in-Review with Photos for 2023 – Part 1. I’ll be back next week for part 2.

Thank you, Terri, for the wonderful theme.

Happy New Year, my friend! Wishing you an abundant and blessed 2024.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year

Posted on December 23, 2023 by Miriam Hurdle 89 comments

The following song O Holy Night is based on a French-language poem by poet Placide Cappeau written in 1843. Composer Adolphe Adam set to music in 1847. The English version is by John Sullivan Dwight written in 1855. The carol reflects on the birth of Jesus as humanity’s redemption.

I performed this piece of music at a Christmas concert many years ago and created the YouTube video in 2021.

May this Christmas bring you joy, peace, and hope!

May you have a blessed new year!

From our family to you and yours!

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year

Posted on December 24, 2022 by Miriam Hurdle 91 comments

Update on our moving

We sold our home in Southern California. The escrow closed on December 7th. We drove one car with a small trailer carrying our important belongings and some essential items and left Orange County, California at 6:30 am on that day to beat the Downtown Lost Angeles traffic. People seem to get on the road earlier and earlier to get to work. At 6:30 am, traffic was bumper to bumper for at least 30 miles. I remember getting on the road around 6:00 am to be at work by 8:00 am. It seems people these days must start at 5:00 am or earlier if they work in the Los Angeles area. We took two days to reach my daughter Mercy’s home in Portland, Oregon.

We left California at 63°F and arrived in Portland, Oregon at 42°F. I bundled up the first few days. Eventually, my body got used to the cold. The weather got freezing the last few days. It was 21°F on Thursday, December 22nd and we woke up with snow on the ground on Friday. The grandkids had fun playing sleds. Lynton joined the kids sliding down the hills. The snow is melting this Saturday morning. We may not have a white Christmas tomorrow.

My daughter’s backyard

After we arrived in Portland, we started going to the home showings. We visited four homes and fell in love with one. By December 13th, we made an offer on one house. The escrow will be closed on January 10th. The home was built in the early 1990s and it was a custom home. The kitchen cabinets and bathroom vanities are original. We got a break from the sales price to do the upgrades. It will be lovely when the improvements are done.

Our new home is about 18 to 20 minutes from Mercy’s home. The gym, nature parks, shopping, and our basic needs are within a 10 to 15 minutes drive.

We’ll move into our new home upon closing escrow. Lynton’s niece is getting married in February. So we’ll wait until February to return to California, attend Lynton’s niece’s wedding, then rent a moving truck to bring the rest of our belongings.

Wishing You a Blessed Christmas

and a Happy New Year!

From our family to you and yours!