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Hello, Reader.

And hello, January! It's hard to believe twelve months has passed since last we saw you, isn't it? But here we are again, welcoming a brand new year and celebrating everything such fresh beginnings represent.

Which, for the first month of the year, is quite a bit. This week's link list is dedicated to just a few celebration-worthy holidays January offers.

Free resources for you this month:

• Jan. 9 - National Word Nerd Day - to celebrate, play one of our free printable word games​
• Jan 12 - National Pharmacist Day - download our “Keeping Track of Medications” chart​
• Jan 16 - National Sticker Day - try printing some of our free stickers and envelope seals
• Jan. 17: Benjamin Franklin Day - here’s a coloring page to help you celebrate Ben’s b-day​
• Jan 23: National Pie Day - sworn off sugar? celebrate with our Chicken Pot Pie instead
• Jan 29: National Corn Chip Day - eat with homemade guacamole or pico de gallo. Yum!

What I'm reading this week:

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My husband and I read C.S. Lewis's A Grief Observed this week (on sale right now for 58% off) after our daughter Bethany so highly recommended it. Beth writes: "Just finished reading “A Grief Observed” — a short collection of journal entries C.S. Lewis wrote as he was grieving the death of his wife… raw, heartbreaking, resonant and profound. It was a struggle not to highlight almost every page in its entirety. It reminded me of some of the psalms of lament — an unfiltered outpouring of the emotions we experience as we wrestle with God in moments of confusion and pain. I cried a lot, but was also comforted. If you read it, know that the final line (written out in Latin) is a quote from Dante’s Paradiso, which itself alludes to Revelation 22:17. It is a beautiful, hopeful ending to the book and worth looking up the translation when you get to it."

What we're eating this week:

We had white bean tomato soup last night, which was so warm and filling and loaded with flavor. Yum!

It was one of the recipes this week in my EveryPlate box. If you've never tried this meal service and would like to, you can use my referral link to get your first box free.

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On the podcast this week:

Loving Life at Home: Episode 72 ​HOW TO DEAL NEIGHBORS WHO AREN'T VERY NEIGHBORLY​ For the new year, I want to tackle some of the questions that have been piling up in my inbox, starting with how to deal with neighbors who aren’t very neighborly. Listen in for tips on getting through to the people who live in closest proximity to you. ​ Listen Now

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Progress on last week's goals:

I made a sizable dent in last week's goals, although I still can't mark most of the items off my to-do list completely:

• ✅ gathered & printed most (but ❌ not all) the tax receipts for my husband
• ✅ took down & put away most (but ❌ not all) our Christmas decor
• ✅ decorated a Valentine tree for my bedroom
• ✅ wrote the first 2 (but ❌ not 3) days of my newest 30-day challenge
• ✅ got out all our painting supplies (but ❌ was called away before we actually used them)
• ❌ didn't find replacement accommodations for Airbnb that cancelled (❌ haven't even tried)
• ✅ posted our family's 2024 Christmas letter (wasn't on my to-do list, but I'm glad it's done!)

Personal goals for next week:

• finish writing thank you notes for Christmas gifts
• send January memory challenge to kids and grandkids
• plan homeschool lessons for next 6 weeks
• make sample project for leather class on Monday
• write 2 more days for new prayer challenge
• paint with kids & review new art kit for Timberdoodle
• make a list of questions for my oncologist (1st appt on Fri)