Golden Cottage Update

 

Today is January 11, and December is a blur, Gail-Friends.  I hope your holidays were happy, peace-full, and blessed.  Ours were "different" . . .  busy, but blessed.  Jem was sick for about two weeks, and our daughter's family was sick for over three weeks - coughs, sneezing, fevers, chills - all the things that go along with flu season.  They are all well now, Praise the Lord!  And I praise the Lord that I never came down with any of it.

But, let's back up, y'all.  Here are a few pics from the months of November and December that show what's been happening at Golden Cottage:

In November, our daughter Amanda was part of an musical variety show called a Brown Bag Concert.  She joined the ten-piece Bucket List Band in an amazing concert.  The venue was very nice - at a local Elks Lodge.  It was called "brown bag" because everybody brought their own dinner meal.  Many brought homemade food while others brought pizza, subs, and other restaurant meals.   

Amanda is the singer on the left.  She, and all of them, put on a fantastic show.  The songs were an entertaining mixture of oldies through current popular songs.  The venue has a nice dance floor, so Jem and I enjoyed both the music and dancing together.  Places / venues like this are rare in this area, so we thoroughly enjoyed the evening out and hope there will be more events like this.  

During November and December, we have what we call "Florida snow" in our area.  It's so beautiful, y'all, and we dearly love it. 

Oh, before I forget, Gail-Friends, I have to tell you about a wonderful restaurant we visited - it's Palm Shores Bistro in Melbourne, Florida.  We like to lunch there when we visit the Base Commissary and Mama Jo's Herbals in Indian Harbor Beach (I'll have to do a separate post about that wonderful place later).  The bistro is on the river, with a beautiful river view, and the food is ALL good.  But I had to show you the desserts.  We didn't indulge, but they are so beautiful, I had to take pictures for you:

 The cinnamon buns are HUGE and smell so good!  And the six-layer carrot cakes and red velvet cakes are gorgeous works of art.  

So tempting, but thankfully, I was able to resist all of that. (except the stollen and jingle-jangle - but more about that later, LOL). I'm still focused on more healthy sweet treats. 

This is a homemade sugar-free keto tiramisu that is really good.

 

and some pretty and satisfying pumpkin muffins I made.

We did get to go to our oldest grandson's music concert before all of the sickness hit.  He attends a musical arts school and we enjoyed his chorus presentation, but didn't make it for the band concert.  He is a part of the percussion section and was invited to be a part of a local college concert during the holidays.  My photos of the concerts didn't turn out, so that's sad.  He's a very talented musician and singer, and a member of a local STEM program.  We're thankful that his parents home school him and his brother.  He gets his scientific/engineering smarts from his father, and his musical abilities from his mother.  What a delightful blend, right? (oh that box he's holding has a funny story with it - but later, Gail-Friends.

 

We had a good "after the holidays" visit with them last week.  Thankfully, they were all well and able to be around us old folks.  Our youngest grandson is a busy little boy and we didn't get our usual family picture.  He was way too busy and excited about his new toys - and Gigi's apples.  He loves to play with them and I have to do a search after they leave to find where he's hidden them.  (JOY!)  I'm really falling down in taking pictures lately.  I just get absorbed in the moment - enjoying being with my loves, right?

Our Hanukkah celebration was lonely but good due to the sickness.   I did some decorating in the house and we did the nightly prayers and candle-lighting.  There's a song I love to sing each year at this time, even though it's not really a Hanukkah song.  It speaks of how Adonai has brought us to this season again.  Here's the link:  It begins with Hebrew, so hang in there - and pay close attention to the provided lyrics.   Shehekiyanu by Ted Pierce.

It is always good to pause during Hanukkah and think back to the past year - about how He has blessed us, guided us, protected us, and provided for us.  I can tell you, Gail-Friends, 2025 was a blessed year for us, and we praise Him whole-heartedly for all He's done and we rededicate our lives to our mission:  to take the Torah and Yeshua to those around us.

 

Here are a few shots of Golden Cottage during the holidays:

I decorated the back porch table with a lighted JOY sign. (more about that later) .  Jem and I made latkes and fried donuts. The pretty pillow was a gift from my friend, Betty, my son-in-love's mother.  

 

For Christmas, we enjoyed meet-ups with dear friends and a party at the air museum where Jem volunteers.  We watched some beautiful worship-full Christmas music concerts on tv AND our favorite holiday movies: A Christmas Story and White Christmas.  I played Christmas music videos on Pandora and YouTube for weeks and sang all of the Christmas songs that I never tire of singing - the hymns/songs about Jesus, y'all.  How wonderful that His name is lifted up and that our country pauses to REMEMBER. May it always be so in America.

 

We did a ride-through of a nearby neighborhood to look at holiday lights. No photos, though, because the traffic was very heavy and we had to pay attention to cars and people walking around.  The neighborhood also does luminaries, which I love so much, and we enjoyed seeing the neighbors sitting around fire pits in their driveways.  There were some awesome digital displays this year, too. 

 

 Jem and I enjoy giving food gifts to our neighbors every year, so we made homemade peanut butter cookies and went door to door delivering them.  FUN! 

  

Well, Gail-Friends, this is getting long, so I'll share more in my next post.  Blessings and love to you all, from me and my Jem.