This New Year's Eve, like most others, P and I stayed in. We have never been late-night party people, and we figured why change just because of the date. Most years we like to cook a gourmet dinner--but for a fraction of the cost of a restaurant meal. This year the menu was Black Bean Stoup and Baked Ginger Cod and Roasted Asparagus with Sesame. It may well have been P's very first experience with actual measuring and following a recipe; we did it together. I took charge of the stoup (soup/stew) and after P got over his frustrations with measuring and dealing with a few obscure ingredients, he worked out the cod. Everything was delicious (see photos).
Today while P was organizing the basement (the best Christmas gift ever!), I had to take all the ornaments and lights off the tree and put them back in their boxes (there should be an award for this! I got every single light back in its own box!). Then tonight after a really fun New Years party at our friends' place, we took out the Christmas tree. So sad. This is the toughest part about Christmas for me. The end of it. It always marks an ending ... but a beginning too. That's a lot like this year, and especially this month for me. Definitely an ending, but with hope for a new beginning too. This past month God has shown me that there is always a chance for a new beginning, and there is hope for joy after sadness. I remember sitting in front of our Christmas tree early in December wondering how I would ever find joy this Christmas, but in a magnificent display of His perfect grace, He replaced my sadness piece by piece with joy--He always does.
