PLOT TWIST; Coalinga-CA

This Holiday Season we are affirming the best in each other.

The diamond polishing process transforms a rough stone into a sparkling gem through precise shaping and smoothing, primarily using a spinning cast-iron wheel (scaife) coated with diamond dust.

December 8th: Our Life Tapestry with this holiday season's plot twist woven into it, has given a lot of pleasure with plenty of slow 🐢, cozy 👩‍❤️‍💋‍👨, ordinary home & hearth days 💞 (very welcome interludes that were very noticeably 🙄 absent in winters past); mingled in with a generous sprinkling of more exciting happenings like ground shaking thunder & lightening episodes ⚡️😳 that rode through our area on the coat tails of November's stormy weather 💧; & explorations 🚘 into Hanford's city center, recently coming alive with holiday décor 🎅🎄 to lend seasonal excitement to balance out the humdrum ordinary of every day.

We had gone to bed last night with a well-laid plan to be in Hanford-CA, bright & early this morning … but the weather did not cooperate:

This morning's fog advisory.

We're the dot between Avenal & Huron-CA

Plus, there has been a pack of wild dogs trolling the Park here, every day for the past week - this morning, it seemed they were directly under our front windows, making themselves known around 4 A.M.; I finally got up around 6 A.M., so my tossing and turning would not wake Holland.

Between the shrouding fog & the barking dogs that had interrupted our sleep, it was understood we'd be staying home.

I drank some coffee, stretched my upper body muscles, watched a old plot twist movie, and finished up the little preemie/newborn sleeping gown set I'd been working on the past few days:

Upper body stretching boosts flexibility, range of motion, and posture while reducing tension (counteracts hunching from prolonged sitting, helping you maintain proper alignment.), stiffness, and injury risk, improving daily function and athletic performance by increasing blood flow and promoting relaxation for your neck, shoulders, chest, and back. It's crucial for counteracting desk work, enhancing recovery (increases blood flow to fatigued muscles), and fostering overall well-being: if you don't stretch your upper body regularly, the muscles in this area can “become short and tight, leading to weakness and muscle damage, strains, and joint pain,” Leanne says. “Super tight muscles limit your range of motion and may create a muscle imbalance.

The Competition 1980 Movie with Richard Dreyfuss, Amy Irving, and Lee Remick:  (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VC4nO1XahvI)

Creatively, December this year, is being split between the beginnings of MOD Christmas Chevron Afghan & the Preemie/NB items I am committed to; both WIP's are enjoyable and serve a beneficial purpose - as well as all the creative goodness that goes into each personalized item, which generates happiness ripples 💖💞😘

MOD Twisted Rib St. Buttonhole Bands. Putting the finishing touches on this little sleep gown, I laughingly said to Holland that it's long length reminds me of the escape artist baby boy in the Popeye cartoon series of days gone by. He laughingly agreed.

MOD Twisted Rib Trim Preemie-NB Beanie & Tube Socks, made to match the drawstring gown.

Earlier this morning, I also saw some new growth 👏 on my recently purchased fishbone cactus; but, my Thanksgiving Cactus did not set bud 😔 this year (lots of new leaf growth, though) & with Christmas Day a mere 19 days away: still no showing buds 🤷‍♀️

4 new growth spurts on my Fishbone Cactus.

But my Minerva continues to impress. The first rush of seasonal indoor Amaryllis bloom has come and gone - but today as I sit at my dining table changing out morning coffee for afternoon coca cola, I am delighting in the fresh new burst of growth with bloom promise 🌸👌 I was gifted with one of these flowering bulbs about 14 years ago, and they have since become a staple ✔️ in my December holiday enjoyment ✨🎄 I like  the bolt of bright color they bring into the house; & I like flowering bulbs in general (hyacinths, daffodils, tulips, crocuses, amaryllis) because they are low maintenance and uncomplicated … in my past life, buying & planting flowering bulbs was a seasonal ritual 😉 that delivered a huge amount of expansive colorful pleasure viewed through my spacious picture windows when seriously bad weather ☔️❄️ kept me indoors. This year, in my new life with it's unfolding plot twists, this one Minerva bulb is brightening my indoor space with holiday joy.

Minerva showing a bonus surprise.

And around suppertime, Holland's cousin Bruce, called to say he'd be dropping by tomorrow morning for some face time and catch-up jawing; they are the same age, give or take a few months between them. I'm glad they are finally getting together 🤝 - they've been trying for the past 30 months. Bruce will be heading to Colorado next week … and we aren't sure how long we'll be here: the barking dogs and the cold weather have put a wrinkle in our plans here - and the ensuing plot twist may have us on the move too, come January 2026, trusting Elohim's Plan for our Life.