Have a Blessed and Happy New Year

I hope everyone had a wonderful and blessed Christmas. I also hope that whatever holiday you celebrate this time of year, that you are blessed and happy. This is the time of year that memories are made, that we fill our moments with good times, and usually our favorite people.

With it being a quiet Christmas for us – just me, Dan, and our son – we were blessed to be invited to a friend’s home to spend Christmas eve with their family, and other friends/families from church – a total of 35 people. This family has become like family to us – and when we dig through ancestry, we’re like third cousins or something like that. It was a beautiful evening with friends, food, desserts, and a Christmas program that shared the story of Jesus and some holiday hymns.

While I love spending time with family, I also enjoy low key holiday gatherings like these. It really shows me the many blessings I have in my life, and how blessed I am to have amazing friendships.

I hope yours was as blessed as mine and that you found something to be thankful for as well.

I recently saw a post on Facebook that was a follow up to the gentleman that was raising funds to buy turkeys for the Penitas Food Pantry. I was so happy to hear that with the support of his park, and the surrounding Martin Ranch properties, they were able to provide turkeys and meals for those that were in need not only for Thanksgiving, but also the two weeks leading up to Christmas. He, and that community, have been so blessed by the giving spirit of those in the community.

He isn’t the only one I have seen posts from. There are so many that have given of themselves these past two months. Y’all are truly a blessing to the Valley and the communities you take in as part of your own.

With the new year starting tomorrow, I hope that we all continue to be blessed by those we choose to be around, and by the deeds we choose to partake in.

I give a huge thank you to all of you for being a part of our lives in some way or another, by reading our paper, by sending us news items, etc. We believe you are part of our family as well. We love our Winter Texan friends, and we love having you here.

I hope you have a very safe and fun New Year’s Eve and look forward to what the new year brings for all of us.

~ Rina