Year In Review (Ten Things of Thankful)

(Because some people like Blogger and some like WordPress, i am putting the same content at both.  If you would prefer to read this on the other site, it is linked here.)

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The official Ten Things of Thankful is back, and i'm here and ready to break the rules.

Okay, so nobody really counts the number, you don't have to have 10 of them.

That's good, because i am doing a year in review.  Something special i am thankful for from each month of last year.

In January, i thought my wallet was stolen.  It had just gotten lost at a client's house, but i had to act fast when i realized what was up.  It took me only two hours to get a new debit card and driving license, by the next morning i had a replacement for the car insurance card, and both the health insurance card and credit card were on their way by mail almost immediately.  When the unexpected happened, i am thankful i was able to deal with it fast and get over it quickly.

February saw a friend from Ladies' Circle loan me one of the best non-fiction books i've read in a long time, The Gratitude Diaries.  If you haven't read it, do so.  The arguments for being grateful are sound.

What does March always bring?  Girl Scout cookies, of course.  It's fun to order them from my favorite scouts, and fun to watch my family enjoy eating them.

Something happened in April that hadn't happened in a long, long time.  Grandpa is always joking or pulling a mild prank, but this year, Grandma good him good.  She first convinced him that no one was coming for Easter dinner because we were all too sick, then she got the server in on the gag and told him his credit card had been declined.  It was priceless.

In May, i got to have one last chance to babysit Gracie before she and her mom moved away.  It was bittersweet and i am thankful they are still in my life, if from more of a distance.

There's only one word needed to describe what i am thankful for in June -- vacation!!!

Our Church puts on some great programs, and July saw a concert by a band from Israel called Miquedem.  You didn't have to know all the words (or even understand all of them) to want to sing along and i hope i get to see them perform again someday.

School goes back in August, and our church has a heart for the international students at the local university.  Every August, we do a prayer walk to start the year on the correct foot spiritually, so to speak.  This one was the largest turnout ever.

Sad news in September, Ms. B, one of my clients, died.  She was a gentle soul, i loved the way she would respond with "Oh, well!" to so many things.  She taught me many things, and i am thankful.  It's also very kind of her family that they are keeping me on with cleaning the place until it sells.

Two medical tests occurred in October.  First, i took the twins in for their glamour shots (mammogram) and all is well.  Then, because someone cancelled, i got to get my colonoscopy over and done with instead of having to wait two months.  All is well, and i am very thankful.

When November comes around i am always thankful for the right to vote.  No, the candidate i think would do the best job doesn't always win, but that's not the point.  In some parts of the world, they would do anything to be able to cast a ballot in a free and fair election.  Since i get to do that once a year at least, i am thankful and i have only missed voting once because i was in the hospital suddenly.

Christmas in December is a beautiful thing i am not discounting the lights and decorations and everything else festive.  Besides my family being together at Christmas, though, i am thankful that December saw Little Girl's tonsillectomy that i'd been fussing at her to have.  Finally, no more strep throat every 4-6 weeks!

There were hundreds if not thousands of things i was thankful for last year, and i enjoyed reliving a lot of them while picking one big one from each month.

Please join us and our gracious and wonderful hostess Kristi from ThankfulMe, write up your own list and link up to Ten Things of Thankful.    

   

    An InLinkz Link-up

   

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Today is:

Apple Howling Day -- Henfield, West Sussex (Held at Gill Orchard, always on Epiphany Eve, horn blowing and howling at the trees is said to wake them up and yield a good crop.)

Armenian Christmas Eve -- Armenia (Old Chrismas Day in the West)

Can Opener Day -- one of the earliest forms of can opener was patented this date in 1858 by Ezra Warner of CT, US (tin cans had been around for over 50 years by then, usually opened with a knife or hammer and chisel)

Epiphany Fair -- Piazza Navona, Rome, Italy (toys, sweets, and presents among the beautiful Bernini Fountains)

Get on the Computer Day -- obviously dates back to a time when people didn't have to check email daily or get innundated

Guru Gobindh Singh Birthday -- Sikh

Harbin Ice Festival -- Harbin, China (with a theme of "20-Year Grand Ceremony and Review," a festival of illuminated ice sculptures, ice sports, and fun through Chinese New Year and beyond)

Joma Shinji Festival -- Kamakura, Japan (ceremony and festival to keep evil spirits away)

Mungday -- Discordianism (festival of St. Hung Mung)

National Bird Day -- US (National Association of Audubon Societies incorporated today in 1905)     

National Whipped Cream Day

Nones of January -- Ancient Roman Calendar; also

    Festival of Vica Pota (ancient goddess of victory)

Pennsylvania Farm Show -- Harrisburg, PA, US (the largest indoor agricultural show in the US, sponsored by the Pennsylvania Dept. of Agriculture; through next Saturday)

Perchtenlauf -- Bad Gastein and Bad Hofgastein, Austria (A festival with scary masks and music to frighten away winter.)

Review Your Wrestling Holds Day -- internet generated, and weird

St. Gerlac of Valkenberg's Day (Patron of domestic animals)

St. Simeon Stylites' Day (The original and most maniacal of the "Pillar Saints")

Take the Cake Day -- a day to do something, anything, over the top, just because

Trettondagsafton -- Sweden (Epiphany Eve)

Turn Up the Heat Day -- all over the internet, but no one explains it

Twelfth Day of Christmas -- and thus, Twelfth Night (Although by some reckonings, this is actually only the 11th day of Christmas, and thus Twelfth Night Eve.  Take your pick.)

Ume Matsuri -- Atami, Japan (celebrating the ume -- plum -- at one of the most famous plum viewing spots in the country; through early to mid-March)

Anniversaries Today:

George Washington marries Martha Dandridge Custis, 1759

Birthdays Today:

January Jones, 1978

Bradley Cooper, 1975

Warrick Dunn, 1975

Carrie Ann Inaba, 1968

Pamela Sue Martin, 1953

Diane Keaton, 1946

Charlie Rose, 1942

Juan Carlos I, King of Spain, 1938

Umberto Eco, 1932

Alvin Ailey, 1931

Robert Duvall, 1931

Walter Mondale, 1928

George Reeves, 1914

George Dolenz, 1908

Jeannette Ridlon Piccard, 1895

King Camp Gillette, 1855

Edmund Ruffin, 1794

Constanze Mozart, 1762 (wife of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart)

Pietro Filippo Scarlotti, 1679

Shah Jahal, 1592 (Mughal emperor of India, built the Taj Mahal)

Debuting/Premiering Today:

"All My Children"(TV), 1970

"Bozo the Clown"(TV), 1959

"The Member of the Wedding"(Play), 1950

"Pepe LePew"(cartoon character, in "Odor-able Kitty"), 1945

Today in History:

Edward the Confessor dies with no heir, leading to a succession crisis that ends with the Norman Conquest, 1066

Felix Manz, a leader of the Anabaptist congregation in Zürich, is executed by drowning, 1527

Pope Clemens VII forbids English king Henry VIII to re-marry, 1531

A petition in Recife, Brazil leads to closing of their 2 synagogues, 1638

Anne Clarke of the Massachusetts Bay Colony is granted the first divorce in the colonies, from her absent and adulterous husband, Denis Clarke, by the Quarter Court of Boston, Massachusetts, 1643

The first Swedenborgian temple in the US holds its first service, in Baltimore, 1800

The Ohio legislature passes the first laws restricting the movement of free blacks, 1804

Davy Crockett arrives in Texas, just in time for the Alamo, 1836

The US House of Representatives votes to stop sharing the Oregon Territory with the UK, 1846

The first US school of librarianship opens at Columbia University, 1887

An Austrian newspaper makes the first public report on Wilhelm Roentgen's discovery of xrays, 1896

The National Association of Audubon Society incorporates, 1905

Colombia recognizes Panama's independence, 1909

The Ford Motor Company announces an eight-hour workday and a minimum wage of $5 for a day's labor, 1914

British premier Lloyd George issues a demand for a unified peace, 1918

Nellie Taylor Ross is sworn in as governor of Wyoming, the first woman governor of a US state, 1925

Mao Tse-tung writes "A Single Spark Can Start A Prairie Fire," 1930

FM radio is demonstrated to the Federal Communications Commission for the first time, 1940

The Daily Mail becomes the first transoceanic newspaper, 1944

Warmest reliably measured temperature in Antarctica of +59°F (+15°C) recorded at Vanda Station, 1974

Eris, the largest known dwarf planet in the solar system, is discovered, 2005
The tomb of an Egyptian queen, Khentakawess III, is discovered by a team of Czech archaeologists; the queen lived during the Fifth Dynasty and was likely the wife of Pharaoh Neferefre, 2015