Monday, December 22, 2025

​It’s nearly Christmas 🎄 and what have we accomplished in 2025? 🤪 It’s been one heck of a year!

Not many Christmas cards were written this season. Lovely to receive but … I couldn’t create a Scottie antics card without 🪽 Robbie’s 🐾 presence. We miss him so much. 

March was a flight to Asheville to celebrate Nephew Jeremy’s fabulous wedding! 

The biggie in 2025 was our personal household move! We loved our Harbor Shores home, the neighborhood and longtime friends. Of course over that length of time there were big changes! New neighbors became friends as several moved away. Then … our  Nancy opted for an easier lifestyle 25 minutes away … and we helped with some painting at her new home. 

Next I think, was Diane & Kris wanting a lifestyle change. That gave Mark and me a challenge! We were driving 1 1/2 hours each trip helping to remodel their chosen place and ready the other for sale. That took care of mid-March to mid-July! Whew! 

Family lunch at Leesburg’s Ski Beach in May!

While all that moving business was going on my head was on a swivel. Diane showed me 3 homes in Spruce Creek. I liked the neighborhood but the homes were too “small” for us. I looked at 2 in The Villages … but no fences allowed for the Scots. Walking them 6 times a day was too much. (It was a brutally hot summer.)  One Villages home I liked  … but no privacy. Kissing lanais was the terminology. 🤨

So … I announced we’d stay where we were another 5 years!!! Right 🙄. The universe had other plans for us. 

Google found a home matching my needs and piqued my interest. Diane showed me on a Thursday … I mentioned it to Mark and put an offer in Friday. Negotiating took til Monday. 🤪

Then the work of prepping our Harbor Shores home for sale became real … real fast! 😂 We listed it with Kelty Realty and John found us a buyer right away. Of course Mrs. R. B. was sold … the first time since I was 19 years young without a BOAT!!! 😳

Our “new” home needed a lot of maintenance catch-up along with a new roof, electrical work, plumbing repairs all before we could obtain occupancy home insurance!!! THAT was a busy month! Anyway, August 19th we officially moved into our nicely redone “big enough” home. 

September 10th we embarked on making new connections by attending a dinner and dance, joined a few groups and became one with the new lifestyle. 

Losing Robbie literally in 2 hours October 4th to ruptured liver cancer was the worst. We were shocked and devastated. Plans for his 15th birthday were underway. It was heartbreaking. 

In early November we blew the budget and went on a 10 day cruise. (We needed the break from the year to date.) The K’s joined us along with Wayne’s cousin Tony and his wife Janny plus their friends from Taiwan. That made us a group of 8 and we had a blast! 

Nancy came to stay and dog-sat Belize and Wyatt. The kids were spoiled and loved it all apparently. We came home renewed and ready for the holiday season. 

Diane & Kris hosted Thanksgiving with family and friends. It was a wonderfully chaotic time with a couple of games played. Their new place functioned perfectly! 

Golf Cart Christmas parade night

Now it’s nearly Christmas and I’m finally getting this wrapped up. 😂🎅🏼 “Not a moment to spare!” (Randy’s Nanny’s saying!) 

Mark and I are hosting family Christmas dinner in our new (to us) home. Sue, Wayne, Diane, Kris, Dawn & Randy will be here! 

Merry Christmas y’all and our very best wishes for a happy, healthy and prosperous 2026! 🥂❤️