Thursday, December 29, 2011

7 (Okay, 10) Quick Takes: My Favorite Posts of 2011

(I just wanted to show you the beautiful olive wood carving of Mary and Jesus from Bethlehem that Joe gave me for Christmas. I'm still deciding on a permanent spot in our home for her.)

On this fifth day of Christmas, the kids are still out of school, and today we've invited a few of their friends over to hang out, play video games, or whatever. I made some chocolate-chip cookies already, and in a little while I'm going to make a big pot of chili. Right now, I'm going to toot my own horn a bit (bear with me). As I've shared before, I love blogging, even though it takes up time during the day that I could be spending doing more "important" things (even sleeping--I can't tell you how many nights I've spent at the computer during the wee hours working on a post to make it just right). I try to put some thought and planning into each post, and sometimes the results are better than other times.

In 2011 I posted 54 times on Musings of a Catholic Mom (not including this one), which is the lowest number of posts in a year since I started in 2009. On Cooking Nick's Books, I posted 38 times, and if you add them together that's a total of 92 posts. (Not too shabby. Maybe I should put some ads up and start making a little cash.)

For your reading enjoyment, I've selected ten of my favorite posts from this past year. I had planned to choose only 7, but even narrowing it down to 10 wasn't easy. Here they are in chronological order (click on the title of each post to view them):

--1--



How the death of my cousin reminded me of how precious each day is, and how easy it is to take our time on Earth for granted.

--2--



Pictures of pretty flowers.

--3--




From Cooking Nick's Books. In which I share photos and memories from our wedding, and share a wonderful vanilla cake recipe.

--4--



Some meditations on the crucifixion, and things I ponder when I look at images in my church.

--5--



Our little "pilgrimage" to the church where I learned the Catholic faith, where I was confirmed, and where our oldest was baptized.

--6--



Images of Our Lady.

--7--



My own pro-life reflections on the Seven Sorrows.

--8--



From Cooking Nick's Books. In which I share my mother-in-law's wonderful and authentically Italian pasta sauce recipe. I've never had anything better.

--9--



My thoughts following the death of racing driver Dan Wheldon. And some photos, too.

--10--



From Cooking Nick's Books. My adventures in the kitchen on Christmas Day. I think I'm getting better at taking pictures of food.

Thanks to everyone who has stayed with me through these three years since I started this blog. Merry Christmas, Happy New Year, and I'm looking forward to sharing many more memories with you in 2012!

For more Quick Takes, visit Jen's Conversion Diary!

6 comments:

  1. Live this post Sharon. Lookinh forward to following you in 2012. Oh and I will have to try the italian sauce recipe.

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  2. Love this! Such a neat idea to recap with a top ten. Plus anything that includes pasta, Mary, weddings, and cake recipes, I'm in.

    Happy New Year!

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  3. Your photos are nice. I especially like the one with the spring flower.

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  4. Hi Sharon, I found your blog by hopping around other Catholic Blogs. Congratulations for completing 3 years of blogging! I've just finishing up my first year and have been immensely blessed by all the wonderful Catholic and Christian bloggers I have met. When I first started, I thought it was an original idea!! How wrong I was but pleasantly so!! I'm looking forward to reading more of your posts. Happy New Year!

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  5. Sharon, that is indeed a beautiful olive wood carving. you have a thoughtful husband I can tell! I love Mary so much and will be checking out your posts on the Blessed Mother. Happy Blessed New Year!

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  6. Thank you all for your comments! I'm looking forward to another year of blogging, and connecting with wonderful people like all of you! Therese, good luck with the sauce; let me know how it turns out! :)

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