I wish you a Happy New Year 2023!

The year is still brand new and … already I am a little tired. Ha ha. That is what you get when you live with a baby. The last few weeks were so much fun though because it was Josephine’s first Christmas and New Year’s. When Rich and I sat down to reflect on 2022, we were just so grateful. For us it was a year where things came together and little went wrong. At least in the overall picture.

The end of 2022

The last few weeks still ended up much more stressful than expected. On Monday, 19 December, I discovered a leak in our pipe under the kitchen sink. A rather big leak. Everything in that cabinet and the cabinet itself were soaked. When our super came that night to inspect the leak, he only touched the metal part and it fell apart. At least we were lucky that they came the next day and fixed it for us. But we definitely need a proper new pipe there.

That same Tuesday, they discovered a big leak in one of our building’s major cooking gas lines. So, until further notice, we do not have cooking gas. I.e. no stove, no oven, no laundry dryers (don’t ask me why dryers are operated with cooking gas, I have zero ideas). We got two cooktops. I have since developed much more appreciation for our microwave and our Instant Pot. Our Christmas duck remains in the freezer until we can use our oven again.

On the other hand, our Christmas was great. Rich’s parents came and we had a very German Christmas Eve. We unwrapped gifts already in the afternoon because Josephine was awake then. Besides, there was still time for her to play with her new toys. For dinner we had potato salad and sausages.

On Christmas Day, we all took the train to Connecticut where Rich’s aunt lives. There we celebrated the American Christmas part with the extended family. There were more gifts to open and a big Christmas dinner.

As in previous years, we stayed at home for New Year’s Eve. Josephine is far too small to understand what is going on anyways. But we took her outside for a little walk just after sunset to lit a few sparklers. She loves them just as much as I do. We then had raclette for dinner (Rich got me a grill after it had been on my wish list for forever) before Josephine went to bed at her usual time. I think Rich and I were the most surprised that we were still awake by midnight. We had watched “Glass Onion” and really liked it.

Looking Forward to 2023

I don’t think I want to change much. 2022 felt so good (esp. after a lot of drama in the two years prior) that I kind of want to hold on to that. At least the no drama part because that was really, really nice.

I want to spend as much time as possible with Josephine and see her develop into a more and more independent little human. At one point I might have to let her go and explore the great world of day care – but at least I am not there yet.

I want to learn more about repairing and upgrading our apartment. There will be renovations that we need to get done by experts, but I am confident that I can do a few smaller things.

I hope that we will travel more again. One of our first trips will be a long weekend to Myrtle Beach in South Carolina because winter in NYC can be awfully long. We also have several weddings coming up that we will travel to in 2023 – at least to Vermont and Pennsylvania, maybe to California. Like every summer I would love to go to Maine for a bit. And Germany is on my list as both my parents have big birthdays coming up. Besides, it is 20 years since I graduated from high school and there will be a party in September.

I don’t have any proper resolutions, more like goals that also structure the year. But mostly I am just wishing that it will be a good one for all of us!

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