The Christmas holiday is over, and I sincerely hope you all had a nice weekend. Good company, good food, and lots of laughter sure are positive remedies for the body and the soul. We’ll hope for family next year. Hmm, seems like I said that last year. 😷
Speaking of good food, what was the best dessert you enjoyed? We had delicious Christmas cookies and cinnamon rolls from our daughter and candy and cookies from a dear friend and her daughters. We enjoyed each and every one of them. I didn’t do any baking, and we still have the last two chocolate cookies to go with this afternoon’s coffee. Now, that’s good planning.
I’ve got a WordPress comment and question. I needed help from the engineers on my volunteer blog. I received answers immediately to both questions, but one gentleman actually fixed two of my three issues and then made me a diagram on how to fix the third so I’d understand what he did. Impressive. I waxed poetic on the survey about his great customer service.
The question is whether or not you are getting a lot of new subscribers with unusual names and when you follow the link to check the site, there isn’t a site just a title. I must admit to not normally watching the stats, but this has been hard to avoid because it is happening so regularly. Any thoughts?
The decorations have been put away, and the packing to head south has commenced. We’ve had plenty of time at home to get that done not only because of Covid and tourists, but we’ve had ice and snow so the landscape is white, and the driving conditions at some times have been challenging.
Best wishes to you and your family – have a safe, healthy, and happy 2022. 🥂
Next week? Sand and surf. ⛱😎
NewEnglandGardenAndThread 
I am glad you had a good time and impressed at your ability to spread the cookies out over a few days. I have seen in increase in phantom followers. I used to think they would follow to end up in your followers list (if you show one). I set my list to show frequent followers, not recent ones. I think if you were to study your spam comments, you’ll find those accounts. Perhaps they hope to beat the spam filter by appearing to be following your blog.
I wish you safe travels as you head south, and a very happy New Year.
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I had to control my inner ‘cookie monster.’ 🙂 I appreciate your feedback. I’ll go check my setting. Spam is a good place for them.
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Dan, is there a simple way (without code) to list followers by frequency instead of recent? If you don’t want to answer that here, please use my ‘contact me’ page.
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Not by frequency, but there if you’re using the WordPress My Community Widget, you can restrict it to: “Likers” “Followers” and/or “Commenters” – I have mine set to Commenters
From the WP Admin panel (the block editor version) – Appearance -> Widgets -> Wait for the widgets to load (it might take a bit) -> My Community and the options should let you pick how many to show (a few or Lots) and then to check the boxes as to who to include. If you choose “Followers” I think the most recent followers displace the others. Likers and Commenters keeps the list fresh with people who are actively following.
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The last photo shows a winter wonderland! We had rain over the weekend, while I understand that further east you had freezing rain. The result is pretty, but terrible for anyone who had to travel.
We aren’t snowbirds, so I’m just settling in for the winter long haul now. Safe travels and hope you enjoy the warmth!
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Hello to my neighbor from the north! We were happy to stay off the roads for sure this past weekend. We found out a very important thing last year, and that was that we could certainly survive winter. It’s certainly a little more confining, but it is survivable. Hope you have a warm afghan, a good book, and some hot drinks. What’s in those hot drinks is up to you. 🙂 Happy New Year to you and your guys.
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Judy, I baked cookies for us and to give to friends but I still had too many left over! Add to that a rum cake, fudge, and pralines that friends gave us plus a coconut pecan pie I made for Christmas and we are still overflowing with goodies. I would love to share some with you! I’m glad you had help from the Happiness Engineers at WP. Yes, I have had an increase in unusual followers. Every once in a while I go through them and delete them.
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Oh my, but I do wish I could help you with that overflow of fudge and pralines. 🙂 I have deleted them too, but sure wondered if others were having the same issue and what they were doing. Thanks for the feedback.
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I’m afraid my inner Cookie Monster is sill in high gear! Terri brought up a huge tray of cookies and I made an apple pie. Vegetables? No thanks, I’m good!🙂
The Winterberries make a beautiful picture. The poor hydrangea doesn’t know what happened. Your last photo looks like a Hallmark card.
We’re not heading to SC, but indoor and outdoor decorations have been meticulously wrapped, packed and stored away for next year. When the girls were small, I left everything up until mid-January. Now I put everything away the day after Christmas. So much easier with the outdoor decorations because they aren’t buried under snow and ice yet and it’s not bitter cold. We tend to get practical as we age! 🤗
Wishing you a glorious 3 months in SC. If nothing else, the change in scenery will be a welcome relief. Have a safe, uneventful trip. It will be fun to connect with some of your SC friends, and they with you. Looking forward to photos of the beach, maybe a whale, those wonderful turtles on the log and anything else that doesn’t have snow and/or ice in it!
A happy, healthy, Covid free 2022 is my wish for you both.
Ginger
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That’s right, we can always eat vegetables but holiday desserts are to be savored. 🙂 Yes, normally if we are home, we’d leave decorations up longer too. I remember the days of digging in the snow and ice to find electrical cords I’d strung all over the yard when the grandkids were little. That’s one thing I don’t miss. 🙂 A safe and uneventful trip would be a wonderful thing, a change of scenery even with a mask on will be enjoyed, and you know I can’t resist a photo of the turtles. I sure hope your New Year’s wishes come through for all of us.
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So glad you had a wonderful and tasty time! Love your images as well, especially the ice on the winter berries.
This year was are having an “amazing expando” Christmas holiday. Our daughter and family will be here on Thursday to celebrate with us and our son’s family (who we also celebrated with on Christmas day with a cheesecake), and we’ll turn the second half of the day into a birthday party for our youngest granddaughter, with clementine cake, birthday cake, and a yule log. I think that will be enough to tide us over into the new year!
I’ve had a couple of those “follows” as well, and I’ve deleted them. I think they are getting better at hiding their tracks.
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Oh, I like those sweet choices. Delish. Thanks for the feedback, I’m going to delete a bunch, hopefully find most of them.
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Have a good trip south and send up some warm weather. An early spring would be appreciated! (Did I say that out loud?)
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I will be pushing it north, and I’m with in hoping for a nice early spring.
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I hope I don’t get deleted – I don’t blog, but I do love following many blogs, including yours! Have a safe trip, and enjoy being out of the snow and ice. I have to shovel today…
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Have no fear, I recognize you. 🙂 I always appreciate your comments. I shoveled over the weekend. I still have my skills, I just don’t like it nor does my back. 🙂 Stay well.
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I don’t mind shoveling if it’s light (cold) snow. I call for a plow if it’s icy or heavy!
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I was lucky this time, it was cold, light snow. 🙂
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Your good wishes reciprocated, Judy. Let us hope for a good coming year for us all
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I hope and pray 2022 treats us better with regard to Covid so that we can more easily deal with the rest of life’s challenges. Stay well, and thanks for stopping.
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How exciting to be headed south for the winter. My husband and I have not so far off dreams of becoming snowbirds too. Even though our winters aren’t nearly what yours are, I’d still like to do that I think. How long have you been traveling south for the winter? Maybe sometime if you have nothing to blog about, you could write about the logistics of becoming a snowbird. My favorite desserts this Christmas is cherry cheesecake and my mil’s pumpkin pie. We’re still over indulging in desserts over here. While I love it, I’ll be glad when the temptations are gone. I have absolutely no willpower over desserts. Enjoy the surf and sand! I look forward to seeing photos.
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I can for sure do a post on that! Ooh, I love cherry cheesecake and pumpkin pie. I’ll be snapping and send photos for sure. Stay well and Happy New Year.
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That’s great! I look forward to reading it. I’ve loved the pumpkin pie and cherry cheesecake a little too much this year! Happy New Year!
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I’m envious that you are escaping the ice and snow. You’re smarter than the rest of us, hehe.
I have lots of ‘business’ accounts that follow me and sometimes I take them off my list of followers because I feel that they are not ‘real’ followers. Spammers are getting worse of late and more clever at bypassing the filters. I do not understand why one would plant a 4000-word comment on my blog. It is beyond me. Bon voyage!
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A self driving car would make it perfect. 🙂 The assortment of follows that come along have been pretty strange and a little worrisome. I just deleted several of them. I’m not looking to increase stats, I just enjoy the blogging community and the friends I’ve made like you. Wishing you a happy and healthy 2022.
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Oh I know that you will certainly enjoy getting out of the snow and ice for a couple of months. Safe travels south and Happy New Year.
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If only we had one of those self-driving cars. 🙂
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The pictures of snow and the berries in ice are beautiful my friend!
I have enjoyed homemade toffee from our neighbor and rum balls from another neighbor. Delicious!
I baked Aunt Helen’s Nut Rolls which I really enjoy nibbling on and so does Sweet man.
I’m so excited for your Winter Get Away! You both deserve it! Fun! Fun! Fun! Awaits!
As for the Happiness engineers… they are fabulous! I’m usually always impressed with their help.
As for followers… I check my Spam often and delete I do believe that helps. I get lots who like my comments on other blogs… quite often. Weird!
Safe travels and Stay Safe!
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Oh, I do like your sweet selection. I’ve never had rum balls, but I do love toffee and nut rolls which I haven’t had in a long time. I deleted several yesterday. I don’t get as many in spam as I do as followers. Oh well, I scroll through and remove. From NH to AZ – Happy New Year!
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Happy New Year!
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Thank you. I hope 2022 is better for all of us.
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It’s nice to read that despite the difficult conditions of this Christmas you did enjoy yourselves. We had some delicious sweet treats too – a tasty Christmas Spice Cake and mini sticky date puddings made by my sister who doesn’t like plum puddings. And I made the best shortbread ever after being given a new recipe by a friend.
A few times I’ve had a blog link to a post of mine and when I look at it, it’s just a heap of links all added on one day. If I look again a few days later the blog is gone. I wish I could prevent that but I don’t know how.
In sad news all my sugar melon flowers have come to naught so far. The other day I attempted to pollinate using a cotton bud so I’ll see if that works.
Safe travels to you. I’m looking forward to your beach photos.
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I’ve never had those sweet treats, but I’m thinking I’d sure enjoy a taste. I’ve had blog links to one particular site. It’s fairly uncontroversial, but I’d still rather not be linked there. Oh, I’m sorry your flowers haven’t materialized into small melons. I’ll keep my fingers crossed.
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It looks like one of my flowers might have a tiny melon forming and I did some more pollinating yesterday so hopefully there will be more.
Here is the link for the Christmas Spice Cake recipe. https://www.notquitenigella.com/2012/11/26/christmas-spice-cake/ Mr ET said it definitely improves if you keep it for the three weeks as suggested.
And this is the recipe for the sticky date pudding. My sister made them in muffin papers and she didn’t make the almond praline. The butterscotch sauce was amazing. We had them with vanilla ice cream. Good luck!
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New recipes for the new year – nice! Thank you!
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I hope you enjoy them.
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I forgot to say wahoo on the tiny melon!
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🤞🏼it grows and grows. I’ll keep you posted.
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Nothing about the WP issue from me, although I’m thrilled/jealous that you got such a quick and excellent response! As for dessert, I wanted to make cookies and my famous peanut butter fudge to share as well as enjoy, but it’s been too hectic. I bought a tuxedo cake from Costco after reading a glowing review and that review was spot on. It was delicious and rich and a good size as well.
I know you’re happy to be headed south but thanks for the beautiful winter shots before you leave. I love seeing them. Higher areas of Arizona got snow for Christmas and we got 11 hours of much-needed rain which, although not photogenic, much needed and appreciated.
Safe travels!!
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My Sister-in-law buys delicious desserts from Costco. I just wish we had one near here. Hooray for the rain! A friend just moved from Phoenix up into the mountains. I guess I need to ask if she’s seeing any snow.
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They’re definitely getting snow. ❄️❄️❄️. I do love Costco and we have Aldi and Trader Joe’s nearby as well. 🥰
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What beautiful images! However, the other side to the beauty is that complaint in your back, and I’m betting that you look at the snow but see the beach. As to a favorite Christmas dessert, it is impossible to say. I think I’ve never met a Christmas cookie I didn’t love, but of course the Christmas cookies with memories of friends and family are the best. As for “follows” and “likes,” I don’t pay too much attention because many seem to be ads. Yes, some seem weird, but at my age a lot seems weird! Have a safe trip!
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I had a wide variety of gifted Christmas cookies, and I enjoyed each and every one. They were all delicious, but I must admit some were exceptional. I think I could really enjoy being a cookie taster. 🙂 I’m with you about lots of things seem weird. 🙂
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Ooh! A cookie taster! See if you can get me hired on too!
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Hi Judy, thanks for raising this question. I like to display my ‘followers’ so that others can click on them and hopefully find something interesting to read, but lately, the list looks unfamiliar to me. Dan’s suggestion of changing the display to frequency would be a good solution. The spammers are annoying too, but I just dump my spam file every couple of days and get rid of them. Sometimes a legitimate comment goes there though, so I have to make sure I am not deleting those. Good to know that the WP engineers were helpful. My experiences with them has always been good.
Your winter wonderland looks inviting but I’m sure you are anxious to return to your snowbirding lifestyle. Safe travels and thanks for the beautiful photos.
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I figure fair is fair. I’ve complained about WordPress so I also needed to share the good customer service I received. The spammers are annoying and these followers with highly unusual names and links to blank pages are kind of concerning. I’ve been deleted anything that looks suspicious. It’s going to be interesting when we get to SC because I’m imagining we’ll find a wide variety of responses to the pandemic. We’ll do what is right for us and respect everyone else’s right to do the same.
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Your decorations are already put away? I’m going to keep mine up until Valentine’s Day. Just kidding … my husband won’t let me. But if you’re going south, I can see why you’d want to get right on it. Your winter photos are so beautiful, though! I’d almost hate to go south and away from them.
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Winter in New England is beautiful to look at. The shoveling and the ice are different though. Our driveway faces north, and the snow melts just a little, and suddenly is a sheet of ice. Right now, one could ice skate out there. 🙂
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My favorite dessert was the peanut butter star cookies I made with my granddaughter. I got the recipe from Dianne, indianeskitchen.com. I have received several of those follows. I just chalked it up to a new blog but now you have me wondering. Anyway, safe travels and wishing you a new year filled with smiles.
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Any recipe made with a granddaughter is better and sweeter. 🙂
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Gorgeous photos of the snow Judy….I was reading a book called Pepper Pig (from the UK) to my granddaughter, (aged four) and she sighed and said “I wish it was snowing here”
I showed her your photos, she loved them!
Have a happy holiday Judy and best wishes for a safer and calmer 2022.
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Oh, you gave me goosebumps. I am so happy she liked the snow photos. I have such fond wonderful memories of when my granddaughter was four. Those were some of the most special times of my life. I’m so happy you are getting to experience them.
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A red-and-white winter wonderland, that’s a magical background for a holiday season, great photos! Will take quite a bit to turn that into surf and sand 🙂
We had delectable banana bread, still have one piece left for dessert for tonight 🙂
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I like good banana bread. I made some over the holiday and enjoyed it. Happy New Year!
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And a safe and healthy one, to us all!
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Hi Judy! I almost missed this post but I wanted to quickly chime in and wish you both a Happy NY and a safe and fun trip to SC. I hope you have a lot of warm sunshiny days there! The snow in your pictures is beautiful but – I’m guessing – pretty darn cold.
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Happy New Year to you too! The first two days were gorgeous, today it is only going up into the 50’s, but tomorrow back into the 60’s. No complaints from me. I’ll stay in today and sew and read. 🙂
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Favorite Christmas dessert? Too numerous to mention, altho there’s one I’m NOT a fan of…..every year youngest daughter Karen brings a large tin of home made fudge that’s really. just. not. good! It takes til March to get thru it since I’ll never say a word and it does come in handy when I’m desperate for a bite of chocolate! This will be our little secret, okay?
I’m late on this comment due to Christmas overflow in cooking and festivities, but I’m wondering if you’ve arrived at the condo yet and if the turtles are waiting to have their photo taken again? Happy travels! Snow and cold here. I envy you!
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Fudge is an interesting topic because people make it so differently. I’m with you though, when one needs chocolate even a mediocre piece is better than none. 🙂 So glad you were too busy for blogging issues because that’s a wonderful challenge to have. Yes, those turtles are waiting for me so I need to get there.
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Baby Girl had a box of Belgium chocolates and the pear and ginger was so divine I ate the only two in the box as no one else would touch them. Lucky me!!
I need to get our decorations down and He-Man will take down the lights outside this week.
I hope you have an uneventful drive south! Happy New Year, Judy!! I hope you get a big family Christmas this year!! 😍
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Just the words Belgium and chocolates in the same sentence make my mouth water. Pear and ginger sound like a divine combo. Lucky woman!
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😀
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Our best dessert during this season is always my sister’s Jamaican-style Christmas cake. It’s not just a cake, it’s a whole ritual. https://cynthiasreyes.com/2013/11/24/some-cake-with-your-spirits/
Regarding the faceless followers: I wonder if the bad habits of social media are coming over to blogs too? On Twitter, I block people/bots who do this. Don’t know how to do that on WP, though.
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That dessert sounds absolutely wonderful. I’m saying this from memory so I hope I get it right. If you go to your WP stats pace, I believe you can look at your ‘followers’ and you’ll see the strange names where you can delete them from following you. If my memory is not working, let me know.
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The best snow is the kind you don’t have to drive in, so thank you for the pics! 😛
I’m probably not any help with WP issues, but I hope you get all yours sorted nonetheless.
I baked my butt off, how I always do. I am VERY fond of amaretti morbidi cookies. VERY fond. DANGEROUSLY fond. lol
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I’m dangerously fond of sugar in general so I understand. 🙂
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