Friday night grateful moment

Feels like Christmas, it really does. Biggest sign is that family is here... that always helps move me rapidly in the Christmas direction. And having a deadline to get the house un-sugar-crusted and un-flour-coated? Priceless. Thank goodness I do enjoy a deadline! (Just don't open the closet in the guestroom, please!)

This week I was reminded of many things to be thankful for, not the least of which is:

* A warm, clean house. The warm part I'm grateful for. The clean part I'm proud of! (Must do that more often, truly. It just feels so good to relax in a tidy, clean space. Ah.)

* A loving, thoughtful spouse.

* A cheerful, happy and affectionate kid.

* The beautiful alchemy of flour and sugar and butter and all the many variations available from those ingredients... and a few more ingredients (hazelnuts, chocolate, fruit, nuts...) tossed in for good measure too, I suppose.

* The cheer of Christmas music. And those great merry mixes from friends!

* The peace of a quiet day, just me and my baking, and my audiobooks.

* The generous spirit of friends, their kindness and laughter.

* The diversity of people and their backgrounds.

* Cookies, candy and cake. Isn't that what Vitamin C is all about? Ha. And then there's chocolate. (I think my sweet tooth is back, at least temporarily!)

* Knowing that my immediate family is safe and well and healthy. I don't take that for granted.

* The glow of the Christmas tree, and the multicolored bliss of our many and varied ornaments.

* The anticipation of snow.

* The laughter of my neices. Love those gutteral giggles. So glad they all made the trek over the mountains to see us this weekend!

* The fact that the whole house smells so good with all the Christmas baking--I go to sleep and it smells good and the scent is still there in the morning! Heavenly.

* That my arm/shoulder thing healed up quickly--really almost within 24 hours--and I was able to continue on with my week relatively unscathed.

* For hope and the spark that it brings, however faint for some. It is truly a powerful force... hope. For love and the warmth that it adds to our lives. For faith and the strength and courage it both gives and requires. For peace, wherever we can find it, however long we can hold on to it.

* For the multitude of lights around town, making these early evenings so much more bearble. My first choice after dark: home. But if I have to be out and about, hermit that I am (not usually), I appreciate seeing everyone's hard work in their festive outdoor lighting. And I'll keep the Griswold jokes to a minimum!

* For technology and all that it adds to our lives (no Luddites here, no sir!). I couldn't get a good picture of the tree with my point-and-shoot, and Kim was able to get the picture you see at the top on her iPhone and quickly emailed it to me--how handy! Things that we wouldn't have dreamt of 10 years ago we now take for granted... wonder where we'll be 10 years from now...

Here's a sweet video of a talented little ukelele player, riffing on Jason Mraz's "I'm Yours." I apologize for not being able to find the "real" version so you can see how the lyrics really go, but, frankly, I gave up after finding only covers or nonsense versions on YouTube... maybe when I'm a little more awake I'll find it!



Peace to all on this cold and frosty weekend!