Friday night grateful moment

Ah well, could have called that one, eh? In fact, you probably did. No postings this week... zippo, zada, zilch. And the baked goods flying out of the kitchen? Like bats, I say. Yes. Bats. It was a truly wild and crazy week, filled with all kinds of curve balls and crazy circumstances, but yeah yeah yeah for Friday night.

Tonight I'm most grateful for:
* A great visit last weekend with my brother's family. That is always a great way to kick off the holidays for us.

* An extra weekend with Seth to further stretch our holiday time out with him. We will enjoy every minute of it and Mom promises not to be grumpy anymore, I do so solemnly swear (last night I was tired and rather grumpy).

* A sweet husband who has accommodated all my baking fits, forgotten items at home (yes, he went and got them for me, what a gem) when I've been in the throes of food set up, and odd random crying spells (did I mention I was grumpy last night?). I've been a real peach this week, I tell you. A handful, yes, but all the good ones are.

* Sweet girlfriends who tell me that while I might still look tired, I don't look AS tired as I did earlier in the week. Just wait until after the weekend. I plan to look entirely rested!

* An amazing lunch today--might be the fact that I didn't have to cook it? But still, really heavenly. A cup of roasted cauliflower soup (creamy goodness!), a pear/parmesan/pinenut salad, and a piece of my friend Sara's grilled cheese sandwich (to dip in my cauliflower soup!). All at one of our favorite lunch spots, T. Maccarone's. It was de-lightful. De-licious. And the company was de-lovely as well!

* The fact that I'm done with holiday baking and catering and all those fun things. Now the hard part is packing up a few goody boxes and getting them delivered over the weekend. Oh joy. And getting a few goody boxes into the mail as well...

* All the fun and happy ingredients of Christmas, aside from the edible ones. The joy, the festive atmosphere, the snow that didn't last as long as I'd have liked...

* For a snow (ice!) day with Seth at home on Tuesday. We didn't leave the house all day and loved it. Chopped and prepped and cooked and baked; when I needed things from the store, husband brought them to me. How handy!

* For a beautiful wooden comb that feels like butter in my hair. Check out this sweet early Christmas gift from my lovely friend Suzanne:


* For Christmas laughs like this one:



And this one:



And of course my favorite one, the angry elf scene:



I had forgotten how much I just love Elf!

* For an extended family that I've gotten to know better over the years, and especially more since the advent of Facebook. The past couple of weeks we've gotten many beautiful cards and letters--I've been especially tickled to get so many via email... I may just have to make that transition myself one of these years! Today we received a Christmas card from my mom's cousin Jeanne, and the sentiments it held were quite thoughtful and inspiring. She included a quote from Ralph Marston, a motivational author:

Live today, and live it fully. Start out by reminding yourself how truly precious life is, and move forward with that in mind.

See the beauty and take time to enjoy it. See the possibilities and make the effort to bring them into reality.

You can do things today that will forever change life for the better. Focus on your own special way to create value, and make it happen.

Pay attention to those things that truly matter. Give your love, your energy and your time to them, and your blessings will grow even more abundant.

No matter what the outside circumstances may be, let joy flow from inside you. And watch as it changes the world around you.

This is a day to be filled with beauty, with loving effort, with the wonder, joy and positive energy of being alive. Live this day fully while it is here, and its joys will be with you always.

Love those sentiments. Good words to live by. Thanks for the reminder, Jeanne.

I also just love this flower arrangement for Christmas, from an online shop called Nettleton Hollow. How beautiful.



Hard to believe we're a week away from Christmas. Seems like it has snuck up so quickly, in spite of those ridiculously early Christmas displays in some stores... but here we are, and there we'll be, and there will be plenty to be thankful for then, too.

Have a great Christmas countdown everyone! Now that the cooking's done, the posting can begin. Famous last words!