I appreciate:

• Heat. I appreciate that SO much this week. Heat in my house, in my car, in the places I go. So so good.
• Starting today chatting with my dear friend Pam. (Otherwise titled, How Got From Tired and Cranky to Having a Happy Heart and Singing Soul in 2 Minutes Flat.)
• FB stickers.

I appreciate:

• Having all my basic needs met – which I tend to overlook most days. Food, shelter, love – check.
• All the comforts in my life, most of which I take for granted on a given day. Comfy couch, funny felines, luminous lights – check. When things aren’t going great, it is easy for me to focus on that and forget about the abundance of goodness in my life. Yes, even after a year and a half of intentionally noticing what is good.
• Pie. It is always a good time to appreciate pie.

I appreciate:

• 7 newly-cleaned and organized drawers in the kitchen! What?! And it only took, um, 4 1/2 hours. Yup. That’s what you get when you have 5 overflowing junk drawers…
• Weather that is cold enough to encourage a stay-at-home-do-whatever day. No, it doesn’t say anything about me that I spent most of the day cleaning and organizing.
• Looking forward to a lively, lovely 2014 – starting with leading laughter yoga on Jan 1 AND Jan 4. Hahahaha!

I appreciate:

• Getting to spend time with my favorite 3-year-old. There really is nothing better than playing with an adorable, loving, bright kid who calls you Aunt Dinana.
• Getting to spend time with my own adorable, loving, bright kids. Even though they just call me mom.
• Nearing completion of Project Messy-holiday-bake-a-lot.

I appreciate:

• This best birthday card ever. (And Ivan & Patrick and the planets for being older than me.) 😛
• Clean car! So shiny and pretty!
• The guardian angels and helpful spirits who kept that car (driver had missed seeing or ignored the stop sign) from hitting us this morning – by about 3 inches!
• Getting to meet Ryan’s folks today.
• Ryan’s dad for telling me that I’m as cute as my daughter. 😉

I appreciate: Post-holiday birthday breakfast with the family at the Original Pancake House. Gluten-free pancakes! Yum!

Gluten-free PECAN pancakes. Yes, that is a whole separate thing to appreciate.

Debb’s (aka Zebb) super-awesome birthday present. I love it!

I appreciate:

• How lucky I am to enjoy my family. Holidays are such a nice time for me to reconnect with people I like!
• The amazing neighbor who cleared the entire sidewalk of snow on our side of the street!
• A cozy evening watching Elf with the family. “I just like to smile. Smiling’s my favorite!”

I appreciate:

• Having the foresight to leave Christmas eve festivities early enough to get home safely at a reasonable time… despite the trip taking twice as long as usual!
• Minnesotans’ ability to drive in crazy snow. Can’t see the lanes? No matter, we’ll just make it up and go really slow. Good job, us!
• Helpful elves in the form of adult children pitching in to finish Christmas day preparations….so we could get to bed by 1 am!

I appreciate:

• Sunshine – both in the form of light from the sun AND funny, sunny, sweet birthday messages (plus rhyming AND alliterating). What a great start to the day!
• Getting work done early and looking forward to family time this evening.
• The fun of making rather than buying most presents this year.

I appreciate:

• Already-prepared rotisserie chicken for dinner after a day full of errands!
• Finally getting the tree decorated tonight.
• That despite our troubles this year, we still get to do our annual holiday giving. This year we’re adding gift bags with fruit, granola bars, snacks, and treats along with money to give to people on street corners whom we might normally pass by. Though it may not be much, we enjoy preparing these tiny tokens of charity and hope that they have a good effect on people who receive them.