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.

I appreciate:

• The really funny and sweet mom & daughter in line in front of me at the post office (40 minutes!). We had so much fun and such a nice conversation!
• The lights on people’s houses — especially the people in our neighborhood who go all out. We look forward to their display every year.
• Looking forward to longer days and the return of the light! Hooray!

I appreciate:

• Hazelnut coconut creamer. Even more fun coffee.
• Finally getting going on holiday baking – batch one of about a gazillion batches complete.
• Really, really good guacamole. If I do say so myself…

I appreciate:

• The sound of chickadees outside.
• My new glittery joy ornament. Joy! (Thank you, Angela!).
• moreloveletters.com It encompasses so many things I love: writing, creativity, pretty paper, and kindness. (Thanks for sharing, Katie)

I appreciate:

• A friend and work date all rolled into one with coffee at May Day Cafe!
• The Dollar Store. Sometimes, it’s the perfect thing.
• Nicknames from my youth — especially when used by a dear old friend at the start of a spectacularly sweet and funny note and accompanied by a book of PD Wodehouse’s early works. (Thanks, Pally!) — with Ivan Raconteur