Appreciations 4.130 – holidays continued…

It was lovely to take almost 4 days off from work (I worked a tiny bit on 2 of the days…almost like not working at all!) and funny to notice how quickly NOT working started to feel like the norm. Haha. How quickly we adapt!!

I super appreciate that the predicted snow waited until after I was done with errands to start falling. Thank you, snow! (I also appreciate that I found this snow effect I can use on my blog. Neat!!)

A wonderful visit with Sarah and Ida to exchange gifties. I love her thoughtful and funny gifts – including the ingredients and recipe for the amazing dinner she made me a few months ago, a box of hard-to-find seasonal gluten-free cookies, and a new game! What fun! It was also super fun to watch Ida open her gift… a purse of her own (that looks like mine, which she recently took a great liking to) filled with toddler treasures… you know, like a package of kleenex, toddler-sized sunglasses, and some crinkly cat toys. Hahaha! What a sweet end to the day.

Appreciations 4.127 – Christmas day

Beautiful day with the family. I am grateful that I enjoy my family so much. What a treat to get to see Debb, Tim, and Sawyer, too!

robot and mouse padMy new mouse pad and robot toy for the office! They will make working even MORE fun! Thanks, Katie, Cina, and Mckenzie! 🙂

After gifts and dinner, the kids and I went out to see Star Wars again. Haha! I so rarely go to movies… but this one is really good! 😉

Appreciations 4.126 – Christmas eve

Meowy-Christmas-1One of those perfectly perfect days! Started this morning (after a good night’s sleep – hurray!) making more cards while Holiday Inn played on the tv in the background.

Then, after a day of projects and wrapping, I got to see the Best. Christmas Pageant. Ever. It was sweet and funny and inclusive and involved lots and lots of singing, and best of all, featured my favorite Ruby as one of the angels. 🙂 Beautiful! Surprise bonus: sitting behind Sara and Rochelle and getting a chance to reconnect with them. What a sweet treat!

Perfect end to the day: Seeing the new Star Wars movie with Mckenzie. It was awesome! Feeling pretty darn grateful about everything right now. 💗

Appreciations 4.124 – More solstice fun

The perfect end to the day yesterday… Hanging out with Katie and Cina and working with them on their holiday cards. So much fun! And then, right when we were finishing up, it started to SNOW. Beautiful!

Today’s miraculous DMV visit to renew my license…. walked right in and there was NO LINE. Fastest DMV trip ever – plus getting to chat with a super friendly clerk who was excitedly looking forward to finishing work and going to see her grandson get his yellow belt in tae kwon. Sweet. 😉

Finishing up a busy day watching Rudolph and White Christmas while working on holiday stuff. I love this time of year. 🙂

Appreciations 4.123 – Winter Solstice

solstice 2Imprompu dinner with Katie and Cina! I love how flexible and easy our plans always feel. I love the fun we always have. 😀

Candlelight and holiday lights. I’d forgotten how soothing it is to sit in a room filled with candlelight.

Winter solstice. It’s the one time of year that I take some time to sit in the darkness and the quiet and just be. How peaceful and lovely.

Happy solstice to you all. The light is returning! Solstice 1

Appreciations 4.121 – appreciate, rinse, repeat

I love reading what I appreciated on the same date last year before I write each day’s appreciation. It’s so much fun to think about last year’s brilliant and sweet moments! It’s also funny when things line up… like me having a cold starting at the same time last year. Haha! There have been other, more random things that have lined up from one year to the next, though I can’t remember them right now (because of my foggy cold-brain. Hahaha!)

Spent a lovely afternoon with the Delaneys today. Mmmm. I love that even when we’ve not been able to see each other much, being together still feels like home.  💗

A lovely evening with Katie and Cina who came over to bake about a gazillion snickerdoodles! I love how the holidays seem to give us excuses to see each other more often. I also LOVE that they made tiny mini fairy-sized snickerdoodle dots! 😀

snickerdoodles 1snickerdoodles 2