Gifts

I am a pretty optimistic person, most of the time. Most of the time except January, and December. Those months take a toll on my optimism, really by the time January ends I am pretty battered and we have bought bedroom cabinetry, all sorts of next year's clothes, a laptop, a new desktop (though that was more Chris than me), and a dog with all its paraphernalia.

So we start February talking about how to replenish our savings. I think it has something to do with the dark. When I start fixing breakfast in the haze and gray of January winter mornings just waking and when we eat dinner in the light of the moon, being required to turn the headlights on on the way to dinner if we eat out (we do a lot of that too in January), my spirits can't help but wane.

Hopefully next year I will remember this and perhaps start looking for the gifts without qualification earlier.

Gifts I've found without over-thinking them.

1. The dog pooped outside--the entire pile of stuff outside. No clean-up inside.
2. Everyone but me is asleep but not for long, because I am going to sleep.
3. When I got up last night to take George outside, there was a fresh blanket of snow on the ground.
4. I'm the mommy and as such no one can fix aching ears by cuddling but me.
5. The pharmacy employees at Target are the best. I love them.
6. Amber at A Classic Housewife in a Modern World reminds me that knowing why I ask Abigail to do something is as important as getting her compliance.
7. Rachel Anne at Home Sanctuary and her simple things especially giving me the freedom to say that I am a pregnant mother of a preschooler and a recently purchased puppy and even if the dishes are still on the counter while the dishwasher sits empty, I choose to take puppy and preschooler outside to play.
8. McDonald's Play Place with a good friend.
9. A vacuum cleaner serving as an art piece, still-life, in the living room. We have a closet for it; we have a new puppy and a preschooler. Putting it away doesn't make sense, unless you are coming over.
10. Working on this post before I wanted to post it.
11. A husband who allows me to be human when I want to beat myself up for imperfection.
12. Reading the Psalms aloud with a little girl listening because she wants to hear mommy read from her Bible.
13. Listening to a little girl "read" the Bible. Everything is all confused but she loves the Word.
    

There is something about viewing the little things, the mundane, as treasures that gives the routine and plans of the day their joy. It gives life rhythm. That is the blessing of gratitude.