Many Joyful Moments!

(my favorite quote on Gratitude) 

"Gratitude unlocks the fullness of life.
It turns what we have into enough, and more.
It turns denial into acceptance, chaos to order, confusion to clarity.
It can turn a meal into a feast, a house into a home, a stranger into a friend. Gratitude makes sense of our past, brings peace for today, and creates a vision for tomorrow.” ---Melody Beattie

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I can’t believe the Christmas season is already upon us…
the year truly has just flown on by!  Winter arrived early this year as we have never had so much snow and school closures ever for the week of the Thanksgiving holiday. One of my good friends that is a school teacher that has lived here all of her life, said she has never experienced school getting out because of weather for the Monday-Wednesday before Thanksgiving break. 
Truly unbelievable weather!
Nonetheless, we are embracing the cold and snow and trying to enjoy each moment of it.  I’m afraid winter is here to stay!

Lest we get any further into the month of December, I thought I would share some of the MANY things that brought JOY, Happiness and Gratitude to my life this past month. 
Joy, Happiness and Gratitude are synonymous to me….whatever brings me joy or happiness also brings me much gratitude as well.

Here goes…in no particular order of importance, just some of the things that brought smiles to my face. (I was SO busy helping Tracy get our home back in order and work on remodel projects these past few weeks that I didn’t take many photos at all...especially when we had company over :-(.

--JOY is having my Super Saturday presentation over with and having it have turned out a success (at least that is what people have told me).

--being able to finally cook on real stove and bake in an oven…we made a pot of Ethan’s favorite “Split Pea Soup” and a batch of Tracy’s favorite “Snickerdoodles” for our first home cooked meal!

--the JOY of sitting down together each night at the dinner table and enjoying home cooked meals, talking and discussing our days events.
This truly is the highlight of my every day. love, Love, LOVE this!!

--Enjoying the SNOW as I look out and see a blanket of white instead of seeing all of the weeds I didn’t get pulled before winter came.

(My brother and sister-in-law sent Tracy and I "Life is Good" shirts...
this fits perfectly as my motto in life truly is "Less is more"!!)

--the feeling of gratitude as I get comments and emails from friends, even though I have been terrible at keeping in touch these past few months. These remembrances have meant so much more to me than words can express! I've even received care packages in the mail!!  I am truly blessed beyond measure with wonderful friends and family!

--Enjoying eating bowls of pomegranates over the past week.  We opened and enjoyed the fruit of 8 pomegranates. Yummy!! (Ethan was sad that we went to town over the weekend and couldn't find anymore pomegranates to buy)

--having a “fire to snuggle by” in our house again, as Tracy got our parlor heat stove all hooked up.  It was so cute looking at Ethan laying on the hardwood all snuggled up by it. He has found his new reading spot!

--enjoying Chocolate covered cinnamon bears in the month of November.

--the JOY of my kids faces and their excitement as I made up Spaghetti for dinner. It is one of their favorites and since I am not much of a pasta lover myself, I forget how much they LOVE this!

--Bananagrams!! This game has been one of our best and favorite purchases. You can play a game in less than 5 or 10 minutes and it has been wonderful for helping my kids (Jade especially) with reading and forming words. Can’t wait for many more evenings of this FUN.

--enjoying MUGS of hot water with lots of local honey and fresh squeezed limes to ward off the cough/flu season. We have juiced up over four dozen limes in the past week and have enjoyed each and every mug of this yummy goodness!

--Having my life back so I can “whip up” a pot of soup, baked bread and have a batch of cookies for my kids to enjoy as an afternoon snack when they get off the school bus.  I haven’t been able to do this for so long that it was so much fun to multi-task and make wonderful food creations in the afternoon.

--the JOY of running around in our stocking feet on our newly finished flooring and having “slide contests” to see who can slide the farthest.

--making a pot of Potato Soup for dinner in December and having the potatoes, onions and carrots all be from our garden that we grew this year.  LOVE our garden produce.

--Joy is still enjoying crisp apples off your neighbors tree in December as well.

--It was SO much FUN having Tracy’s brother, sister-in-law and their kids Hudson and Reese over for Sunday dinner… 

LOVE having a kitchen table that can comfortably sit 8 people...

LOVE having friends and family grace our table for dinner!!

--the JOY of having my visiting teachers stop by with sweet little children and having these little children play with the toys that my kids have long forgotten about….also having them bring our gumball machine to me before they leave, so they can put in pennies and leave with some gumballs to enjoy.  

Kids are welcome at our house anytime!

 --My entry window frame 

that holds photos of all of my family and friends that we received Christmas cards/letters from last year. There is not a day that I don’t walk by this and stand and smile at all of the faces smiling back at me.  

I treasure SO very greatly, my relationships and friendships with others!! 

--looking outside at just the right moment to catch the most amazing colors of the day before the sun has completely set and the dark of night sets in.

--sitting in the Rexburg Tabernacle on Thanksgiving day and being able to enjoy the wonderful Thanksgiving Day program. Even though my life was so hectic this year that I wasn’t able to be a part of it, I enjoyed the peace of listening to the beautiful music of the choir and the talent of many of our local youth in their music performances.  Music of all kinds truly feeds my soul!

--snuggling on the couch with my kids and enjoying watching a few episodes of Little House on the Prairie on Sunday evenings after a hectic week of school and work.

--getting to hold my neice Reese all evening while her parents were at a Christmas production. LOVED laying on the couch with her on my chest all snuggled in and also enjoying wonderful conversation with Tracy and his parents. I miss the moments of having little babies and so it was wonderful to have a baby to snuggle with.

--having my Christmas Cards all made up and signed, addressed and in the mail.

--playing “footises” with Mr. Smith as we laughed and watched episodes of our new favorite program “The Big Bang Theory”. LOVE that show.

--Time spent with my sister-in-laws (even though we always don’t see eye to eye on everything…I must add that rinsing out cans before you throw them in the garbage takes just a matter of seconds as it took me 11 seconds from start to finish to rinse out 2 cans as I was making dinner this evening) (big smile at Lisa)

--“mood light” that Mr. Smith has been installing in many rooms of our home. LOVE the warm soft glow that I see as I walk through my house at night.

 I think my most important JOY, Gratitude moments, were when I came down with the flu bad on Monday November 29th and my hubby took the kids to our family birthday party while I stayed home and soaked in a hot Epson Salt bath and then slept from 4:00 in the afternoon until 5:00 the next morning.  That one afternoon made all the difference in the world and I awoke on Tuesday morning feeling like a new woman and able to tackle the rest of the week!!

I am truly blessed with the most wonderful hubby and sons in the world!!

The very TOP of the list though,

was that my hubby didn’t have a serious injury as he stepped off a ladder in our garage and his hand hit a loose shelf and it came up and smacked him on the head and cut it pretty badly and gave him quite a goose egg.

SO VERY grateful that he is okay!!!

When I look at this list, I am reminded once again that all of the little moments with family and friends are what bring the most JOY to me in my life!

(looking forward to the JOY of the season
and many happy moments with my children and family....
photos from last years season that brought a SMILE to my face)

'Tis the Season for Joy!

The Joy from Children...

The Joy from Family and Friends...
The Joy of Traditions...

the Joy of cherishing and savoring each and every moment of this most Wonderful time of the year!