I’m thankful today that I now have a week off for the holidays and can spend some time relaxing.

We got an early Christmas gift from friends today. I love that saying, Merry Everything. Maybe some folks think it’s overdone, but it’s a reminder that we should find joy on the regular. Not just at Christmas or other holidays. We should find ways to make the ordinary something to celebrate. I’m thankful for our friends and their gift today.

Winter solstice. Longest night of the year. Beginning of Winter. It was cold today, so it does seem a bit more like winter, although we have no snow yet. I’d love if we got snow for Christmas but it doesn’t look like it’s going to happen.

What we may get for Christmas is our new deck. The guys have been moving along on it. It seems so big now but I’m sure it will be different when the railing is done.

I’m sure these guys working in the cold appreciate that we don’t have snow. And for their sakes, I’m glad it has held off. But when they’re done Thursday afternoon, it can snow like a snow globe.

I’m thankful things are moving smoothly on the deck. I’m also thankful that after today, we start to get more daylight again. Once Christmas is past, I’m ready for winter to end.

It’s Christmas week! I’m thankful work was busy, so the day went by quickly. Only a few more work days before Christmas break.

I’m thankful today that I got to see my sister Jen and brother-in-law Jim for a little bit today while they were in town for his family Christmas. I’m so glad to see some of my family on the regular.

I’m also thankful for a day of mostly relaxing. I actually woke up at 2:00 am and then couldn’t get back to sleep for a while because I kept thinking of all the stuff on my to-do list. Then of course, in the daylight, I’m reminded that my list doesn’t have to be done tomorrow. Or even next week. I need to be better about giving myself space to just be. (I guess I’ll add that my list. Haha!) I aspire to Chance’s level of relaxation…making the most of whatever spot he’s in.

I finally have an outlet for my creative side. I got a booth at an antique/junk shop that will start in January. Woohoo!

Patrick and I scoped out the shop today checking out other booths and thinking of ways I can stage mine. Then we stumbled upon a warehouse sale where I found a cool old cabinet to use for small items. Sadly, it’s too tall to fit in my car, but they said I can arrange to pick it up later. I’m thankful to have something new for the new year.

What a nice ending to another long week. I met some friends after work for a quick drink and white elephant gift exchange. I hadn’t seen some of them in months, and I enjoyed the brief social respite. I can’t wait for the day we can get together on the regular.

Then later Patrick and I went through a Christmas light show put on by a local church.

They had it last year, and although we talked more than once about checking it out, we never did.

I love sparkly lights. I like most sparkly things. I’m grateful we finally saw them; it was exactly as Christmasy as I had hoped. One of our parks also has lights to drive through, so we’re planning to do that soon, too. Maybe we will get some snow to make it even more festive. Fingers crossed!

My friend Ann stopped by after work today and dropped off my Christmas present – some homemade Chex mix, which I LOVE, and some fruit bars, which are also my favorite. Mmmm. She also found me this amazingly soft sweatshirt when she was traveling. How cool is this skull?

I’m so thankful for her friendship. It was nice to spent a bit of time chatting over wine in front of the fire. When she left, I planted myself in the armchair in front of the fire and relaxed with the pups. I intended to finish wrapping presents, but only got the rest of Patrick’s done. I have a couple friend’s left to do, but with Patrick coming home tomorrow, his were a priority. Who can resist the lure of the fireplace?

I’ve been really busy with Patrick away. I’ve moved onto construction projects. Ha. Actually we finally have someone rebuilding our deck. The original deck had the support posts placed directly on the concrete slab below it, so when the concrete cracked (as it does with weather extremes) the posts started to shift. It got to a point where the stairs began to pull apart, and we knew it needed to be fixed.

Rebuilding a deck because you HAVE to is like replacing a roof or windows that have gone bad. It’s the home equivalent of buying underwear. Necessary but not especially exciting. So we decided if we’re gonna spend a bunch a money, we might as well get something out of it. Therefore we are making the deck a tad bigger. Ok, we are doubling the size of it. It’s slightly nuts since we never entertain, so needing a lot more space isn’t really essential, but at the same time, we also don’t go anywhere. Spending time in our backyard has been our primary source of vacation time for the last few years. Plus our backyard is big enough that it won’t be weird.

I’m thankful that the weather has held out long enough for them to get a lot done already. I’m thankful the workers are nice, even though their choice of music isn’t (bluegrass at 7 am, really?!). I’m also thankful we are able to make this investment in our home that we will be able to enjoy as soon as winter is over. I know we are lucky.