Simple Gifts

Good Saturday morning and I hope today finds you all well.  We had a brown, brown, brown, Christmas, but nature seems to be doing a little catch-up and we woke to a beautiful white landscape. DH is doing the shoveling before he heads into the store and pup is quite annoyed because he wants to be out there with him.  He has a wandering spirit, so never a good idea to let him out when you can't give him your full attention. He'll get a good play later.

Today I will get a little housework done, and tidy up the remnants of gifts.  We'll keep the tree up until Thursday perhaps, but I did so little other decorating we'll be in full January mode by weeks end. While putting things to right, I'll try and pack up the old, remembering my rule of one thing in and two things out.  It was a lovely and generous Christmas; generous in spirit in that much thought went into so many of the gifts my family received. Here are a few favorites:

• Let It Snow door knob hanging, colored by our seven year old God son who was just beaming watching me open.  He picked it out, completed, wrapped, and labeled it himself.
• The World, an ornament sketched by DD#2 that captures our love for and longing to keep traveling the globe.
• Hooded high school sweatshirt, picked out for me by my sister so I can enjoy DD#2s cross country meets in warmth, and in school colors.
• New release book that DD#2 would never have expected from her grand parents because they don't generally understand her taste in reading, but sought out for her by Grandma, after remembering the name from an earlier fall conversation. 
• Mary, Joseph, and baby Jesus pieces, for a future full nativity set, given to her by her God parents, my brother and SIL.  She'll get pieces added each year, until my brother completes the gift by making her a stable.  He had made my mother and his wife each one 40 years ago.
• Collage photo from DS and DD#1 of candid's from various projects they've worked on, made and ordered online from Walgreens so I could just pick up locally.  We and the grandparents received copies.  The two of them don't have two nickels between them, but this gift was creative and priceless.
• Time to slow down, hold a baby or two, laugh with family, break bread, play with toys, and remember those we love, who are not able to be with us.

It will soon be 2015.  I still worry about consistent employment prospects for my older kids, especially as the window for deferment on their student loans has passed.  Health challenges are not over, and  my job doesn't appear to be lessening the grip of stress anytime soon. Despite this, I am going to charge into the New Year, reframing the tough situations into opportunities, look for ways to release the baggage and clutter, and fully embrace the simple gifts that have the most meaning.  How about you?  How are you shaping your mindset as we close 2014?