Whew! I am starting this post after midnight on Christmas, so I guess that makes this Boxing Day. It has been a whirlwind day that were I to sit and think back through it I would probably observe that it was more like two days packed into one. It feels like a good night for simple gratitude: for giving thanks for the many simple blessings that are often taken for granted and yet are so vital to life, to my life at least. So I offer thanks for these Christmas 2013 blessings:
- I am grateful for the abundance of food that was laid out for our family today: if there’s one thing we know how to do on a big holiday it’s prepare a lot of delectable, high protein (translation: lots of meat), flavorful, colorful, well-seasoned and visually beautiful foods. We ate and drank well and lacked nothing (except for a few family members who for various reasons were unable to be with us at the Christmas meal.
- The connections we continue to make with one another in our family: conversations and interactions that strengthen the bonds between each of us. While our numbers have declined a little over the past few years, we still make meaningful connections with one another across generations. It was fun this evening playing games with my nieces, my sister, and my daughter, with an occasional assist from my nephew. This holiday has provided constant reminders of why I love family gatherings–the laughter, the relationship-building, the connecting.
- We have been warm, sheltered and safe over these days. Tonight it snowed fairly hard, but we were warm and sheltered at one brother’s house for dinner this evening and had a warm, safe, reliable vehicle to drive us over the snowy roads to arrive back at my other brother’s home.
I continue to be thankful for the basic blessings: food, shelter, clothing, and the blessings of family to love, guide, defend, protect, amuse, entertain, hug, assist, and heal each other. We are these things for each other and so much more than that. I am aware that there are so any people who are lacking some of all of these necessities.
As I prepare to turn in this evening I’ll take my rest in anticipation of one more day spent in the company of extended family members before our little foursome who traveled here drive back East. We will have the opportunity to reconnect with my other sisters and their families in some configuration over the next few days before my daughter heads back to the West Coast. It has indeed been a whirlwind Christmas day. For the many blessings, simple and otherwise and for the greatest gift of love and connections with family, I am most heartily grateful.
