Show and Tell

I am grateful to have the holidays behind me without incident.  For the past three years holidays have coincided with family loss.  Close family loss.  I'll be honest.  My faith had dimmed and I was trying not to care too much or get too comfortable with life while going through the 'happy' holiday motions.  

I baked.  I wrapped.  I decorated.  I lit candles.  And it was all good.

But all the while, a burn in the pit of my stomach, the same burn that stayed with me that day last year on the 29th of December when my sister and I met up for our last sisterly chat and she breathed her last breath of life, right there as I was in mid sentence.  How dare her!  But.  Her mansion awaited.  It was her time.

Oh, back to the burn...  

I want to blame it on a combination of cookies, lack of sleep and stressssss but deep inside I knew that I was preparing myself for something awful.  

But nothing awful happened.  And the burn is gone.  

And so... I'm embarrassed for my lack of faith.  But thankful for the gift of hope that God gave me this year at Christmas!

 And speaking of gifts,  do you mind if I share some of my more special Christmas gifts 

from this year?

A cup which I am drinking my tea and honey from right this very minute...  it reads

  Everything is Sweeter at Grandma's.  Jake was so excited to give this to me, and he picked it out himself at the school Christmas Santa shopping event. 

And....  This paper weight.  It is wonderful!  I have it sitting on my desk and I will look at it every single day to remind me to ENJOY LITTLE THINGS IN LIFE!  And who wouldn't enjoy those two 'little things' whose picture I will look at along with the message...

Another very special gift....

There's a story behind that little plaque.  You see a couple of years ago Gary bought me a cute little globe.  I'd always told him I wanted one...  so he came home with one that he had engraved 'You are My World'  Love, Gary.  Well.  I teased him saying that I couldn't find my name on it anywhere and I asked him who it was for?  I told him the reason he did not put my name on it was so if we ever split, he could give it to someone else.  Or, in the event that I died first... he could re-gift it.  Haha!

Well, well, well....

My special guy made a special trip out of town just weeks before Christmas just to find a place that would engrave a plaque just right... so that he could use to replace the old one.  Now wasn't that special?  I thought so.

Gracie, tell them what you got for Christmas...

Bells on my neck and feet.  Forgotten about. Oh, and a cookie and new toy. That's all I have to say. Gracie.