So this will be my positive one. No more whining. These are the things to be joyful about this season:
1) My savior, Jesus Christ. We celebrate His birth during this time. The presents and the decorations and the music and all the trimmings are great, but they're just that - trimmings. Christ is why we celebrate. His birth, His atonement, His sacrifice - and His willingness to do all of those things of His own free will and choice. I tell my primary kids every time I do sharing time that Jesus knows them personally. He knows our names and our joys and our sorrows. He understands and all we have to do is talk with Heavenly Father and Jesus will be there for us. He will carry us when we need Him to. Why can I tell the children that but then forget it for myself? So...number one joy - Jesus Christ - my Lord and Savior.
2) My family - they're quirky, grumpy, messy, whiny, and smelly and lots of other not-so-nice things. But what would I do without them? They are my life. As much as I want to Gibbs-slap each one of those boys (including the 50yo boy), I love them with my whole heart and I wouldn't trade them for any amount of money. I may threaten to do it, but I really wouldn't. We aren't a lovey-dovey family. We don't hang out together and "enjoy" each others' company. But...we love each other in our own weird way.
3) My home. It's beautiful in a dirty, messy kinda way. But it's a roof over our heads. It's keeps us warm in the winter and cool in the summer. It keeps us dry. There are many people out there who don't have this necessity. I love my house. I'd love it even more if it were clean and tidy, but I'm still grateful to have it.
4) Time off. It's not as much as we've had in the past and not as much as we'll have next year. It's easy to complain that we are still in school today, tomorrow and half-day Wednesday - but there are many people who either a) don't have a job to have time off from, or b) don't have any time off. Richard is one of those. He has Christmas Eve and Christmas Day off - because they are Saturday and Sunday.
5) I have a job. I have an awesome job. It's hard for sure. It's frustrating and gives me a headache especially this time of year - and again in April and May - but it's a wonderful job. Where else could you work where you start each day off with multiple hugs?
6) There's food on the table. Our pantry runneth over - seriously. Much of it is storehouse food these days since we've gone through most of our food storage during this financial crisis. But we have it. None of us is going hungry.
7) A loving bishop. 'Nuff said.
8) Giving friends. Again - 'nuff said.
See? There is so much more to be happy and joyful about. Life really is good. It's crazy, but it's a good crazy. The next time you hear or read me whining, refer me back to this post. Maybe that will be my New Year's Resolution. I don't usually make them because they almost always seem to backfire, but I can work to be more positive. To put on that happy face like I used to have to do when cashiering at Wal-Mart. And guess what? When you make yourself smile and be nice to people, after a little while you start to feel better yourself.
I think I need to blog more often. This has been pretty darn cathartic. :-) Merry Christmas!!
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