Skip to main content

Ten Things of Thankful: Christmas Edition

I'm sitting on my couch in the quiet early morning hours, trying to transform the peaceful contentment I am feeling into words. Minutes tick by, and I am still basking in the calm, wishing that words were not required to convey the serene sense of security. Drexel awakens, and greets me happily, but not frantically, his tail's soft thump thump thump providing background accompaniment to the morning's natural song.  

 If I could bottle this up, I would.  
A text from someone  reminds me that life is not always so still, and forces my attention outward.  How can I help?  And yet, the peaceful contentment continues.  In good times or bad, family--whether by birth or adoption, a nuclear unit or a larger community--steps in to support one another.  

 This has been a week full of family.  I'm thankful for the 11 other people who joined me around the table on Christmas day:  oldest son and his wife; oldest daughter; middle daughter, her boyfriend, and their three children; youngest son, youngest daughter, and, of course, John.  
Photo:  Oldest granddaughter, playing with a Nativity set
Photo:  My granddaughters, in coordinating dresses, stand in front of the Christmas tree
Photo: Baby grandson smiles for the camera, while granddaughters look up solemnly
Even though caroling was out of the question due to colds, the kids still managed to make music using sparkling cider bottles:


Photo: John and I with all of our kids and grandkids
John and I are hoping that we didn't pass on the cold that wiped us out, and we're thankful for the kids who pitched in while we rested up.


Photo:  Oldest daughter captured John, Drexel, and me snoozing and couldn't resist snapchatting. 

 I sincerely hope that your week has been a peaceful one, no matter what has been going on around you. 

 Merry Christmas!







Ten Things of Thankful


 Your hosts

Join the Ten Things of Thankful Facebook Group


Comments

  1. Clark FarleyDecember 26, 2015 at 11:49 AM

    excellent photo... (all of them, of course, but the last one especially)...
    "Drexel awakens, and greets me happily, but not frantically, his tail's soft thump thump thump providing background accompaniment to the morning's natural song."
    I'd say that perfectly expresses what I your Post brings to mind.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. KristiDecember 26, 2015 at 11:52 AM

      Thank you. My daughter is happy that her photo is the favorite! :-)

      Delete
  2. Clark FarleyDecember 26, 2015 at 11:49 AM

    ...FRIST!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. KristiDecember 26, 2015 at 11:53 AM

      Frist you are. (I'm going to see Star Wars today--I've got to practice Yoda-speak.)

      Delete
  3. UnknownDecember 26, 2015 at 1:18 PM

    Looks like a colorful week of family and relaxing!! Glad you had s nice Christmas!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. KristiDecember 27, 2015 at 8:20 AM

      Thanks. We did have a good time. Merry Christmas!

      Delete
  4. JDecember 26, 2015 at 2:03 PM

    Beautiful family! Full of peace and love! I've experienced those quiet moments too, and wondered what I did to deserve them! Happy New Year, Kristi!

    ReplyDelete
  5. RomiDecember 26, 2015 at 4:35 PM

    Your beautiful photos make me happy! :-)

    ReplyDelete
  6. ChristineDecember 26, 2015 at 9:21 PM

    I'm so happy that so many of the kids could make it back! A house full of joy. And such talent! Love the bottle music. :)

    That photo of the granddaughters is hilarious. Reminds me a bit of the one you and your sister reenacted.

    Hope you all feel better soon. Kudos to your daughter for the great photo.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. KristiDecember 27, 2015 at 8:21 AM

      All of them made it! :-)
      You're right--that does look like that photo! I should have recognized it at the time, and posed them even more!

      Delete
  7. UnknownDecember 27, 2015 at 6:15 PM

    Merry Christmas Kristi! your grand children are beautiful! I am very much behind, too! I am sorry that cold bug got you -- do love the photo of Drexel! And the Christmas photo of your family. Hope by now everyone is feeling lots better and that no one took the bug home with them!

    ReplyDelete
  8. Pat BDecember 27, 2015 at 11:58 PM

    How nice that you could get a complete family photo. I love those flute players! Were they the "carolers" this year? The granddaughters in their festive dresses look so cute, and the little one with his great grin too. I think Drexel wanted to make sure you two got your much needed rest. With his head on John's shoe, he was keeping everything just like it needed to be. I hope you are feeling much better each day.

    ReplyDelete
  9. UnknownDecember 28, 2015 at 1:11 PM

    Awesome family photos! So sorry you are fighting a bug though.

    ReplyDelete
  10. KerryDecember 30, 2015 at 10:02 AM

    Aw, love the family photos.
    :-)
    Love the sparkling stuff and the silence.
    Also, there's a beautiful music of lots of chatter from loved ones.
    Hope you're feeling a bit better.

    ReplyDelete
  11. AnonymousJanuary 1, 2016 at 4:23 PM

    It looks like a wonderful time was had by all...how nice.

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Conversations are so much nicer when more than one person does the talking. :-) Please leave a comment and let me know your thoughts; I'd love to hear from you!

Popular posts from this blog

Ten Things of Thankful: Live from Oregon, part 2

stock photo of old computer monitor When I was 10 or 11, I remember sitting next to my dad in our living room and reading computer code to him as he entered it into an Apple computer. We would finish the exercise and he would hit enter (or was it "run"?) and wait expectantly for the green type to appear on the screen. If we were lucky, the whole conversation would occur. Most often, there would be an error either in my dictation of the code, or in the typing of the code. We would then go painstakingly back through the lines, character by character, to find and correct the error. After what seemed like hours (and might have been), we would succeed and the computer would finally run the entire program. It was magical! My dad designed and built an earth-sheltered, passive solar home decades before solar panels were commonplace. He also was on a 9-month waiting list for a Prius, when hybrids were not seen on every street.  While my dad is definitely on the cutting edge of technol...
5 comments
Read more

Monday Mentions: Equate Crutches

Have you ever needed crutches? I hadn't, until a week ago.  I'm pretty sure I strained a muscle while running a half-marathon.  (That sounds kind of cool, doesn't it? I'm not actually that cool; the last time I strained a muscle it was from carrying too many shopping bags at once.) In any case, I found myself in need of some crutches. I sent my husband to the store to get some. Photo: A pair of crutches leans against a wall  Not that crutches are all that complex, but because I hadn't used any before, I wondered if I could figure out how to adjust them to fit me properly. I shouldn't have worried. John came home from Walmart with their generic store brand of crutches, complete with instructions. First, I needed to take out a long bolt that went through the hand grip. Then I needed to find my height range, push down two metal pieces, and slide the crutches until the little metal pieces came up in the hole near my height range. (Having two people for this...
4 comments
Read more

What a Wonderful World! (An #AtoZChallenge Post): Z is for Zion National Park

  Visitor Center sign in Zion National Park My husband recently re-retired, and we are front-loading travel. My #AtoZChallenge posts this year will explore our adventures--some pre-retirement, some post. Today's location: Zion National Park in Utah.  Zion is a bit of a shibboleth. People from outside of Utah (or those who are not members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints) tend to pronounce Zion as "ZIE-on." Locals (or tourists who are members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints) use more of a schwa sound, pronouncing Zion to rhyme with lion. However you choose to pronounce it, it is an amazing, beautiful national park and has some amazing hikes. The last time my husband and I visited Zion National Park, we entered from the east, and traveled through the mile-long Zion-Mt. Carmel tunnel. It is an engineering marvel, completed in the 1920s. Before we passed through the tunnel, though, we spotted a group of bighorn sheep, including some babies...
8 comments
Read more