I used to have blonde highlights in my hair. I like the silver ones better.

Have I mentioned lately how busy I am? Not exactly, because I’m so busy that I haven’t even been able to come here much to say anything about it, or about anything else. Work has been NUTS. So many big projects, so much extra effort necessary. Then there’s trying to get ready for Christmas, which includes Eric’s birthday (12-16). Last Friday I was at Shambhala Mountain Center at the Fearlessly Creative writing and meditation retreat with Susan Piver, and this week I got turned around about what day it was, so here we are after two weeks of no Gratitude Friday posts, and I’ve got plenty of stuff to be grateful for…

Shambhala Mountain Center

The view from my bedroom window my first morning at Shambhala Meditation Center

1. Fearlessly Creative with Susan Piver. This is the fourth time I’ve attended this retreat. I love it, the place and her and the practice, so much. Even though I write every day for a lot of the day, I can lose sight of being a writer. I know that must sound weird but it’s true. I think maybe it’s because so much of the writing I do is in service of someone else’s mission, and there’s so much writing I want to do that I just don’t have the time or energy for, and because of that what I’m not writing feels more present somehow that what I am writing. This retreat, three full days of nothing but mediating and writing what I want to and discussing those things, reminds me — this is who I am. This time there was an extra bonus — my room got upgraded to a junior suite! It was really nice.

I always bring a few things to make myself more comfortable, like my own pillow and blanket and some twinkle lights.

Rigden Shrine Room, Shambhala Mountain Center

2. Practice. After going on retreat, I feel reenergized, recommitted.

3. Good mail. Along with all the Christmas cards and notes, there have been a few special surprises. This mug came in the mail today from a big hearted friend, and I’m not even sharing it with Eric.

4. Christmas Vacation. We went to see A Charlie Brown Christmas on my first official day off from work. As a kid, I loved the dog, the music, the awkward characters, and thought it was a sweet story. As an adult, I’m also painfully aware how white and aggressively Christian it is. I watched a small boy sleep in his grandma’s lap for most of the show, the little girl in front of me spent the intermission dancing in the aisle, and at one point Eric was sneaking me Rolos. Tonight, we are going out for Chinese food, a Christmas Eve tradition that doesn’t happen every year but I’m glad when it does. We’ve also been spending a lot of time in the pool and sauna at the gym. I love our Christmas tree, and there’s a bit of snow on the ground.

5. Sweet Sam and Ringo Blue. A friend’s dog is really sick, and it’s making me extra grateful for how young and healthy these two are right now. This in-between doesn’t last for long, this moment when no one is a baby and no one is dying, and I’m doing my best to be present with it, appreciate it, and remember that like everything else, it doesn’t last.

Bonus joy: my niece had her baby (!!!!!), things went well and they are both healthy and of course she’s the cutest thing e v e r, Christmas treats, tea with a dear friend, brunch with another dear friend, plans to catch up with yet another dear friend, clean sheets, clean laundry, a warm shower, a cold glass of clean water, hot apple cider, snow tires, twinkle lights, Christmas trees, just enough snow to have a white Christmas, good tv, finding the power cord I thought I’d lost, warm toast with butter and honey, cooking, watching The Great British Baking Show with Eric (although it makes me hungry, makes me want to bake stuff), a clean bathroom (thanks, Eric!), clementines and oranges, down blankets, being able to have enough and then extra that I can share with those who don’t, the promise of unopened presents.

It was so cold and my glasses were fogging up, but the sunrise was amazing

Apparently, I wasn’t just late with this post last week, I forgot altogether! I’m not sure how exactly that happens, except for it’s been a busy season and I had a different schedule last Friday that must have thrown me off. I was just as grateful, even though I didn’t come here and tell you about it.

1. Morning walks with the dogs. They were some cold, dark ones this week, but there was an almost full moon.

2. The play of the light. These next two pictures were taken from the same bridge at the same moment, only one minute apart, one looking east and one looking west.

3. Christmas trail trees. After Thanksgiving every year, someone decorates three trees along the trail. It makes me so happy.

4. Flowers in the bathroom and kitchen counter love notes. This week, they were extra fancy.

I’m not even sure how he did this — when he writes a grocery list, I can’t even read it

5. My tiny family. My favorites, even when the dogs are barking at garbage trucks for what feels like the fourth hour in a row and they won’t stop no matter what I try or Eric is in a bad mood it doesn’t even come close to erasing the laughter and the love, which is so so much bigger.

Bonus joy: getting holiday shopping finished (don’t get too excited, I still have to wrap and then ship half of it), texting, good TV, good books, aqua aerobics, my new infrared heating pad (it’s only been two days, but so far it seems like a miracle – it was an early present from Eric because the company he ordered it from sent it without boxing or wrapping it so I already knew what it was when I saw it sitting on the front porch), the sauna at the gym, massage, a bonus at work, dropping in on a yoga class I won’t be going to much more, our new bed (another one — we had to return the first new bed that was memory foam because it was too soft, like sleeping on a giant marshmallow), breakfast for dinner, a fun Christmas movie with friends, oranges, clementines, an apple with peanut butter on crackers which is apparently my go-to “I didn’t have time to pack a lunch and I don’t want to go anywhere” meal when I’m at work, Wild Writing, Get Together Time, Nosework class with Ringo, how sweet Sam is, laughing with Eric, Christmas lights.