1. Happy New Year! All our Christmas presents got put away or put to use, and our tree came down and got recycled yesterday. I miss the lights, but the herons will stay inside in the corner by the front window at least until the snow melts.

2. Morning walks. I missed all of them this week. I was subbing some yoga classes and the first part of the week was super cold and Sam’s restricted to just short walks again as he tweaked his back on the ice, but Eric takes lovely pictures so I feel like I was there.

3. Expecting bad news but it turning out okay. It puts everything into perspective when you are expecting the worst and that doesn’t happen. It makes all the other stuff you were worried about before seem like not such a big deal. Also, therapy helps.

4. Practice. Yoga, writing, meditation, and dog. These all help too, (see #3).

5. My tiny family. Sam tweaked his back again on the ice, so he’s been getting lots of special attention, (the above picture is Eric using the cold laser on him). It’s trash day today because of the holiday, and both boys are at the window telling off the trash collectors right now. It’s super cute because sometimes they start off barking and then switch to singing and howling, which Sam isn’t very good at but that makes it even cuter. I’m happy to have another week to spend with Eric before he goes back to work.

Bonus joy: our new ice cream maker from Eric’s mom and dad, hanging out with Mikalina, going to lunch and a movie with Chelsey and Jon (and the movie being good), good TV, good movies, good books (lots of new ones as Christmas gifts I can’t wait to read), making a full page “2020 vision” to-do list and crossing off four things the very first day, updating my resume and realizing I have been working hard and accomplishing a lot, long naps, reading in bed at night while Eric and the dogs sleep, subbing a yoga class and seeing students I haven’t seen in awhile, Sarah’s New Year’s Day yoga mandala class on a day when I really really really needed it, realizing my car will be paid off in another year, the new rugs we ordered (we finally have a dog old enough that we can legitimately worry about him slipping and falling), getting in the pool and sauna at the gym, sunshine, leftover sweet potato and black bean quesadillas, clementines.

I can’t believe we got them to sit still and look in the general direction of the camera

1. Merry everything, happy always. We had a lovely, quiet and calm celebration, opened presents, cooked and shared and ate lots of good food, listened to Christmas music, took naps, and watched “Elf.”

2. I’m retired. On our walk this morning, I felt that familiar post-Christmas anxiety, that sinking feeling, the awareness that no matter how rested or good I was feeling, I was going to have to go back to work and that was going to ruin it. Then I remembered I’m retired and never have to go back.

3. The best Christmas present I can’t even tell you about. A dear friend recently got something they’ve wanted for such a long time. When I found out and tried to tell Eric, I burst into tears but was laughing at the same time. He said he’s never seen someone do that before, and it’s never happened to me, that particular mix of grief over everything they’ve been through, joy about what’s possible, and relief that the long dark night of waiting just might be over.

4. Eric is really good at gift giving. There were two giant boxes under the tree and he told me even if I guessed a million guesses, I’d never figure it out. He was right, two brass herons for my garden. He also buys me at least a few gifts just because he knows they’ll make me laugh.

5. My tiny family. My favorites.

Bonus joy: texting with my brother, cute pictures of his tiny family, talking to my mom on the phone, hanging out with Chloe’ and Mikalina, breakfast with Carrie, aqua aerobics, sitting in the sauna with Eric, naps, clean sheets, Christmas dinner leftovers for days, the new pen Eric bought me, good TV (Season 3 of Better Things is streaming on Hulu, and I accidentally started watching season one and it was so good I decided to rewatch the first two seasons before starting the new one), Amazon gift cards so I can load up my Kindle with more books, reading in bed at night while Eric and the dogs sleep, therapy, my new favorite super soft pj pants that are my self-employed introverted hsp uniform, yoga, meditation, writing, morning walks with Eric and the dogs.