Sunday, December 11, 2011

A Time for Joy ... and for Finding it in Smaller Stuff

'Tis the season ... and that jazz.

This time of year is full of wonderful "stand-out" moments. Special events, parties, Santa photos, decking the halls, making/decorating/consuming cookies ... making memories & starting/continuing traditions.

But don't forget the joy in the smaller stuff too. Give yourself time to find it.

This afternoon, my mom brought over sugar cookies she'd baked. She'd made her special icing and brought along sprinkles. When I was young, we used to make literally hundreds of sugar cookie cut-outs. One year we topped over 1000. Her cookies are world-famous. We've recently discovered it's all about the icing & started using the store-bought dough. Anyway, we passed the tradition down to the next generation today. My daughter had a blast, and we all delighted in watching her. (Each time we weren't watching she managed to sneak another extra cookie!)



This evening, we drove to a nearby touristy town with a great lights display. We stopped for dinner at a favorite brew-pub, then strolled around the square. (Stroll = take turns chasing a 20 month old)



These were both completely awesome times. Wonderful wonderful memories. What I think made them enjoyable was that none of us had had too much.

Earlier in the day, we did nothing. We stayed in our jammies till just before my parents got to our house. The height of excitement was playing with the dog. And guess what -- that time was awesome too. Wonderful wonderful memories. Apparently, my kiddo's butterfly PJ bottoms are also bossy pants. She arranged her Daddy & me just so, "sit sit" and tried to tell the dog just want to do too, but he has yet to accept her as Alpha. The dog is just a funny funny oaf. It is seriously too easy to fool him as to the whereabouts of his toys - good thing we never call on him for the purpose for which he was bred - you know, retrieving game.



We had plans on the horizon, excitement to anticipate, but no reason to rush all morning. Now that's a gift worth giving your family & yourself!

Do you ever feel like you're at a sprint from Thanksgiving to New Years? What ways have you found to slow down?

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