First Monday of the new year! Hurray! Hoping to avoid getting a case of the Mondays this year…
…I’m linking up with Ann Voskamp and the 1000 gifts community.
The building momentum has been so interesting to watch:
An autumn conversation with a beloved sister. How can we live lives of gratitude. A mention of a book.
Secret journals begun.
A dinner table tradition of a dad pulling out a blessings book and each child and parent calling out an addition to their blessings.
A Christmas present spreads the call to count our gifts.
Familial conversations continue the reminders of all that God has given us.
A teary-eyed husband shares his own new journal and first entry to his wife.
One word for 2013.
A gentle reminder from a friend.
So, to start off my list, I can’t help but think of the holiday we just shared:

It’s Sander’s Fudge!
I’m so grateful that we could spend Christmas with Mom, my sister and her family, and my brother and his girlfriend.
We enjoyed a special gift of Sander’s Dark Chocolate Hot Fudge, hand-delivered from Michigan.
I keep reminding myself how lovely it was to spend a week in the warmer climate of Florida.
How lovely the Christmas lights looked when covered with a (thankfully light) layer of snow.
Surprises from Tom to welcome me home.
I keep thinking back on how delightful it is to share Christmas with a child (or in my case, three). Their enjoyment of every present, the older ones’ excitement to have their gifts opened by others, and the joy of experiencing the simple delights of the season anew.
The littlest one, not yet three, clapped in wonder when they made it snow (in Florida!) at a Christmas light show. And this precious moment, captured after placing Baby Jesus before Mary and Joseph on Christmas Day…
…may we, with awe, worship Christ throughout this year and look for the gifts that God gives us everyday.