18. Since Monday I have seen 8 cars dressed up like Rudolph the red nosed reindeer. This is not necessarily a “joy” except that when I saw the first one, I was with my children and they loved it. Then I stopped to notice each subsequent one. Normally I wouldn’t.
19 – 28. Friendships. I am not a great friend, but I have some good friends in spite of that. I don’t want to list names here, because I don’t want to leave anymore out, and I thought that this deserved more than one number on the list because I spent most of Monday thinking about the joy I receive from my friends. Although I’m the kind of person that likes to have close deep friendships and friendships that I get to spend time with often, that is not the case for me currently. I have some great close friends that I don’t get to talk to often, but they build me up when we do meet together. I can’t help but wonder if several good friends from different circles are not what the body of Christ is all about anyhow.
29. Monday evenings – this is sometimes the only time in the week when I get to have time just for me. I have learned to appreciate it, though at first I did not. I like to use my 2 hours or so that I have to do whatever I want to do to chill out – play on the computer, watch a movie, read a book, catch up on blogging. It helps my sanity since my older two kids do not nap anymore, and there is always noise in the house.
30. Daniel has every Friday in December off of work – does this need any explanation?
31. Princess and I got to go shopping for another little girl today, and although, we were busy in our endeavors to find the things on her list, I enjoyed watching my daughter get excited about giving to someone else.
32. Speaking of giving to others, we went to Chick-Fil-A and saw Santa Cow this week. Princess had a “sharing” birthday party and asked her friends to bring gifts that she could share with needy children for Christmas instead of keeping them for herself, so at CFA we gave her gifts to the Salvation Army Angel Tree. She was truly excited about that, and that blessed my heart.
33. Balloons – seeing the delight in the kids eyes and watching Doodle Bug see one floating in the air for the first time. Speed Racer’s favorite part of a balloon is popping it the next day.
34. Surprise phone calls from long time friends.
35. Baking – I love to bake, so I find joy in doing so. I find delight in people’s expressions and exclamations as they eat the goodies.
36. Christmas parties with church friends and Parent’s Night Out at church. Food, laughter, and friends is always a good combination.
37. Photos – Sarah Cook took some pictures of us this week, and of course, we’ve had fun looking at them to see how they turned out.
38. Christmas performances at church – the three year old choir was quite a riot. Mass chaos describes it well. Joyful that my two stayed mostly focused on the task at hand, though Speed Racer looked a little like he would rather be doing something else at times. Princess sang her heart out to Jesus.
39. Breakfast at Cracker Barrell
40. 5 year old checkups in spites of vaccinations.
41. Oatmeal pancakes.
I love the “sharing birthday party” idea. We usually ask for no gifts and do a party that is an experience, but this a really wonderful idea. I plan to borrow it!
This is a beautiful discipline, counting your joys. We are so blessed and have much to be thankful for!