Merry Christmas friends! Today I’m sharing Christmas pictures.
So pictures don’t tell the whole story. They put their best foot forward and hide the chaos beyond the lens.
On the periphery of these photos are laundry piles, dirty dishes, dog hair, sticky counters, messy little hands, smeared fingerprints on stainless appliances and unmade beds. Yep.
I’m thankful for those laundry piles. (My family and I are blessed with clothes.)
I’m thankful for dishes in the sink and sticky counters. (We have plenty to eat and drink here.)
I’m thankful for the Chloe hair. (We absorb quiet comfort from a gentle, wagging tail and sympathetic brown eyes on our hardest days.)
I’m grateful for messy little hands and faces. (They belong to the loves of my life. How I wish I could protect them from the harsh world they were born into ….)
I’m thankful for smeared fingerprints on appliances. (Dishwashers, dryers, washing machines, stoves and refrigerators simplify the mundane, giving me time to focus on other things.)
And lastly, I’m thankful for the unmade beds. (We each have a cozy place for shut eye, even if we can’t bounce a nickel on the bedspread. How blessed are we.)
I read an article after Thanksgiving about a woman who lost her house and all her possessions in the Paradise fires. She spent Thanksgiving at a shelter, serving turkey dinners to fellow homeless survivors.
“It’s probably the best Thanksgiving of my life,” she said. “Being alive – my family being alive – makes you realize…. (what’s really important)”
This quote hangs in my kitchen: “Gratitude turns what we have into enough”
Are you in search of Christmas joy this year? Me too. What a year it’s been. At every turn, sorrow for so many. Broken relationships, loss of loved ones, health crises, financial and political stress, and so much more.
Today I’m snuggled by the fireplace, counting my blessings, like that grateful lady in Paradise.
I’m thankful to be alive and experiencing the joys of the season.
I’m thankful for each member of my family and extended family.
I’m thankful for today, because that’s all that’s guaranteed.
I’m thankful for a tiny Baby that arrived in a manger bed two thousand years ago on a cold winter’s night. Hope.
What are you thankful for?
Wishing you a beautiful, meaningful time with your family and friends, celebrating the joys of the season.
All my love and wishes for a peaceful, restful Christmas and a New Year filled with joy and hope. XOXO
You may also enjoy: The Gift of Giving and Broken Wings
Katie says
I’m thankful for you and your family! I’ve been thinking about people in NH the entire advent season. Merry Christmas!
Sonia B Collins says
I pray that you and your family was BLESSED beyond reason!!!!!!
And I pray that you have a safe NEW YEAR!!!!
Stay Blessed!!!!!
Allie says
Hi Sonia – thank you so much, it was great to hear from you! Wishing you and your family a beautiful New Year in 2019.
Allie says
Hi Katie – I loved hearing from you, thanks so much!!! It was a joy to meet your family and parents this past summer. I hope your family had a great Christmas and wishing you all a beautiful new year in 2019. XO
Sallie Eisengrein says
We are thankful for you, Allie, and your family! Thank you for a beautifully written expression of God’ s provision! God sent His Son to save a dying world. Merry Christmas!
Allie says
Thanks Sallie, Merry Christmas to all the Eisengreins. Was just thinking about how you came with your girls and brought a beautiful meal to us as we were welcoming Jonathan home from the hospital nearly twenty-one years ago. Thinking about your girls so sweet and small, holding baby Jonathan for the first time in our living room on Court Drive. Those precious memories are priceless and will last a lifetime. xo
Susie Mandel says
Merry Christmas, Allie, to you and your dear family. We love you!!
Carrie Whitlock says
Merry Christmas!!
Barbara and Carole Beaudry says
Thinking of you and your family as we celebrate the birth of the dear Divine Infant Savior coming into a violent,
cold, uncaring world, filled with sickness, destruction, catastrophic disasters we cannot imagine or understand, but nevertheless befalls our world around us!!! Only God knows the answers to these problems and difficult situations, and only He can rectify and make sense and use them for His ultimate purposes!! Yet we know He does not send these upon mankind, but uses them for reasons unknown to us! For those who know and love Him, He does bring Peace, deep Love and Infinite Joy in spite of outward circumstances. If only the world would know, appreciate and accept His Offer, they also could have this same contentment that is offered to everyone, Whosoever Will——-
Thinking of you ALL and wishing YOU A VERY MERRY CHRISTMAS. and may the NEW YEAR hold wonderful Blessings to marvelous dreams you hold dear to your hearts!!!
We love you so much and hold you all deeply within our hearts always!!!!
God bless,
Lovingly,
Carole and Barbara
Allie says
Thank you Barbara and Carole. Wishing you JOY and all the best in 2019. XO
Carol says
Thank you for a beautiful post.
Allie says
Hi Carol, thanks for the gracious words. Wishing you and your family a beautiful new year.
Nancy says
Merry Christmas Allie.
Carol says
You have written such a beautiful article and there is no doubt in my mind that you know the true meaning of gratitude. We can chase through stores and try however hard we can to keep up with the neighbors but the things that really make us grateful and happy are often taken for granted.
This year has really been a huge battle for so much of western Canada and U.S., I can only shake my head and scold myself when I feel a bit down in the dumps about our eastern coast weather. We are so fortunate to be in a place where our houses are not in danger and although we cannot predict what will happen at any time, I am grateful for all the snow and will take my spot in the world over any other place.
OH, and another thing to be grateful for is how wonderfully easy it is to communicate and get such wonderful knowledge from people like you, Allie. A while back you wrote the article about biscuits and wrote about the Bakewell Cream. So I have not been home long enough to order it from King Arthur, but next week we will be on our way home, so this morning I ordered a beautiful Whole Grains Cookbook, Bakewell Cream, and a couple of other items at King Arthur. I am just thrilled and now I will watch for it patiently and cannot wait to see how much better I can make my biscuits. My husband says they are wonderful already, but I am convinced that it often pays to try different ingredients, methods and use whatever knowledge you gain to improve things.
With an EXTREMELY grateful heart, I will close the year. So happy to have experienced all the ups and downs of this past year, ever anxious and hopeful for the coming year!
May the sun shine on you and your beautiful family in the new year! Even though we have never met,it is such a pleasure to read your posts and I am so grateful to feel like I do know you.
All the best in 2019!
Allie says
Dear Carol, Thank you so much for this wonderful note. Hearing from you was like opening a gift. Things have been very full here with the holidays and I’m just now getting back to you. I’m so glad you have discovered King Arthur. I have the very same cookbook you bought and love it. Another product from King Arthur I love baking with is the white whole wheat flour. It supposedly has all the nutrition of the regular whole wheat flour but with a much lighter texture and flavor and no bleaching. I will often use half white wheat and half all purpose for my recipes with great results and better nutrition. I do this with pancake and waffle recipes especially. I so enjoy our friendship across the miles and would love to hear how your biscuits come out with the Bakewell Cream. Have a wonderful 2019 and I look forward to hearing from you along the way…XOXO
Judy says
From the looks of things, you’ve brought a great deal of JOY into your house — but we knew that already!
Karen (Back Road Journal) says
What an absolutely beautiful post Allie and your quote says it all “Gratitude turns what we have into enough”. I’m grateful to have a friend like you that I can stop by and visit through your blog. I hope Christmas was everything you wished it to be, it sounds like it was to me. Wishing you and your wonderful family a healthy and happy new year.
Allie says
Hi Karen, thanks so much for these gracious words, and wishing you all the best in the new year.