thirty days with a grateful heart. day fifteen.

day fifteen.  angels we have heard on high.

 

 

Every year, my mother would purchase three Christmas ornaments.  They were always angels and there were always three of them.  I don't believe my sisters and I put two and two together, at least I know I did not, until my father decorated his Christmas tree for the first time after she passed away.

 

He pulled the angels out, divided them up, and gave each of my sisters and me a box. 

 

She'd been buying them for us. 

 

One for each of us. 

 

Every single year.

 

We do that, you know.  Mommas.  We do... things for our children that they never even realize we are doing.  Some big, some small.  Some obvious.  Some not so.  My momma's angels were one of those things.

 

Without really discussing it, my sisters and I have continued the tradition.  One year, Teresa bought them. A few years, Crista.  Last year I bought ceramic angels for the three of us - with hair painted the color of each of our own.  We never discuss whose turn it is.  We never even really talk about it, but every single year, there are always three new angels.

This year, I didn't forget, exactly.  I thought about them.  I thought as the oldest, I should buy them this year, it might make me feel better.  I even went as far as to put three angels into my cart from a store online.  I just... never completed the purchase. 

I don't know why exactly.  Maybe I figured it wasn't so bad if we skipped a year.  Maybe I figured we all had so much going on that they might forget this year too, and that would be ok, I mean - its not like this year is all that... normal, you know?

But, my sisters?  They didn't forget.  No, they wouldn't forget. 

So thankful.  So grateful, for this beautiful angel that came in the mail when I needed her most, but even more so today for those other angels my momma left me, my sisters. 

xoxo,
momo

thirty days with a grateful heart. day two.

day two.  oh, come all ye faithful.

I was listening to the radio the other day and happened to  hear an interview with Miranda Lambert.  For those of you who might be living under a rock recently, Miranda is married to Blake Shelton, which is a story in itself and one that I will leave for another day, for now just know that they are both wildly talented and successful country music artists.  The interviewer asked Miranda if she would ever consider putting out a Christmas album and her response was, no.  She explained that Blake plays Christmas music all year long so by the time December rolls around, she's kind of over Christmas music.

And while on one level I understand her thinking, and omg, endears that sweek hunk o'man, Blake, to me even more than ever before, I did feel a slight twinge of sadness at her reply.  Miranda has this... thing about her.  I appreciate her music because at its core, it is nothing if not honest and true.  She sings from her experience, she puts everything she has, heart and soul, joy and despair, into weaving the stories she tells.

What an incredible loss for people like me.  People who love the story of Christmas.  People who believe in the hope of the season, who have faith in the story of Christ.  I can only imagine what it would be like to hear her sing it.

Maybe one day she'll change her mind. 

In the meantime, I have my favorites.  The Little Drummer Boy.  Silent Night.  The hymns of the season we all know by heart.  I well up each and every time I hear them.  I can be in my car, in a grocery store, it really doesn't matter - one of them comes on and I'm... happy.  hopeful.  grateful.

Last night, I had the chance to hear this woman, Chloe Lowry, sing in person.  Take a moment to listen to her rendition of For the Sake of Our Brother and O Come All Ye Faithful.  I dare you not to be moved.  I have to be honest, I have listened to it half a dozen times this morning already and I cannot listen to it even once without getting choked up.  Her voice is so incredibly powerful - the story so profoundly true. 

 

 

I am so grateful today to have been able to hear her sing, to have been blessed by her voice this Christmas season, but you know what?  I'm even more grateful for the genius of youtube, that allows me to share it with you.

 

xoxo,

momo

thirty days with a grateful heart. the prelude.

Ahh, it's that time of year again... the holidays. 

I have to admit for awhile now, I've had somewhat of a love/hate relationship with the holidays.  Somehow I am guessing this year will be no exception.

I love what they are supposed to be...  a joyful celebration of the birth of our Lord.  A reminder to be thankful.  A special time set aside to make lasting memories with the family and friends that we love the most.  Cozy sweaters.  Brightly wrapped gifts.  The Little Drummer Boy.  Fireplaces and recipes handed down for generations.  It's a Wonderful... Lifetime.  I could go on and on and on.

More often than not, however, in the midst of the hustle and bustle of never ending traffic and foul tempered people and finding just the oh, so perfect gift and my attempt to get it all done just right, it seems improbable that it can be any other way.  That it can be, slower.  That it can be, meaningful.  That it can be, enjoyed and actually celebrated.

And that is when crazytown threatens to take me over, body, mind and soul, and I have to do whatever I can do, with every fiber of my being, to... be still and simply take in the wonder of the season. 

Because it can be wonderful, my friends.  Really, really wonderful.  If we let it.

To that end, last year, a sweet girlfriend of mine suggested I take a few moments each day in December to reflect.  To remind myself what I love most about the season and just what it is all about for me.  To take an opportunity to look at my life, at those in my life, and be amazed at what God has blessed me with.  To simply be grateful. 

When all is going well and life is happy, happy, happy - my gratefulness is abundant.  Most would probably agree.   But, some days, and I have had more than a few of them recently, it seems as if the world is conspiring against my happiness. Some days, I wake up and wonder what in the world I could possibly be grateful for about today?

Perhaps it is especially during those times, when taking a minute, maybe two, to be grateful changes us.  Brings us back to what we know to be true, and ultimately, what is truly important in life.  With ever fiber of my being, that is what I am hoping. 

It was a difficult and life changing journey last year.

I would imagine it will be no less so this year. 

And knowing that, knowing that if there were any point in my life that I needed to remind myself to be grateful, it is now - makes this year's journey that much more... important.  More... necessary. 

More... scary.

Trust me on this one. 

See you tomorrow.  xoxo!

thirty days with a grateful heart - day thirteen

day thirteen - how ruth saves christmas

I am a notorious procrastinator, so when Big J asked me what I was doing on tinyprints.com in early October, and heard my response, creating our Christmas cards, he was quite surprised.

I imagine he would have been even more surprised if the cards had actually shown up at our house the next week, but because I somehow got distracted trying to reach the end of internet and ultimately forgot what I was doing in the first place, he never got the opportunity.

On Monday, we were browsing the Christmas cards we've received this year and he casually asked, are we planning on sending Christmas cards this year?  Yep, this past Monday.   Which, as you can imagine, once I realized half of December was almost over, immediately sent me into a bit of a panic and straight back to tinyprints to finalize my order. 

Which, because it was the middle of December, had to include an extra cost for two day shipping, so that I might have an opporunity to actually get them addressed and in the mail sometime before Christmas.

Fast forward to yesterday morning, and the FedEx man delivered what I thought was my cards.  My plan was to take them with me to Frankie's volleyball game this weekend and address them there, so I set them by my desk and almost didn't open the box.  Which, as you are about to find out, would have been a very, very, very bad idea.

You see, when I opened the box, I found a beautiful card which contained a very sweet picture of...  a little boy about two years old and his pet dog.  Which was very definitely not the picture I had chosen for our Christmas cards.  In fact, I didn't even know the boy.  Or the dog for that matter.  And when I turned over the envelopes to see if there was a return address, the name Ruth appeared in silvery holiday print.

What the heck?  Oh this is not good. 
Immediately, I called tinyprints, and even remained patiently on hold for the full 27 minutes and 54 seconds that the automated operator told me it would take to reach the next available service representative.  And although that service representative seemed very helpful and told me that he would put a rush on my new order, the fact that he couldn't get my name right and the fact that he kept calling me Ruth was a little disconcerting.

I thought about looking Ruth's family up, after all - I had their address, but then I thought that it would be too coincidental that she had gotten my cards while I had gotten hers (and maybe just a tiny bit creepy) so I decided to wait out the second delivery from tinyprints.

About half an hour later, I received a call from a woman who works in Big J's office who said that she had received a very strange call from a woman named Ruth who said she had my Christmas cards.  She kept saying that she thought maybe it was a scam, but that the woman sounded so genuine, that she wanted to pass the phone number along. 

I actually laughed out loud as I thanked her for taking down the number, I assured her it wasn't a scam and that I would phone Ruth back and get it all straightened out.

Apparently, Ruth had called information looking for my number and when she realized it was unlisted, she began calling any Angelone she could find in Scottsdale, Arizona.  When I finally reached her on the phone, we chit chatted like old friends.  I told her I'd called tinyprints to try to get the situation resolved and she said she had tried too but didn't want to wait on hold that long! Then, she said she lived in New York which, of course, had me bringing up incredible memories of our family's trip to the city last year.  I told her that I'd looked at her cards and that I thought her son was too cute and that I was so thankful that she'd called me.  She said she thought my cards were beautiful and wished me a Merry Christmas.

All in all, it was a really nice conversation with a complete stranger, and at a time like Christmas when people can be harried and grumpy and overly stressed by the slightest problem, both Ruth and I actually laughed about the mix up.   After we chatted awhile, Ruth promised to send out my Christmas cards to me, overnight, and I promised the same to her.

So, today - day thirteen - I am filled with a happy kind of gratitude for my new found friend... Ruth.  For saving my Christmas cards.  And more importantly, for making me laugh yesterday.  I truly needed it!

thirty days with a grateful heart - day nine

day nine - deck the halls

I never met Big Johnny's grandma Helen, she died just before we started dating.  But even though I never had the chance to know her in person, each year at Christmastime, I think of her and my heart overflows with gratefulness at the incredible gift she has given us. 

Take a look... 

Almost every ornament on our Christmas tree was made, with love, by grandma Helen.  They are incredible, truly.  Sequins and pushpins and ribbon and pearls.  I can't even begin to imagine the time and patience it took to make them all, and believe it or not - she made four full sets - one for herself and one for each of her children.

Over the years, we have slowly started adding our own additions to our tree, the crafty ornaments the littles have made in school, a bit of ribbon here, a few candy canes, and the ornaments my father passed along to me after my mother's death.  And each year, our tree becomes more and more a blend of both the old and new, a visual metaphor, if you will, of our lives.

thirty days with a grateful heart - day three

day three - falalala lifetime

Ah.  Lifetime.  I heart Lifetime.  Especially at the holidays.

No, I'm not talking about Lifetime Fitness, although, actually, I did used to (kindof) heart LT last year when I was (kindof) training for Ironman and I used to (kindof) swim (which I so did NOT heart) there on volleyball practice nights.  Well, that was until they wanted to charge me a single daypass fee of $30 last week when it was dark and raining and I was feeling wimpy and didn't want to get my new running shoes all wet.  Or my hair for that matter.  So I dropped Frankie off and headed over there and $30 for a day pass?  Puhlease!  I asked the receptionist what US Fitness charged, which just so happened to be right next door, she said she didn't know, but I am pretty sure she did too know (it was $15) and that she probably thought (wrong!), what with it raining and all, and what with me being all dressed to workout and all, that I'd just shell out the $30.  You'll be glad to know that I most certainly did not because, well, hello?  I could have my hair washed and dried by a professional for $30. 

Wait, where was I?

Oh yes, Lifetime.  I heart Lifetime.  You know - the tv channel?

For at least a couple of hours most weekends the month of December, you can find me and oftentimes both me and Frankie, in front of the television watching the Christmas movies on Lifetime.   Seriously, I've seen them all...  A Diva's Christmas Carol, Home for the Holidays, The Holiday Switch, the Road to Christmas, Dear Santa.   You name it, we've seen it.  A few times.  Ok, maybe more than a few times.

There aren't many shows that I make much of an effort to watch - and most definitely not at the time they are actually shown, thank goodness for the DVR - so the fact that I can sit, sometimes for hours (and hours) on end, watching sappy Christmas movies is rather... interesting.    Especially considering that each and every one is just a slight variation of the other - a story about some sort of a crisis or catastrophe that, incredibly, miraculously, is completely resolved to the joy and happiness of all by the approaching Christmas holiday.

Homeless people find shelter.  A widowed, lonely man finds a wife.  An orphan is adopted.  The wicked witch boss develops a giving heart.  A secret wish comes true.

I heart them.  Every single one.  You know why? 

I heart them because I know, every December, I can snuggle up with my girl in a comfy chair, and have my faith in the simple goodness of life restored.  That happiness will happen for us.  That Santa exists if we say he does.  That love is right around the next corner.  And that no one has to be alone.  Especially on Christmas.

falalala lifetime!