New Year Thankful

• For these boys in red on Christmas night. Christmas with them is always Christmas at home.
• Finally living in a place where people eat their black-eyed-peas for good luck on New Year’s. (It’s almost impossible to find black-eyed peas in Philadelphia or San Francisco and it just feels wrong to go without those little gray beans on New Year’s Day.)
• That we go to a church where we get to celebrate Christmas for 12 days…way into the New Year. It’s such a relief to not have to be done when you go to bed Christmas night! (Isn’t Christmas bedtime sort of depressing?) So…maybe I’m still listening to Christmas music, okay?
• For the dearest kind of friends in Philadelphia: cocktails with friends in the city, a late-night talk on Barb and Casey’s couch, laughing in Joe and Kate’s kitchen while their girls entertain our boys, bread and cheese with Em, Pete, Jeff and Christina, coffee with Nancy, playing with Brooksie on the Ballbachs’ kitchen floor, midnight tea with Cat. I’m so blessed to know such love (even if I didn’t know much sleep last week).
• For a mother-in-law who loves my boys deeply and whose spiritual gift is cooking and feeding!
• For the 9-month-old chunky legs crawling around my living room. For his joy of of newfound exploration (he discovered crawling Christmas Eve!). For how much he loves his daddy.
• For the line of twine across our wall, Christmas cards clothes-pinned on. So many faces we love smiling at me while I wash the dishes.
• A late night apology to my boy in the dark, leaning over his bed. I’m sorry for yelling. And his sweet kiss of forgiveness.
• For the little boy with the new cool bike who would rather go inside and read the book about germs from the library, no matter how much I insist that riding a bike is awesome. For the reminder that my job is to love him well, not make him fit my expectations. Oh brother…this might be a long lesson to learn.
• For the coziness of home and the joy of rest.
• For the two days it takes to unpack and how okay I am with mess.
• A long weekend with Chris at home and the reminder of how good he is with our boys. He has always been sweet with them but lately I’ve been amazed by the patience he’s developed this year, his ability to play long imaginative games and share secrets with August and Brooksie. Our baby squeals when his dad comes into the room. Sunday, when Chris asked August what the best part of his life is, do you know what that boy said? “Donuts with Dad,” their Saturday morning ritual. All little boys worship their dads. Few experience the sweet safety of playing with them. I’m so grateful that my boys know they are loved and received and embraced by their father.
• My mom is coming to visit today! And it’s my parents’ anniversary.

It’s a New Year Thankful Tuesday! What are you thankful for?