This is the season to recount and appreciate all we have been given.  A lot has happened in the past few months to make me see all the beauty and gifts surrounding me.  With the passing of my dear friend, Sara, I have come to realize that as each day is not promised to us we need to make the most of the ones we have.  Each morning we wake up to a new sun, a new moon and a new opportunity to touch others and I want to grab that opportunity and make it count.

I want to live my life full of gratitude and fun.  I want to go to bed at night and think that I did something worthwhile that day.  Even if it’s only a phone call or an email to someone who needs it I want to live my life as God intends me to.  I want to be a blessing to those around me.  I am not always good at this but I try a little harder each day and I think that’s what counts.

Ann Voskamp started an online movement called the Gratitude Community.  This group of, literally, hundreds is counting their blessings, big and small, everyday.  After all, isn’t this the season where we make paper trees listing what we are thankful for?  Why should it last only a season?  So every Monday I will be listing things that I am thankful for.  Things that would normally go unnoticed but today I’m vowing to notice them.  Will you join me, Ann  and many others by listing your 1000 Gifts?  Even if you don’t want to participate I urge you to stop and notice the seemingly mundane things you used to take for granted and start enjoying the little things in life.

Some of the gifts I have been given lately are:

1 My baby son’s first steps.

2 Dinner with my family.  At the table.  With cloth napkins and music in the background.

3 Beautiful warm sunny Spanish weather in November, when many others are piling on the coats.

4 Friends.

5 The scents of the holidays filling my home.

6 Christmas decorations in November.

7 Craft supplies.

8 Shredded chicken tacos.

9 Clean laundry.

10 The sun to dry said clean laundry.

11 Eyeglasses.

12 Chocolate cupcakes.

13 Finding new old shoes at the bottom of the closet.

14 Cleaning out the storage closet.

15 Hot water in the kitchen sink.

16 Down comforters on a chilly night.

17 Video baby monitors.  To watch that sweet cherub sleep all balled up in the corner of his crib.

18 My husband coming home from work with a smile on his face.  Every. Day.

19 Skype.

20 Mothers.

Join in and link over to Ann’s Holy Experience