1. God

2. Safe travels for Emily

3. Paul will go far

4. Old times not so old

5. ricercar

6. Cardinals

7. Long wooden spoons

8. Talking with my mother on the telephone

9. Greens on the mantelpiece with red bows

10. Cats playing with toys

1. God

2. Abundance of sunlight

3. Cassie enjoys the book Andrew gave her

4. Emily with her friends

5. Flu shot for David

6. A kind veterinary to help Ella so that she might be less cranky

7. Sarah’s calendar of literary cats

8. No absence of color

9. Scents

10. Stopping

1. God

2. A fine Christmas

3. Emily is a fine hostess

4. Driving my mother and father

5. Text messages with good wishes from many corners

6. Watering the plants and the tree

7. The stores stay open terribly late

8. A teapot with a cozy crocheted cover

9. Knowing what makes someone smile

10. Or someone smiling anyhow

1. God

2. Giving

3. Watching sisters together

4. Light

5. Warmth

6. Gratitude for all good Christmas wishes

7. Stillness

8. The Christmas radio station

9. John Fahey’s Christmas record

10. A gathering of family

11. Christmas Day in the Morning – sending warm and grateful thoughts to you and yours

1. God

2. Running water

3. Emily’s accomplishments

4. Carols

5. Stars cut out of paper Charlene made for us

6. A man whose birthday wish was for each of us to do something good for someone else

7. A woman who wished for hugs for Christmas

8. Substitute recipes

9. Food that comes from the earth

10. Shoes

1. God

2. Christa on four legged teachers

3. Time off

4. Open door

5. Many things can be fixed

6. Poems of Edward Thomas

especially this one

7. Chatting with Alex at his book store and admiring his talents and interests

8. This charming picture

9. An invitation to awesomeness

10.

1. God

2. Seeing the same moon Helen saw in Texas (imagine)

3. Smiling moon

4. The moon hidden in a blanket of cloud that was like a wedding train (or a shroud)

5. The moon comfortably wrapped as if in a blanket

6. or reclining in the cloud as though upon a sunlit beach

7. brighter than the sun we need more light at night

8. always ahead

9. spinning earth

10. gently gently away

Postscript:

is dying to hear?”

Hafiz (via First Sip)

1. God

2. A nice card and picture from Sylvia

3. Yes, the snowplow’s sound, right, Andrea

4. Patience

5. Drivers who stopped so I could help Cassie get her car in the driveway after it was stuck on the slippery, snow-covered incline

6. Greens

7. Oh, and I like the new WordPress layout, thanks, Crystal

8. Sprung from work early due to the storm and avoiding traffic

9. A book to read when troubled with sleeplessness

“A good book is the precious life-blood of a master-spirit, embalmed and treasured up on purpose to a life beyond life, and as such it must surely be a necessary commodity.” Penelope Fitzgerald, the Bookshop

1. God

After all this time there is so much I take for granted

People in my life

This chair I sit upon, someone wove the seat and carved the legs.  Likewise this table which Cassie just refinished.

Years and years of genetic transmission and cell birth death and regeneration that brought me here.

A storm system that damaged much of the country spared where I live

The electricity and heat are working, I don’t know how

If I go to the stores, they may not have exactly what I want or the quantities, and yet there’s food and products on a scale unimaginable, not even economic or natural disaster stopped this process

Language and skills I’ve learned, faces and voices I recognize

I receive more than I give on a daily basis, especially money and resources which are not mine

Stewardship, especially of others’ time

I may not make anything, except better than I found it?

responsibility and  great joy

Inspired in part by Lolly Daskal

1. God

2. Street lamps in the fog look like spraying shower jets

3. Turkeys along the road

4. Rereading

5. And not seeing what was there before

6. Memory of a woman

7. Who says

8. Clementines

9. Something for each letter

10. Sound of music