First Snow Day

I was delighted to get that 6:30am call saying that all schools in the district are closed today due to weather conditions. I did spend nearly 3 hours correcting earlier today, but I was happy to do that during the workday rather than some tired evening or unwilling weekend. I indulged in 3 mugs of coffee with eggnog (one was decaf). Now I think I'll venture out to pick up a few last-minute supplies for Taco Thursday, formerly Taco Tuesday.

I haven't mentioned two other items calling for gratitude: Christmas advent and a new kitten. It just so happens that Bizzy has been a little too interested in our advent wreath. I’ve since revamped and relocated it, along with our knitted figure-puppet nativity scene. (Mary was daily taken and chewed… No more.)

Hair, Snow, Run

I was so thankful that my hairdresser was able to squeeze me in for a last-minute appointment yesterday. She cuts my hair better and more affordably than anyone else (and trust me, I've had a LOT of bad haircuts!), even if I don't get a cafe mocha and neck massage while waiting like I used to at my salon in Montreal. Later that evening, it started to snow for (almost) the first time, although this dusting doesn't really count as a first snowfall around here. Then this morning, I decided to go for a run and my iPod has this neat new way of keeping track of my progress and it tells me (through the headphones) how far I've gone and how far I've got left. Other than this new technology, apparently my running gear hasn't changed much in the past few years. I'm also thankful for the benefits of my new wheat-free lifestyle, but that's for another day.

Complaint Rephrasal

So here's my first recorded attempt at rephrasing a common complaint as a statement of thankfulness. My typical grumbling goes like this: It's disheartening to come home after teaching all day and feel like all I accomplish in the evenings is cooking supper, preparing meals for the following day, and tidying the kitchen. Here's what I want to say instead: I'm thankful that even after a day's teaching, I can still be home to prepare meals and keep our kitchen tidy. If I quickly rephrase the complaint in my mind, I expect that I will eventually be more prone to being thankful for what is rather than complaining about what isn't.

Egg Nog

Now I'm starting to wonder if I'm an emotional drinker: first coffee, now egg nog. But again, I think it's all the associations I have with it. It's the first taste of Christmas. It's what I'll have in my morning coffee instead of cream from now until New Years-ish. Plus, Ben and Sam were home for the weekend and we made a batch of homemade eggnog. And it was so nice to visit with these newlyweds over this first-try beverage. Right now I'm heating some (store-bought) egg nog up with milk and cocoa (Believe it!), while I relax and warm up for a few moments before supper preparations begin/continue. So really, I suppose egg nog (as with coffee) just represents gratitude I have for much more significant things, like family memories.

And I just thought of more food-related thankfulness: We had a delicious seafood feast of crab legs and bacon-wrapped scallops this past weekend. But it was the "taste" of family around the kitchen table that made me the happiest.

My beach

I am so happy that we live within a 5 minute stroll to the beach, where I can sit, walk or run in almost complete solitude for as long as I desire. Although our house is in a small subdivision, I still have sneak-peaks of the water from a few windows and even from our side deck and yard. We have a large lot, but not many trees for privacy. However, this is a trade-off that I'm so glad we made when we decided to buy this particular home near the sea rather than in town. Another perk: living a short drive from a seafood market where just this evening I picked up a bag of scallops (to wrap in bacon and drizzle with maple syrup, of course).

Mitaines was enjoying our yard this summer, and the view as well. (Yes, he's on a leash.)

Friends

I've often felt lonely because we live so far away from many of our like-minded friends. This has certainly caused me to grumble over the years. However, when we have the occasion to spend time with far-away friends, I am so refreshed! Such was the case this weekend.

A cup of coffee

All the tensions of a busy day were relieved with that first cool sip of iced coffee on the way home from work today. It was incredible! It's that first moment of relief that is felt when you put up your feet at the end of the day. It's the taste of memories from other similar moments of peace in a busy season of life. I guess what I mean is that I'm grateful for those simple moments when suddenly my perspective in changed, however briefly. Of course, what also made the moment so pleasant was that my husband had picked me up from work and surprised me with this cute-cafe-bought coffee. Surely that is what heightened my senses and sentimentality even before the first sip.

Oui, Madame!

I'm thankful to be able to teach in my second language in an Acadian region of a province where I didn't grow up. I'm thankful for my grade 4 students who delight me with their antics and amaze me with their progress in learning French. I'm thankful that my oldest nephew is in my class. (I would have never imagined that the first time I met and held him as a 9-month-old.)

Thankfulness

So here’s my goal: I want to cultivate thankfulness in my life. I began writing a list of everything I’m thankful for in my personal journal, but I kind of forgot about it and, frankly, started being more of a grumbler than a thanker. So I want the theme of this blog to be one of thankfulness, which will hopefully be the reflection of a life of thankfulness. I’m going to purposefully write about aspects of my life that I’m thankful for, highlighting complaints and ungratefulness only to shed greater light on that for which I am grateful.

In order to avoid the impression that this is a look-at-all-the-great-things-in-my-life exploitation, let me premise this: I believe that God is the giver of all good things. And even some of the seemingly not good things we experience can serve to bring us to greater depths of gratefulness.

Why now, after not blogging for over a year and a half? Well, during much of that time, Jeff and I were vlogging.* Being the practical person that I am, I didn’t want to repeat what we were already doing via video. Also, I figure this will help keep me accountable to interpreting life through the lens of gratitude.

*TheChaseons Along the same lines as my thankfulness accountability here, Jeff is currently vlogging about his weight loss journey. You can also see past videos of our East Coast life.