Grateful

I've been nursing some weird eye allergy all week along with a wonderfully red and puffy left eye sty. Fun times indeed. I've been shuffling around the house swollen eyed as T.D. says repeatedly, "Mummy Boo Boo...Oooh" over and over and over again. Then I eat fudge. With Marshmallows.

I steal my kids eczema ointment to rub on my eyes and pop another allergy pill. My skin is so dry from the 24/7 allergy pills that my skin feels like it's cracking. So I furtively use some more eczema lotion and wait for relief. Then I eat a chocolate reindeer, antlers first.

I finished working on Wednesday. I've been slowly gearing up for the holidays which also means skipping the gym and general procrastination in cleaning the house and running last minute errands. If you haven't gotten dressed up for New Years in eons can you really just flit into H&M and find 'the perfect volcanic ensemble'? Then I eat a ball of toffee popcorn and feel my thighs expand. Does H&M carry muu-muus?

I watch the dog ambush T.D. and in slow-motion granola rains down in the living room covering the once clean floor and coffee table. I'll be cleaning that shortly. As soon as I've finished my cleaning procrastination and eating some sort of bready product that has dried fruit in it.

I leave you with this today because it is the holiday season and no matter what we need be grateful. There is always something to be grateful for no matter how small.

1. I am grateful for holiday movies that are played on endless loops that make me feel like a kid again and realize how truly exciting it is to share all this with my child. Emmet Otter's Jugband Christmas is still the best.

2. I am grateful for the friends I have who want to wish us well in the new year. The cards, gift baskets and visits are all wonderful, but I am truly grateful for their friendship that has lasted throughout the years and sometimes miles.

3. For my health. Yes my eyes are the color of a fire truck and swollen shut when I wake up and I want to claw them out all day, but I am healthy. Even after the suspect mole and all its drama I am now healthy. It makes me weep a bit just reliving all that in my mind. I AM HEALTHY! Woo HOO!

4. Another year of my parenting and T.D. has still stayed under the Po-Po's radar. She is a charmingly sweet little girl who is curious, lively and cute beyond words. People want to bite her cheeks she's that cute. I am grateful that H & I are blessed with such a wonderful and healthy child.

5. H. What more can I say? The man lives with me day in, day out and hasn't gone runnin' for the hills nor have we made movies like Crazy Love yet. He deserves a medal for all the weird humor, bad films, inane and hyper talk of blogs, blogging, and blog celebrities. He even likes Chad.

6. Grandparents. Grandparents. Grandparents. The fact that H & I frequently get time alone has been a life saver for us. We love our kid and all but we are a couple that needs our alone time and grandparents have at some point helped us save this marriage.

7. A roof over my head. I may sometimes feel like the house is closing in on me but it's ours and we can do what we like with it and it keeps us warm and safe.

8. A car that runs. And I like it!

9. Money for food and BONUS! good health care. That should be counted as a downright miracle these days.

10. I am grateful for it all. It can be gone in a second and as a wise man once said, "Life moves pretty fast. If you don't stop and look around once in a while, you could miss it." — Ferris Bueller. Well said.