I keep forgetting that Christmas is next week...NEXT WEEK! Friday! I know today is Tuesday, and technically Christmas is 10 days away, not a week. But you know how the week of Christmas goes...last minute shopping, Christmas cards, decorating, grocery shopping, cleaning. I am already feeling a tiny pinch of anxiety about cleaning my house (right after my family was here this past weekend, and my inlaws were here for Thanksgiving!). And I think it's easy to lean into the holidays to avoid the new year coming. I want to savor Christmas and Advent as a time of peace and anticipation and then suddenly the new year comes barreling through the door and I'm suddenly thinking about what I did wrong in the past year that I don't want to repeat in the next. Something that has been tapping me on the shoulder quite a bit these days is the thought of 'gratitude'. Two women I love to follow online, Lara Casey & Sue Bryce, are gratitude champions (in my humble opinion). They both use gratitude as a tool in their life in businesses that makes me want what they have (and I don't think of this as coveting because I know I can have gratitude as well!).

Quote by Melody Beattie: "Gratitude turns what we have into Enough" | #HITHERandHOLD - Alicia Sturdy

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Today I'm going to make a list of all the things I'm grateful for in my life. Because instead of thinking of all the things I don't have, I want to focus on the things I do.

A relationship with Jesus
Clean water
Healthy food (thinking about that bunch of kale in my fridge!)
Stella
Andrew
Mom
Dad
Melissa
Kaylee
Kace
Kim
Rob
Katilyn
Christopher
That we moved this year so close to family that we have seen them all more in the past 30 days than we did the 4 years we were in Connecticut
Our house that fell into our laps and is perfect for us in so many ways
A healthy, encouraging and loving Church
Andrew's co-workers
A business that allows me to stay home
Work that lets me be who I am
A past that, while at times has been hard, has blessed us in ways we never could have imaged
Socks (my feet are so cold right now!)
A car that works
A neighborhood that is safe, beautiful, and again...perfect for us
A washing machine (uhh...we were laundromat people for 2 years...)
My computer
My camera
The opportunity to attend two conferences this year
Friends from all areas of my life that I am still in contact with and love me for who I am
A driveway
Living near the lake
My hobby of cooking, I love doing it and it provides joy and...well, dinner, for my family
For failures this year
For successes this year
My old jobs that have provided for me and pushed me to become who I am

Making a list of things I'm grateful for...overall and from the past year...helps me remember the goodness in my life. What are you grateful for this year? Share it in the comments below, I'd love to make this post all about celebrating blessings and goodness beyond just myself.

PS: If you're making your list, and have a tug at your heart to hold on to the goodness this year as brought, let me help you make an altar to remember. My Hither & Hold portrait sessions are designed specifically to capture the power of these moment and gives you the gift of treasuring all those things within the beauty of a photograph. Bookings are available for 2016, visit my website for all the information!

PPS: Here is a moment from this past weekend I'm grateful for...the sweetness of Stella's spirit (now that's alliteration!)

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