Thankful Story/Christmas (this may get long)

I realized its been almost a month since I posted. Yikes! Honestly, I am totally overwhelmed with this new, busy job, spending as much time as I can with Addie and Josh, doing all of the stuff that needs to be done at home and sleeping occasionally.

The last day or two I have even been frustrated because I felt like I wasn't enjoying Christmas as much this year because I was too busy. I hate that. I LOVE this time of year so much! I love shopping for presents, wrapping presents, baking holiday treats, decorating and all the other things. Except this year I really haven't but that is just dumb. It's dumb for several reasons. 1. Christmas shouldn't be about presents. I like presents - giving and getting. But, it shouldn't be about one up-ing people with the best gift or buying the newest and best of everything. I don't really need anything this year. Any gifts I get are extras, luxury things that I am sure I will love but definitely don't want people to stress about. I have tried to make an effort this year to focus on what Christmas should reallly be about - God, Jesus, family, love, forgiveness and all those other things. But, admittedly it hasn't worked as much as I would like since I was still so stressed out.

Today I learned several things. First, on Good Morning America this morning there was a story about a man who wrote a thank you note every day for a year and has now written a book about it that comes out next week. I really like this guy's general idea but I am not sure how I feel about the reason behind it. At one point in his interview he said that he has now written 6oo and something thank you notes and good things keep happening to him so he will keep doing it. I love the project of expressing thankfulness for the big things and even the little things like thanking the guy who makes your coffee at Starbucks. But, do it to give joy, not because good things are happening to you. Now, this may not be the guy's real motive, all I heard was a 2 minutes interview but it made me start thinking.

Then, later today I spent several hours organizing and distributing gifts for the kids in foster care that I work with. That is always one of my favorite parts of the year. People are so generous and these kids truly love it.

So, I am going to work harder to be less stressed and more thankful. I want to enjoy this holiday that I get to spend with my family.