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.

1. A relationship with Jesus

2. Clean water

3. Healthy food (thinking about that bunch of kale in my fridge!)

4. Stella

5. Andrew

6. Mom

7. Dad

8. Melissa

9. Kaylee

10. Kace

11. Kim

12. Rob

13. Katilyn

14. Christopher

15. 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

16. Our house that fell into our laps and is perfect for us in so many ways

17. A healthy, encouraging and loving Church

18. Andrew's co-workers

19. A business that allows me to stay home

20. Work that lets me be who I am

21. A past that, while at times has been hard, has blessed us in ways we never could have imaged

22. Socks (my feet are so cold right now!)

23. A car that works

24. A neighborhood that is safe, beautiful, and again...perfect for us

25. A washing machine (uhh...we were laundromat people for 2 years...)

26. My computer

27. My camera

28. The opportunity to attend two conferences this year

29. Friends from all areas of my life that I am still in contact with and love me for who I am

30. A driveway

31. Living near the lake

32. My hobby of cooking, I love doing it and it provides joy and...well, dinner, for my family

33. For failures this year

34. For successes this year

35. 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!

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

50 degrees.That was the temp in our house as we walked in door on Sunday night.I ran from room to room turning on each thermostat so the house would recede from the status of "ice box" to cozy yellow house on the corner.It was that very same day last year that a freak snowstorm knocked the power out in my neighborhood for 5 days - leaving us shivering under the covers each night with what felt like every article of clothing we owned on and tried to cozy up together under a 3 layer blanket shield.As my bathroom started to warm up and I ran the water hot to get ready for bed I started to think about the stark difference of our two hour drive back from NYC to our thawing home. Dark roads, unlit looming skyscrapers, damp mildewy smelling lobbies, completely empty grocery stores, long lines at gas stations and and threats of freezing temps and a large storm coming in a few days. As I thought of how to prepare my own home, I suddenly felt very fortunate - I have a warm house, warm clothes, food in my fridge and on my grocery store shelves. I am prepared.This past weekend I was in New York City for what was suppose to be the day I'd run the New York Marathon - instead I spent Saturday afternoon with people moved by a grass roots group called Upper West Side Loves. Picking up supplies from Duane Reade, making PB&J's, and grating a large knob of ginger that resulted in a car full of food that was driven down to the Lower East Side neighborhood, in particular to The Bowery House mission.I don't think we quite realize the difference between us & NYC this past week. And now under a layer of snow - 100 miles south of us has transformed into a world we can't imagine ourselves in.But I have hope this week - not about the Presidential election, or about who has won and who has lost - but I have hope that the Body - people - can change lives. That we can come together and help each other in the most basic way - giving. Whatever that looks like for you - I hope that you have hope and give hope this week.