Welcome to the first Friday's Fave Five of 2022! A whole new year to be on the lookout for God's blessings in our lives. I have to be honest, 2021 had it's struggles. There were some significant things that I really had to walk through and work through and had it not been for FFF keeping my eyes on the goodness of God in my life I think the year would have been much harder.( But focusing on those blessings God brought my way even on the hardest of days or weeks made me see how truly blessed I am even when I think I'm having it rough. It made me see God is there and never left me even if my feelings of doubt or fear or uncertainty or confusion cried out louder. I'm so glad I had this constant in my life pushing me to intentionally find blessings. Thanks for sticking with me another year of developing the discipline of thankfulness and gratefulness and looking for God's blessings in each and every week!
So my favorite five blessings from the last week in no particular order:
~ birthday blessings ~ (a carry over from the last week of December blessings) my birthday turned out to be a completely relaxed and lovely day of doing nothing. I slept in a bit, had breakfast with my kids who were still here and saw them off as they headed to their respective homes, sat around in jammies enjoying coffee and a good book. I decided I didn't even want to go out for dinner so we just had some favorite takeout and watched some tv together in the evening. It was totally what I didn't even realize I wanted or needed and it was perfect.
~ packing up Christmas ~ I love Christmas and I love to decorate for Christmas. But by the time the end of the month comes I am ready for all the extra decor to be put away and the house to be back to normal. I traditionally pack everything up on New Year's Day but this year I even put a few things away on the the 31st. It felt good to have less clutter and the space back in my living room.
~ new winter jacket ~ Hubby gifted me with a new winter jacket for my birthday. And I love it. It couldn't have come at a better time as Alberta has been locked into a deep freeze. I'm talking into the -29C (-20.2F_ to -33C (-27.4) range with wind chills since Christma. The coat is warm and to my knees and has a furry collar and hood so I don't even need a scarf with it. And the sweetheart even bought two different colors not knowing which I would like better and told me I could keep both if I wanted. I settled on the very light grey one and took the other back (a burgundy one). I've worn it every time I've been out since and have been so thankful for it. And look the sleeves actually fit down to where they are supposed to! Horrible picture but you get the idea of the warm blessing this coat is and how cold it looks outside. Ignore the tags. I was still trying to make up my mind which color I wanted to keep and had my son in law take pictures so I could look at it. I'm awful at making up my mind.
~ heat in the house ~ with this deep freeze I am once again reminded how thankful I am that I have a roof over my head and a house with a furnace that provides as much heat as we want.
~ New Year's Eve treat ~ because we stayed home for New Year's Eve we treated ourselves to a favorite meal of Indian food from a favorite restaurant. Yum.
Well it's back to routine and work and early mornings. I'm thankful for the nice long holiday I had over Christmas. What were your New Year's favorites?
7 comments:
Hi Susanne. Belated Happy Birthday! So glad you had a nice relaxing day. Those are beautiful flowers that you got. I also like your coat a lot. It looks lovely and warm. So glad you have Christmas all cleaned up and are ready to start strong in this new year! Have a good weekend and I will see you again soon!
Belated happy birthday! Sounds like a wonderful one! The coat looks great and very warm.
As much as I love the family time and change in routine, I needed a day (or more) like that of quiet to recharge afterward. This week has been such a strange juxtaposition of emotions--missing having everyone here, yet enjoying the quiet, being both glad and sad to put Christmas things away.
Wow, that is so cold. We're down in the teens this week, and I am so glad for heat, esocially heat at the touch of a button.
I absolutely agree that focusing on FFF every week is a good way to change my way of thinking. THANK YOU for always being willing to host us. It is an important part of my week.
A warm house is on my list today, too. Not ever taking that for granted again.
Love love love that coat. Details, please! I neeeed it!
Here's to a better 2022. Happy New Year!
Happy Birthday! A little late, but the wishes are for your new year ahead. It sounds like you had a perfect day, seeing your kids, having good food, all in the comfort of your own home -- and pjs:) I still have my Christmas things up. My goal is to tidy up the storage room today, and then get them put away. I don't think I could squeeze a thing in the storage area the way it is now. Looking forward to another year of FFF!
Love your coat but not your temperatures. We had frost this week so temps were down to about -1 C but only for a day or two. Sounds like you had a lovely break and I'm sure it was what you needed before getting back to busy working days. Enjoy the weekend.
Those are great options for a coat. And how thoughtful was he to get you color choices too! When I thought I'd be traveling to Chicago more frequently for work, I bought a similar coat and called it Chicago. Well, with our winter temps in the 60s, you can guess how often I've worn it.
Sounds like you're off to a great start to the new year. Love that bouquet your mom sent. Especially those cheery tangerine flowers.
Happy belated birthday to you. Sounds like you had a marvelous day! The coat is very nice and practical for the winter for sure. Take out food is not an easy option in our small country town. The best in town is our Thai to Go and as the name specifies it's all to go. Delicious and authentic. We have had frigid weather and lots of snow so I, too, am thankful for our electricity staying on and our warm house and hot water! Happy New Year to you and yours!
Post a Comment