Ten on Tuesday

And so we start another year of Ten on Tuesday posts - love how these help us recognize the little things that add up to a happy life - Glad to share with you again throughout the year, but also want to encourage you to stop and look for the good things in your life -

1. Our Christmas celebrating with family continued throughout the week – first we had a great meal with Craig’s family and gift-giving around the tree. It was a little hard to hide the glider until we brought it into the room but we accomplished it and we think it turned out beautifully.
2. And then it was back to work for me as I traveled to Montgomery and back one day for some meetings - but it was a short work week so that was nice.
3. We had a two-stage “party” for New Year’s Eve with the youngsters [the 20 somethings] gathering for an early dinner of Craig’s delicious fried fish [before heading out to other things] and then our crowd and the teens coming a bit later for a shrimp boil – yum! They enjoyed fish too, of course. We spent the evening visiting and playing games together. Good times with good friends. – Celebrating with sparkly grape juice…[I didn't get a group shot - lol]
4. When I was getting sheets out of the downstairs hall closet for our overnight guest [Matt’s friend] I once again said a prayer of thanks for this house we live in – it’s just so nice to have ROOM for our stuff. [The house we lived in for 13 years had only bedroom closets – so I still, after 7 years, am so thankful for closets.]
5. I’ve read three books in as many weeks! So good to take the time to read for pleasure once again. And I’m loving the little Kindle ap that’s on my [new] phone. Books: Beatitude [talked about in a previous post]. Stuck in the Middle [Virginia Smith – a Christian fiction free kindle I found at www.faithcreativiyilife.blogspot.com ] and Choosing to SEE: A Journey of Struggle and Hope [Mary Beth Chapman - $2.99 kindle – wife of Stephen Curtis Chapman tells the story of losing their 5 year old daughter.] I have a few others downloaded and ready to read whenever I have a free moment. Love it.
6. I’m loving this new phone that the oldest said was WAY too much phone for me – and I agree - it is since I was using one that had NO extras at all. Don’t’ faint, but I’m considering using the calendar on it as my daily “to-do” – but it is awfully hard for me to give up my color-coded system that I’ve used for the past 20 years!
7. Family time continued as we met a nephew and wife and precious little one for breakfast on the 1^st. So fun to finally meet the wife and just visit together over biscuits and bacon.
8. And we sure enjoyed our family-style meal at Maggiano’s with my side of the family [thanks Mom!] It’s such a beautiful place and we called the menu in ahead so the service was quick and just really – really nice. Of course the food was delicious! And there was plenty to divide up as leftovers.
9. Later we visited The Opryland Hotel [beautiful - I'm not sure we cold tell there'd been a flood at all] and then opened gifts with little MK and discussed our donations – the four people whose names we had were honored with a portion of four chickens and a goat through World Vision.
10. Sunday was a day of rest for us – I took naps and read most of the day. Craig and I ran a couple of errands and had Thai for a late lunch and just relaxed since we know this will be a long – no holiday – week. Praying for good test results for a loved one - and hoping you have a good week!