Sunday, January 4, 2015

Gratitude and a Little Nostalgia





I don't always choose a word for the year, but this year, the word "gratitude" keeps coming to my mind.
So, I wanted to share it here to remind myself to be thankful and full of gratitude everyday for the things the Lord has given me.
I am blessed with a wonderful husband who works hard to take care of me and never fails to say "I love you" everyday. 
I have a wonderful family and am blessed that we are all healthy. I am also truly blessed that we live close enough to get to spend time together and we that we like spending time together.
I am full of gratitude for the extended family that I have been connected to in the last couple of year.
Mr. SS and I are going to make this a year for connection with some of his family too.
I have wonderful, supportive, giving friends who stand behind me no matter what.

Mr. SS and I were talking today about our church and our church family. We are blessed with a great pastor who ministers to our heart.
And last, but not least, the Lord blessed us with a house last year and after 4 months of believing it is (or will be) our dream home, we are full of gratitude for it.
I have only touched on a few of the blessings that give me a heart full of gratitude, but you get the idea.

Now for the nostalgia part. After 3 full days of putting Christmas decorations away, I ended up with a few things that would not fit into any of my 15 plus tubs. I went to the shed and pulled out a tub of decorations from when my kids were younger, thinking maybe there might be a little space for the rest of the decorations.
I opened a box of decorations I haven't used since 1994. Many ornaments that my boys had made and some I had made. I pulled out a few of my homemade ones to show you. It was fun seeing these and made me think I should decorate a small tree next year with all my homemade ornaments. Anyway, the candy cane in the picture was one among 6 that were still in one piece. Can you imagine, over 20 years put away in that box, in the heat, and cold and moved about 7 times.
Isn't something considered vintage after 20 years. Do you think they are worth anything? Hahaha.
I singled this one out, because my good friend Suzanne, showed me how to make these. I don't think you can tell, but the Charlie Brown and snowman are "3D"
Remember these Suzanne. We made many, many ornaments over the years for our trees and to sell.
Good times.






 

3 comments:

Suzanne said...

Oh, boy, do I ever remember those! You made dozens of that angel and stick horse too. Such sweet memories of us sewing for bazaars (it's hard to imagine that people would actually buy those huh?).

Gratitude is such a great word. Of all the words I've selected over the years that is the one that I was most tempted to revisit. With a life full of gratitude everything else just falls into place. You can always find something to be thankful for.

Happy New Year!

Stacey said...

So sweet. I still put all the ornaments my kids made on the tree. They aren't nearly as cute as they used to be but I can't part with them. I'm so happy about your new house. A true nester like you should have a house. :)

Creations By Cindy said...

I love your "word" for 2015. Gratitude....I am so grateful for all the Lord has done for me. Love all your OLD Christmas ornaments from the past. What meaning they must hold for you. Happy New Year! Hugs and blessings, Cindy