You know when I realized that it was time to draft a Grati-Tuesday post? On Wednesday. That’s probably not a good sign.
At the end of last week, I went into my office. We’ve been working from home since the first week of March, 2020, but we could elect to go in starting at the end of this Summer, if we wanted to. I thought it might be a nice change of pace to go in every once in a while. Except I stopped sleeping well, so when I woke up tired, I didn’t wanna go catch a bus. So I didn’t go as often as I wanted. But last week, a coworker appealed to my sense of community: Could folks who *could* return (because we have to be vetted to return) help her out for an hour? Madam, I am equal to the task! So I went to help package gift boxes for my colleagues. I was folding hoodies in the assembly line of effort. That night, when I reviewed my Fitbit activity for the day, it had logged 45 minutes of swimming. So apparently, vigorous hoodie-folding can fool the wearable tech. So what’s the jump from there to gratitude, you ask?
Sometimes, a gesture isn’t perceived as it’s intended. I mention this because in a few days, you may find yourself in a wasteland of crumpled wrapping paper and feel uncomfortable. You may find yourself alone in your living room and feel serene. Or both, or neither or you may find yourself laying on the floor at the foot of a very large Christmas tree taking very deep breaths willing your body to STFU so that you can just fall asleep before bloody 4am once this week.

Um. Or that last one may just be me. But you know, Christmas ain’t for everyone. Especially in the strange time of Covid-Christmas where gatherings go from 15 to by-yourself in the blink of an eye. Be kind to each other as you navigate this week. And know that what might seem like a small gesture to you may mean far more than that to someone else. Christmas is fraught with landmines. Lets try to help each other navigate through with the least casualties possible.

What else, then?

I’m grateful for this guy:

King Louie puts up with a *lot* (see: jingle-jester finery, above), but he is a good faithful companion who hangs out with me in my office every day. I know my day is going off the rails if my conversations with myself are hostile enough to upset his delicate sensibilities, and make him leave the room. That’s when it’s time to step away for a few minutes to regroup. It’s nice to have a dog-shaped mood barometer.

C-Level folks at work who decided that mental health is important, and to (try to) get out in front of that this winter, they gave us two WinterWellness days to take in January and February. Even better, their messaging said that they understand that 2 days might not be enough, and there are options available. Some companies want to get every last drop of productivity out of you before you get ground to dust , but mine does a bit to help you refill your cup. That’s a good thing.

The food blogs (smittenkitchen, loveandlemons, thekitchn, NigellaLawson, spoonforkbacon, saltandlavender, I’m lookin’ at you) that inspire the good things I want to make for the Christmas Trifecta, the Christmas aftermath, and beyond. Foodporn is a totally the way to inspire me to get back into the kitchen as we head into the depths of winter.

And all of y’all. This year, I didn’t post as often as I wanted to, but I still continued to get followers, and that was very gratifying. I even got a troll! That totally means I hit the bigtime, right??

So Have a very Merry Christmas, if you celebrate it. May we all invite something bigger than ourselves into our hearts and minds this week and always. May we be as vulnerable as a child born in a foreign land, and rise to the higher purpose for which we’re intended. And if you can choose to be anything, choose to be grateful for the blessings that surround you.