I had a rough ride this week.  A wonderful New Year’s celebration to (almost) end my Holiday. I still have one more celebration on Saturday.  Oh, I do love holding on to the holidays.

We got sick.  The whole lot of us.  A bad cold? The flu, CoCo ended up with bronchitis/pneumonia.  She’s still recovering.  Our friend, Jane, suffered a massive stroke, and we lost our dear friend, Allison.  CoCo’s best friend from high school, we consider her part of our family.

Still, there’s plenty of gratitude to be had:

Sunshine on a sub-zero morning.

Dazzling snow on branches.

A partner who loves shoveling snow with me.

Memories of Allison that make us all smile and laugh.

Special Olympic athletes like Allison.

Longer days.  Yes, I see the difference already.

Children’s choirs.

Dave’s magnificent Rudolph the Red-Nose Reindeer collection. (More on that later this week.)

Christmas tins filled with cookies.

An exercise partner.

What’s on your list this week?  Please share with me and the Laurel, the woman who got me started consciously counting my blessing.  Visit her at Alphabet Salad.