The Celebration Continues

Our gratitude for the new job continues unabated.  As does our celebration in the form of food consumption.

We had to run downtown SLC today.  The Husband humored me and we made a pass through this newly opened store.  (In my mind its a lot of fuss about just-another-organic-grocery.) It probably contained more people than individual products!  We were easily able to emerge without spending.

Then...The Husband humored me again by stopping for lunch at SLC's one and only (as far as I can discern) Mongolian BBQ.  It was pretty tasty, although I still favor the one in Palo Alto.

Lots of yummy veggies and sauces to choose from.  And good egg-drop soup just right for this rainy day.

On the way home, the car - apparently all on it's own - diverged from the freeway to one of our favorites.  Their frozen custard is delightful.

Now, it is after 7 p.m., The Husband has gone dinnerless to YM.  We were both so full from all the celebratory eating that neither one of us could face more food.

How grateful we are for 1) the new job 2) good health 3) each other....and the list is nearly endless it seems.  Heavenly Father has reached His hand into our lives once again and blessed us beyond our hopeful imaginings.

Cwrinkles

Isn't that a great smile?

I've become a big fan of cwrinkles!  Those fun lines and creases in a person's face that give it character.

I started noticing that I was noticing these, oh, probably a couple years ago.  (Maybe it was about the time we got our first HD TV with improved visibility of such things.) Whenever it was, I started being aware of the little lines around someone's eyes when they smiled, and then when their face relaxed, a teensy remnant of the lines were left.  Making me think the smile still lingers somehow.

Actors and Actresses have endeared themselves to me when they get to be about late thirties or early forties; the smile lingers just a bit longer by way of the small lines.  It makes people more real to me somehow.

I love seeing those cwrinkles.  And if I look extra intently into your face, I'm just enjoying your smile.  Thanks for sharing it with me.

Decorating

I spent the better part of today getting the Christmas tree up and putting out what few Christmas decorations I have.  I missed out on that "decorating" gene - I'm easily able to dispense with decorating for any and all holidays and don't mind not doing it at all.

I just don't want the bother.  Don't want to have to store stuff, take care of stuff (dust it) , dislike spending money on stuff.  I'm not really a big "stuff" person.  It isn't an attribute or fault, it just is.

But...I do love Christmas nativities.  I've been teased about having them out until June in the past.  Don't care, love them.  Love the reminder of where our hearts should be.

This little cutie has a regular place on our mantel.  It's so fun to have something "Christmas" that is blue!  Clever of them to have made Mary and Joseph in the exact center of the word.

The Precious Moments figurines have always been a favorite of mine.  This particular set was a Christmas present from The Husband probably 20+ years ago.  I still love it.

But this one is my all-time favorite Christmas nativity.  In fact, it never gets put away.  It sits on a shelf all year long.  I saw it in a catalog years and years ago.  It was pricey.  Dislike spending money.  But The Husband saw how much I loved it and got it for me.  It comes from Germany.  One of the few trips I've longed to take is to visit Germany where these are made.  I'd love to see the other incarnations.

I have other nativities - I used to try to collect one a year.  Eventually faced that fact that I really don't need all the tchotchkes (don't like to store them, don't like to take care of them (dusting), dislike spending money on them) so I called a halt to the acquiring of any more.

Still, I'm happy that I have the ones I do.  It's the only part of Christmas decorating that I enjoy.  And who knows, perhaps I'll leave them up until July this time.

Subjects from Saturday and Sunday

We are still mentally celebrating The Husband's job, though he won't start until January.

Went to the Temple last night and had another of those very small tender mercies that seem to serve as a sort of virtual hug.  They don't happen often, but then I guess if they happened oftener we would tend to take them for granted.  I am so grateful for those tender mercies The Almighty sees fit to send my way.  I hope to always be totally aware of them in my life.

I'm grateful for kind people - those who just "are" and don't seem to be aware that that particular trait is part of them.  (There's a couple that sits in front of us at church that instantly spring to mind.)

And I think there is a special place in heaven for those sweet souls who staff the church nursery.  My stint in there today has me pert' near ready for bed (after something for my headache) - 8 little munchkins between 18 months and 3 years for two solid hours = fun, albeit exhausting fun.  (I'm not as young as I used to be.)