The December garden’s last flash of beauty was glazed in ice.  I bid farewell to the delicate petals and colored leaves while peering through their frozen casements.  Cold though it was, this month “bloomed” with warmth and beauty.

*  Decorating cookies with my extended family

*  Cozied up on the couch, a son on either side of me, reading holiday picture books

*  Dancing around the living room with my boys to “White Christmas” by Clyde McPhatter & The Drifters

*  Cooking with a candle burning and Christmas carols playing from the CD player

*  A whiff of pine needles, that surprises me with childhood delight, as I come downstairs

*  A turkey slid in on the ice—a gift from my husband’s job, delivered despite the slippery roads

*  Husband reading The Greatest Gift by Ann Voskamp to us after dinner

*  Sleds, waiting in the garage through all the scorching heat, for just such a frozen day as this

*  Roses, suspended in ice, like clear glass coating each petal

*  Little One singing “Happy Birthday Jesus”

*  My eight-year-old  asking for “One more page!” as I read The Best Christmas Pageant Ever to him at bedtime

*  The benevolence of homes lit by little twinkles–hope and love shining into the darkness

*  Friends wanting to linger

*  A stack of pictures from Uganda

*  Little One’s aunt playing “zebra and lion” with him throughout the house

*  2 Corinthians 4:6

*  A surprising number of stars shining above us on Christmas Eve

*  The Judds (Holiday) on Pandora radio

*  My parents’ love and their joy on Christmas Day!

*  Poinsettias beautifying the house

*  Oh so many Christmas “pennies”

*  Gluten-free goodies made with love by my mother-in-law

*  The tiny Christmas tree clipped and brought inside by my son from Grandma’s garden during our after Christmas visit