blog entry

Christmas gratitude

Alison Piepmeier

I went to bed early last night because of my bad cold, which means that I’m up this morning before the rest of my family.  The house is quiet and warm, and I’m sitting here at the kitchen table with a cup of coffee, in a little pool of light.  It’s a good time to think about things I’m grateful for.

• Communication.  Some of the disconnects Walter and I have had with his family have made me aware of how fortunate I am to have a number of relationships--with members of my family and with friends--in which I can express myself openly.  I’m grateful to have people with whom I can talk, analyze, hash things out--people who’ll be curious about what I think and who will listen thoughtfully to the things I say.  Not everybody has these kinds of relationships, and I have several.
• Laughter.  I’m an easy person to startle, and when I’m startled, I often shriek.  Yesterday, everyone in the car I was riding in made me shriek at least once.  Some people (my brother Aaron) made me shriek several times in quick succession.  And every time we would all laugh so hard I thought I would pee on myself.  That’s a good time.
• Holiday-themed laughter.  A couple of days ago one of my friends (a person who fits in the first bullet point above) sent me a link to this site.  Since then, I’ve been thinking of today as the day the S’more King was born, which makes me giggle.
• Holiday food.  This could be a long list.  There are lots of kinds of food I love at the holidays.  Let me just give a nod to Walter’s mom’s excellent boiled custard, a specifically Southern beverage that takes her an hour or so to make, much of that time spent standing at the stove, stirring.
  
• Not needing things.  There have been lots of Christmases in the past when I’ve eagerly looked forward to opening presents because I’d asked for things I really needed, things I couldn’t get myself.  This morning I’m looking forward to seeing my family open the things I’ve picked out for them, and I want to see what they got me, but I don’t need anything.  Or perhaps I should say I don’t need any thing.  My material needs are more than met, and I’m doing pretty well on the intellectual, emotional, and spiritual ones, as well.  It’s a nice place to be.

Well, the sun’s coming up, and it’s time for me to get another cup of coffee, so I’ll sign off for this morning.  Have a happy day, however you’re spending it.