When I pulled into the garage today from picking up Big Brother from preschool, I welcomed my kids back to their house.  I felt so grateful.  The feeling overwhelmed me for a moment.  It was a wonderful moment!

Why was I feeling grateful?  Simply because we have a safe and cozy place to come home to.  Often I am guilty of taking this for granted, but it is such a huge deal!  Part of creating happiness is about being grateful for what you have, and taking time to recognize and appreciate it.  I am so grateful to have a place to come home to where I feel safe and comforted.  Much of the world does not have this luxury.

I also feel grateful to have, and be a part of such a loving environment.  As well, I am proud of the fact my kids have a loving environment to grow up in because my husband and I work hard at making it that way.

At this time I don’t have a gratitude journal, although I think it is a great idea!  However, writing down exactly what you are grateful for creates warmth within you, and I highly recommend it even if it is simply jotting it down on a scrap piece of paper in the kitchen.  Somehow putting it down on paper really solidifies the feeling in your heart.

On Saturday our family spent the whole day at home.  We didn’t leave the house, not even once!  The day was dedicated to taking down all the Christmas decor and storing it until next year.  The kids were eager to help out, especially with the tree ornaments and the village pieces.

I was holding my breath as my husband and kids were working on that.  Couldn’t help myself!  Grateful they were doing it though ;-)

Big Brother was carefully lining up some of the Christmas village pieces, and I was still holding my breath.

However, somehow we came out of the deal with only one broken bulb, and it wasn’t even a favorite!  Not too shabby.

My wonderful husband went outside in the freezing cold, late at night, after the kids were in bed to take down the outdoor lights so that it would be all over with in one day!  It was awesome because it allowed us to enjoy our Sunday without many chores.  Thank you Hubby!!

So far we have only found two Christmas things that didn’t make it in a box.  Like Amber says, there are always some stragglers! 

One was Christmas note paper, no biggy.  The other was this guy...

He is huge!  How we missed him I am not really sure?  Can you say distracted :0)  But he is away now, and having the house clear again feels like a weight has been lifted off my shoulders.  Taking the Christmas decor down kind of looms over you until you get it done.

Now we are left with a lot of empty space.

It feels good and refreshing in a way.  A clear space gives you room breath and allows space for more good to come in.  I think we will leave it this way for a while.