Instead of sheep try...

Counting your Blessings (click here to see Bing sing)

White Christmas is one of my favorite movies of all time. I'm watching it right now as I write this. It's great to just put on as you putter around getting ready for the holidays. Hearing this song reminded me that I've been thinking about doing a post about my gratitude journal.

I can't take credit for the idea. In 1996 I read the book Simple Abundance and that is how it started. Little did I know that those words would be like a record of moments spent with two of my closest loved ones. They were about to leave this earth.

It's simple. Write down five things you're grateful for every day. Over the years I've used special journals but sometimes it's just a little spiral notepad. Sometimes I get wordy and elaborate. But many times it's 5 numbered words.

1. Love
2. Friendship
3. Faith
4. Home
5. Work

There's no rules. They can be little things or big things. It's personal preference. Sometimes I'm grateful for clean sheets and coffee.

I was thinking about this because I'd gotten out of the habit lately. And I realized I have a whole life filled with things that make me feel very grateful:

I'm grateful for that good feeling after rehab and going to the gym. It's so good the memory keeps me working out every week.

A phone call from a friend or two. Yea, I spent hours on the phone today....

My snow removal "team".

My electric blanket. I think I'm in love.

Now that I've started I could go on and on. Gratitude gets me out of the grumps. I'm going back to watch the rest of the movie!

And we really are having a white Christmas this year!!