Greatful

With Christmas only 6 sleeps away it feels timely to slow down for a few minutes and contemplate what Christmas means to me. For me Christmas is a beautiful time of year spent over indulging in good food and wine surrounded by the people that you love the most, your friends and family. Sure it is a hectic time of year and I always manage to make it more stressful than it needs to be! Choosing to bake a million biscuits as gifts for family, the cleaner, Mia's carers and even the cafe owner around the corner! I wouldn't have it any other way though. I love giving at Christmas time, even if it is just the gift of some slightly odd looking gingerbread men! I am thankful to have all of the wonderful people in my life that I do and Christmas is the perfect time of year to show my appreciation to them.

I am thankful that I have a happy healthy little girl. There are so many people out there that aren't so fortunate to be as healthy as Mia and I, and there are many people not fortunate to have children at all. Every night as I kiss Mia goodnight I am thankful for how lucky I am.

I am thankful to be able to live in such a wonderful safe country where I have everything that I need. I am thankful that I have great job that I enjoy and allows me to provide for my family. 

I am thankful for all of my amazing friends and family who are always there for me no matter what.

Christmas is such a happy time of year for me but for many it brings more grief and pain than it does joy. Now that I have a little girl and a family of my own I've decided to start our own little family tradition. Each year at Christmas time Mia and I will donate an item for every gift we receive to those less fortunate than us. I want to raise a thoughtful and generous little girl and teach her that she is very fortunate in life and that there are plenty of others in the world that are far less fortunate than her or I. Whilst she may be too young to understand this year I will be donating some of her toys on her behalf and hopefully brighten up the lives of some small children. As she gets older I will ask her to choose toys that she would like to donate to another little child and explain to her why we are doing this.

I hope everyone has a wonderful Christmas with their loved ones, take the time to cherish this beautiful time of year and reflect upon what you are thankful for.