I shall rejoice in today: the cold and pretty white that true winter should bring.  I knew last night that it was getting cold, my garage told me.  The weak fluorescent light flounders in low temperatures and refuses to go on.  The hallway at the bottom of the stairs was chilly, too.  But inside the rest of the condo, it was warm and inviting.

A winter’s storm or two has layered the entire area in quiet.  I woke up early but my bed was so snug, I was reluctant to leave it.  I kept hunkered down under the bedding, delighted to be cozy and completely relaxed.

In a sleepy daze I got up and opened the balcony blinds to let the shine of the outdoor lights into the living room.  I turned on the Christmas tree lights and puttered out to the kitchen where I switched on the coffee maker, grounds and water all set to brew from the night before.

On my way back to bed I turned the radio on to Christmas music, opened the drapes in my bedroom, plugged in the single strand of white lights wrapped around a silk plant and switched on a floor canister light that sits in a corner behind an arm chair.  I snuggled back into bed under my thick quilt and found myself enveloped in the soft glow of all the lights, the music and even the gurgling of the coffee maker.

The world outside is so dark in the mornings, with the sky taking its time to turn from black to slate to blue or gray.  One day, a ribbon of pink came floating smack dab in the middle of blue.  How sweetly odd.  This morning everything was a darker gray than I would have imagined.

Even in little things, the time it takes to change everything is a blink.  For that reason alone gratitude is an interesting emotion.  Long have I feared it.  I thought that perhaps if I liked what I had, I wouldn’t get what I wanted, or someone would take it away from me, just out of spite. But gratitude makes human existence much easier more often…instead of making each thing disappear, it seems to attract other good things.

After ten minutes I got back up, grabbed my robe and found my way to the coffee maker with its strong coffee.

All is well.

I am grateful to my readers, and I am not afraid to admit it.

Happy, warm and cozy holidays to you all, and thank you for being here.

( c ) St John 2010