Things to Be Happy About ~ December Edition

We're almost halfway through January 2011, but I still haven't posted my "things to be happy about" from December 2010.

If you are new to this, I received a bright yellow, page-a-day desk calendar for Christmas in December 2009 and it sat on my desk at work all year in 2010. Each day the calendar page listed various things to be happy about. Throughout the month, I would keep up with my favorite things the pages listed and blog about them at the end of the month explaining why they made me happy.

I try to find happiness in the littlest of things and so many things excite me very easily. If you want to catch up, I started this in January 2010 so you can always look through my archive to catch up. I'll miss this activity that I did all of last year, but I look forward doing other new and different things in my life this year.

Here are my December things to be happy about...

• All Dressed Up and Somewhere to Go ~ It's always fun to get all dressed up for a night out or special occasion. I love to get dressed up!
• Meaningful Tree Ornaments ~ I ADORE all of our tree ornaments because except for a couple of generic ones, and there are just a few of those, all of our ornaments hold special meaning or have their own story. One of my favorite things to do each year is to go through all of our ornaments one by one as we decorate the tree and re-live their stories and talk about why they are special.
  
• Frank Sinatra Singing ~ His music makes me smile - it takes me back to a simpler time and I love it! Simply classic...
  
• Telling Someone Your Middle Name ~ I love my middle name - it's Bess. Bess was my Mamaw's first name (my Mom's grandmother's name). It's unique, just like my first name. Several people near and dear to me will call me Riley Bess from time to time.
  
• Homemade Christmas Ornaments ~ We have a few on our tree that I made and then our parent's have some on their trees that we made as children. Ornaments children make are such treasures - hold onto them.
• Warm Feet Under the Covers ~ Ahh, what a feeling! Being warm and snuggly under a blanket is one of my favorite things.
• A Kind Spouse ~ I'm thankful for mine! Honestly, John is such a kind person and has such a sweet heart. He is always kind and never mean to me - not all wives can say that. He is a perfect gentleman (which is a lost art in my opinion).
  
• Warm Winter Meals ~ Soup, Chili, Chowder, Choup...mmm, does a cold body good!
  
• The Relief of a Sneeze ~ I know this is so weird, but a good sneeze is so underrated.
• Slice & Bake Cookies ~ I prefer my good ol' from scratch cookies, but these are good for a fast treat and eating just the dough is yummy too.
• A Twosome Sitting Close ~ I love sitting close to my John, but I also enjoy seeing any two lovebirds side by side. Love is wonderful!
• Decorating for the Holidays ~ FUN FUN FUN! We had such a good time doing this complete with lots of snacks and Christmas music. It's a bid deal in our house and we have A LOT of decorations.
• Spanish Rice & Refried Beans ~ Delish! Mexican food is the best and we these appear on on our menu often.
• "Rudolph, the Red-Nosed Reindeer" Claymation Film ~ A Christmas favorite. I watched this when I was a little girl and have watched it all my life. Everyone loves it - John does too!
• Your 18th Birthday ~ I had a surprise birthday party when I turned 18 and boy was I surprised - it was a blast!
• Wearing a New Outfit ~ Hooray for new clothes. I haven't gotten any in a while, but it's always nice to sport some new duds.
• Holiday Carols ~ Christmas music makes me very happy. I love to listen to it on the radio and on CDs at home, plus there's something about singing them at church during Advent.
  
• Magazine recipes ~ Boy do I have so many of these! I do have them organized though (would you expect any less?). I have gotten so many wonderful recipes out of magazines that have become some of our favorites.
• Cookies Baking ~ Not only is this one of the best smells ever, but once they are done baking, you get to eat them!
  
• Relaxing at the Holidays ~ It was SO nice to have a few extra days off of work for the Christmas and New Year's holidays just to chill out and do a lot of nothing! It's really nice how the world kind of slows down some between Christmas and the new year.
• Saying Grace ~ We pray before our meals - both at home and out at restaurants. We haven't always done it, but it's something we made a priority a long while back and I'm so glad we did. Check this post out here to read more about a picture in our dining room that illustrates "saying grace" beautifully.
• Using your Christmas Presents ~ Now that Christmas is over and we are into January, I'm really enjoying getting to use all of my Christmas presents - or find places for them in our home.
• Stovetop Popcorn ~ One of our favorite snacks in The Ussery house (Calvin loves when we make popcorn too). We always make our popcorn on the stove. We've made it this way before we were even married. When we were engaged, we spent many nights eating stove top popcorn and watching Friends...awww memories!!

Now on my desk I have "The Power of the Praying Wife" daily calendar. It makes me happy too! I love to pray for John and for our marriage. I always desire a closer relationship with our awesome God and my awesome husband.

I'm also SO HAPPY that it's the weekend - bring it on!

Until we meet again...
Riley