find at least one thing each day that makes me happy and record it everyday for a year

^{Retroactive happiness…}

^{December 21, 2012}

• Waking at 4am and having some silent time to myself – just coffee and my thoughts.

• PJs & Pancakes Day at the school. The kids and I got a ride down (and back up) the icy, icy hill with the neighbour and had a fun and festive time eating breakfast and mini honeys, watching Iris devour her first pancakes, and taking photos with Santa. Iris definitely preferred the pancakes to Santa.

• An old friend called with free tickets to see a big Christmas musical with him, his kids, and a handful of their friends. Isak and I went and had a wonderful time. I bought him a crazy LED star wand he was totally enamored of. Later we met a girl his age and her parents at the bus stop who had been to the same play and had the same psychedelic star. She put on her Ipod speakers and they did crazy star wand dance routines until the bus came, which made everyone laugh so hard they forgot how cold it was.

^{Retroactive happiness…}

^{December 20, 2012}

• Less snow to brave when we needed to get out and about and the lovely elderly couple who always get up early and shovel their sidewalks together.

• A long shopping walk – finding a specific unsampled whisky as a gift for M.

• Taking a break at the library where we warmed up, read stories, did puzzles, and found funny drawings. M picked us up there on his way home.

• Attending another concert at the school.

• M. cooked a spicy chicken dinner, followed by kinder eggs.

• Pampering myself with lavender foot cream.

^{Retroactive happiness…}

^{December 19, 2012}

• SNOW! Enjoying the huge quiet white fluffy loveliness (then not so much, but it was glorious while it lasted).

• Playtime, then coming home for warm baths, hot cocoa, and dry clothes.

• Skipping a class we were already ahead on in favor of fuzzy socks and down time.

• An entranced and silent toddler for the 2nd seasonal concert at the school.

• Picking up ordered presents that will surely bring happy smiles.

• Extra enjoyment of the sense of taste: oranges and chocolate, mint kit-kat bars, butter chicken, coffee. An intense pleasure.

^{Retroactive happiness…}

^{December 18, 2012}

• Snow! White, bright, fluffy, and not too cold. Isak was thrilled, Iris was slightly uncertain at first. We went to school early so the kids had time to play. There was much frolicking and building of tiny snow people.

• The car got stuck in the Big White, but M. made it to work okay thanks to a thoughtful co-worker.

• Shining up the family and going to the Christmas concert at the school, which was very cute and funny. All the kids did a fantastic job.

• Curling up together with cocoa and a late night movie.

^{Retroactive happiness…}

^{December 16, 2012}

• A lazy morning starting with a big family cuddlepile.

• The craziness of the pipe in the bathroom bursting was caught shortly after it happened, which was just before we were heading out for hours and hours. Nightmare avoided, not filth-water, and a relatively easy fix.

• The Great Truffle Roll 2012! Year six! Good times, laughter, tea, cookies, pesto pasta, and the rolling of scrumptious chocolate.

^{December 17, 2012}

• Martial Arts games: fun with big foam bats.

• Strange weather – violent and beautiful.

• Minty bubble-baths and Irish Cream

• Festive old-school stop motion animation and popcorn with the family.

^{Retroactive happiness…}

^{December 15, 2012}

• Waking to light snow! Not a lot, but enough to make the world feel retuned.

• Silly kid affection overflowing on a relaxing Saturday morning.

• Unexpectedly hearing from a very old, very dear friend (a solid best in the teenaged years) that I’ve been out of contact with for close to 10 years. I’d so been hoping to someday be in touch again – it was wonderful to hear from her and see she’s happy and healthy and doing so well.

• More birthday festivities for my nephew (the actual party). Dress up time for the kids, fun, pianos, and cake!

• We left the party with my dad to go cut down a Christmas tree and made it there just before the gates closed. We got a lovely tree and warmed up by the fire-pit with hot cocoa that had candy canes melted in it. Wet but wonderful.

• Deciding to stop at Ikea on the way back for delicious meatballs and mashed potatoes. Nomnomnom.

^{Retroactive happiness…}

^{December 13, 2012}

• An early morning with chai and mandarins.

• Fighting a cold with uncommon valor. And grapefruit juice.

• Isak’s joy in choosing cookies we’d decorated for his classmates.

• Looking forward to a fancy dinner out tomorrow.

^{December 14, 2012}

• Had a great parent teacher meeting then returned to horrible news on every station. I could hardly wait to get back down to the school again and spent the afternoon hugging the kids extra tight. All hearts out to Connecticut.

• My parents came by to watch the kids so M. and I could attend the annual company dinner downtown. A very nice place with wonderful food and wine (bacon seafood chowder, chicken pasta, Blasted Church, tiramisu and coffee), great people to share a meal and lots of laughter with. It helped to shake off a bit of darkness.

• Funny post-its stuck to bus shelter glass.

• Coming home to sweetly sleeping kids and kissing their heads a few extra times.

^{Retroactive happiness…}

^{December 12, 2012}

• It stopped raining after a wet, wet week, and everyone was healthy.

• Skipping school to go ride the Xmas train in celebration of my nephew turning two! Really entertaining for all 5 of the kids with us, and the birthday boy was suitable impressed. Very odd elves in the tunnel and lots of shiny things.

• Good times with Santa. He gave us candy canes and glittery reindeer food (later we joked about what festive findings glittery reindeer food could lead to).

• Talking Subway bent members of the gathering into going for Indian food at a place we’d never been that turned out to be absolutely fantastic.

• Thinking I’d lost my camera case and then finding it velcroed to my mom’s tush.

• Discovering a vast new playground.

• Bright leaves.

^{Retroactive happiness…}

^{December 11, 2012}

• Coming home for coffee after getting utterly drenched in the morning rain.

• Real mail in the mailbox! Festive and friendly.

• Elementary school art walls. “The flowers are starting to be dead.”

• Plans to skip school tomorrow (which is just a half day anyhow) to go to my nephew’s second birthday party and ride trains.

• Relaxing in my green velvety comfy pants, having apples and tea.

• Playing Pictureka and making fantastic Spirograph art.

^{Retroactive happiness…}

^{December 10, 2012}

• A good day despite a personally sad anniversary.

• Thick, dreamy fog.

• An impending orange belt for Isak – he’s very excited!

• A yummy, spicy, easy-peasy pizza night.

• An extra long, extra warm bath with a new book.