You must be lost

With the way that yesterday started off, I would have said, "fuck this happiness bullshit!" But the day steadily improved with every passing hour beyond breakfast.

I'm happy that I got most of my grocery shopping done for this week and for Christmas.

I'm happy that every time I came out of another building, it seemed warmer and warmer all day long. If it's the rainy days that bring me 50+ degrees, I might just start enjoying the rain. I'm just going to ignore that forecast for 1-4 inches of snow on Christmas for now.

I'm happy that it was Yule and therefore the days will start getting longer from here on out!

I'm happy that despite our own cloudy skies, I got to see some spectacular pictures of the lunar eclipse from other parts of the world.

I'm happy that it seems the more active I am, the better my back feels. After hauling groceries and spending a lot of time on my feet yesterday, I felt much better. Of course after 8 hours in bed, I was stiff and sore again this morning, but I know the secret now to making that and soreness go away. Stay active! Shouldn't be hard. I've got to-do lists a mile long.

I've had a lot of fun with winter traditions with Jonah this year as well. He doesn't really remember hot cocoa from last year, but he sure does this year! Occasionally, he'll come up to me and say, "burr, I'm cold mommy" pretending to rub his arms with his hands to warm himself he looks at me with a sheepish grin and says, "maybe I could get a drink to warm me up." Which is his manipulative little way of asking for some hot cocoa. I make it in the microwave, but I do the whole unsweetened cocoa powder, sugar, vanilla, pinch of salt thing.

But as a change yesterday and because I love the way the house smells when I make it, made some mulled cider apple juice. I threw some of the really good fresh pressed apple juice we get at Costco into a saucepan on the stove with a tea ball full of dried whole spices (ginger, cinnamon, cloves, allspice and cardamom). I let that steep on low for a long, long time. Turned it off and we went to run our errands. When we got back and Jonah wanted his hot drink, I warmed it up again and we imbibed. He called it cinnamon juice. I then refilled the pan with just tap water and let it simmer all evening just to make the house smell good. Chris said it smelled like Indian food. I have no idea why. I didn't let Jonah put the fennel seed in that he wanted to add to the tea ball. ;)

Speaking of that, I had fun going through taking spice inventory with Jonah and teaching him about the different spices and what they're good for and letting him smell them and such. We'll make a chef out of him yet!

We've also gotten some really great Christmas cards this year and I feel bad about not getting mine out. Mine are more wintery than Christmas, so I suppose I could still do it. I got the sweetest one from witchcat07 and arymetore yesterday. Thanks guys! The day before I got one from yocepha with confetti in it. All very sweet. I love getting mail. I should really remember that and send more out.