Things to Do - Make a Grateful List (December Edition)

Every month I make a grateful list so that during the "ugh" times I can remember the good times (especially in winter). For past lists click here. How about everyone else? Anything you're grateful for this month?

Arts
1. Anthology magazine - print is not dead
2. The solstice show at the Arlington Planetarium
3. Sally Mann at VMFA
4. The Velveteen Rabbit at Barksdale Theatre in Richmond
5. The lights display at Brookside Gardens for NYE
6. All the kids' love of the Knuffle Bunny books (Knuffle Bunny: A Cautionary Tale, Knuffle Bunny Too: A Case of Mistaken Identity, and Knuffle Bunny Free: An Unexpected Diversion)

Food
7. Date night at Farmers & Fishers (so yummy)
8. Frozen blueberries (my kids live on these lately)
9. Apples from the farmer's market

Moments
10. The slides at ICE!
11. Santa Clause's use of Amazon Prime (trust me, he would have been lost and crabby without it)
12. T's love of his belly button
13. Conversations with T - "oh. got. dot. baba? au do bait." (laughs) "au pout au but. da pushy ba ba." "GA!!!!" "Ah, um, uh." "DA!!!" "alf hay de ak ya" (all while pointing to things in a book)
14. F sounding out words (we're finally reading, well sort of).
15. P and her dolls "they all have names but I forgot all their names so I just say 'Hi doll'"
16. An all day weekend workshop at Longbranch Nature Center for the girls
17. T driving his remote control truck off any surface he can find
18. Our first solstice party
19. Xmas Eve service at the Unitarian Church in Richmond
20. A White Christmas
21. P always tucking in various stuffed animals throughout the house
22. Amazon's subscribe and save program (paper towels delivered in bulk, so wonderful, I no longer need to run out to the store for everyday items, plus Amazon's prices can't be beat)
23. P surprising us by cleaning the backroom
24. Our homemade pueblo indian village
25. F making her friend, E, a picture of rainbows with trains because "I know boys don't really like just rainbows"

HAVE A GREAT WEEKEND EVERYONE!! Today's my 35th birthday so if you get a chance, have a drink (or two or three or a bottle) for me!

WEEKEND LINKS:
*I love the slogans on these posters especially "Tie your shoes, pack a good lunch, and remember that we're all in this together" and "People, places and things are all great. Study them."
* These do-it-yourself cardboard logs look so adorable that I wish I had a non-functioning fireplace to put some in.
*Ever since I finished Margaret Atwood's The Year of the Flood: A Novel, I've been somewhat paranoid about how unprepared our family is for living without modern conveniences and how little we actually know about living off the land (i.e. what plants grow in what season? how do you slaughter a chicken? natural herbal remedies? etc.). So I really enjoyed when a friend recommended this BrainChild article, according to which, "[t]he real skill for survival doesn’t have to do with whether you can start a fire. It has to do with whether you can get along with the people around you. In some ways, this has become the skill we’re least good at — building societies and building contact with each other.”