Finally!

It finally, really, officially feels like winter! In honor of the glorious snowstorm I watched on Saturday night and the snow falling today, here's a little Gilmore Girls quote:

Lorelai: When I was five, I had a really bad ear infection and I had been home in bed for a week and I was very sad. So I wished really hard that something wonderful would happen to me. And I woke up the next morning and it had snowed. And I was sure that some fairy godmother had done it just for me. It was my little present.

Luke: Your parents never explained the concept of weather to you?

Lorelai: I'm making a point, Mouthy McGee. Of course, many years later, I realized that logically, the snow was not there for me personally. But, still, when it snows, something inside me says, "Hey, that's your present." I don't think it'll ever change.

What I'm grateful for (in no particular order)

1. Family. A thousand times over, I'm grateful for my family. Grateful that I get to spend time with them, that we have so much fun together, that they are such good people.

2. A new camera! My blog will be cool again!

3. My loving, supportive husband who keeps me from freaking out on a regular basis. I'd go to pieces without him. I'm so lucky to have someone who cares about me enough to tell me when to take things off my to-do list.

4. My job. I absolutely love my writing/editing job at Northridge Publishing and when I think back to where I was working six months ago and how much I didn't like it, I am so incredibly grateful to be where I am now.

5. Tim's job and how much self-esteem it gives him to be needed/wanted/valued in his work.

6. Our memory foam mattress. Not to brag or anything, but we have the best bed in the world. If you ask real nice, I'll let you sit on it. :)

7. Snow. Okay, this is a stretch today, but I am grateful that there will be some water for next summer. And for how pretty it is when it snows.

8. New tires on Tim's car. I didn't get stuck when I drove his car today and that is simply miraculous.

9. Tim's math tutor Alli. She's amazing and Tim's grade improved like, 400% from the last time he took Calculus. So so grateful.

10. Christmas! My favorite Christmas moment came after the presents had been opened at my parents' house but before we left for my grandparents' house to see my extended family. I was sitting in the living room, cleaning up and packing up our gifts, when I looked around at the jumbled mess and I was completely overwhelmed by how blessed I am to have so many people to love and who love me back. It wasn't the gifts that made me start to cry, but what they represented. I know there are so many families who do not get along, who have been torn apart by the choices of some family members, who don't have everyone with them at Christmas, and I am so grateful that at least once a year, my family gathers to celebrate not only our Savior, but our love for each other.

"Ladies and gentlemen..."

LORELAI: "...We have flakes. Flakes have been sighted. Flakage, if you will, has begun. [walks across the room] Michel, it's the first snowfall of the season. It's very lucky. Make a wish."

MICHEL: "Get away from me."

LORELAI: "Oh, you're not supposed to say it out loud."

MICHEL: [answering the phone] "Independence Inn, Michel speaking."

LORELAI: "The world changes when it snows. It gets quiet. Everything softens."

MICHEL: [holds out phone] "It's your mother."

LORELAI: "And then the rain comes."

Even if it ends in ten minutes (likely) and doesn't stick (highly probable), it's still exciting. Happy first day of snow everyone!