Yesterday, not by design, I woke up at 5:30am. While I had wanted to get up early, that was a bit too early so I decided to roll with it. Crescent, our cat, always sleeps nestled behind my knees, so I popped her up onto my chest and laid with her for 20 minutes. Her little motorboat purr is very calming! I enjoyed the stillness with nothing but the vibration of our sweet little cat devoting her attention to me.

I had decided I wanted to be ready for our Family Christmas and not be running late, as I usually am. There was baking, wrapping, and more baking to be done. Eventually (6ish) I got up and got to work. Coffee in hand, I got to wrapping. For once, my handmade gifts were done and I had wrapped them previously, so I was already ahead of it. I spent time wrapping the few gifts we had to take, carefully measuring and folding the paper. I enjoyed the time alone to not rush through getting things dressed and ready for giving.

I enjoyed my morning in my kitchen baking, the whirl of my Kitchen Aid mixer (which is celebrating its 21st year baking in my kitchen!) The smell of the warming spices going into my ginger sparkler cookies, the crunchiness of the chex mix, and walking away from the disaster I’d created, deciding to leave the cleanup for tomorrow (Sunday).

And finally, I enjoyed being ready a full 20 minutes ahead of my planned leaving time! Probably a first for me! I am usually running behind, late, and like a chicken with no head. But this year, it all came together. We still left late because I have a teenager. However, I also enjoyed that I didn’t let it stress me out!