A Beautiful Year

I'm sitting here in the comfort of my warm, cozy living room.  The Cotton Bowl is on in the background, Jewel is cuddled in her favorite blanket, snoring peacefully, and I'm getting all misty-eyed.  Maybe it's because I had champagne for lunch with a good friend.  Or maybe it's because I've had two Christmas Cokes (Colorado Bulldogs as some people call them). Maybe.

But I think I'm all sentimental because 2015 has been such a beautiful year.  Not perfect.  But beautiful.  One of the best things I've discovered about getting older is the desire to slow down and appreciate the beauty that surrounds me.  My Christmas card focused on some of the splendor that made this year so magical.

I became a bit obsessed with Nature this year.  Blame it on the English teacher in me as I introduced Transcendentalism to my students.  Blame it on Thoreau and Walden Pond.  But I found myself

pulling off busy interstates and sitting in solitude by riversides, listening to the words  of the whispering water

sitting by Nebraska cornfields staring at the perfect rows of tassel-topped cornstalks

driving east of the city lights to have a clear, unobstructed view of the blood-red, super Harvest Moon

braving the weekend bumper-to-bumper traffic going west to the mountains to behold the dazzling, gold aspen trees

standing on the edge of one of the Seven Natural Wonders of the World in perfect silence while hearing and feeling Thoreau's words loud and clear--"Heaven is under our feet as well as over our heads."

As always, my family continues to be a source of strength and beauty, and 2015 brought some new heavenly faces as the Thompson family continues to grow.  Quinn and Archer are our newest Royal babies, and I also gained a new niece when my nephew Kyle tied the knot with Ashlie.  My family is my biggest Natural Wonder, and I am forever grateful for being born a Thompson.

So yes, I am misty-eyed as I close out 2015--not because I'm sad to see it go but because I have a life that is beautiful.  And good.

Here's wishing you a beautiful 2016!

Cheers!