Embracing Glimmers of Happiness This Christmas

I have spent most of the last week deeply involved in the process of “getting ready” for Christmas – tidying the house, wrapping gifts, making cookies – doing things in the house, and away from the hustle and bustle of the outside world. I love this week as it gives me time to reflect on the year and think about what I want to do in the year ahead.

I started last year hoping that it would be a year of glimmers. I set ridiculous goals for myself and made a list of 25 things I hoped to accomplish during the course of the year. And as I look back on those goals and all the things I set out to do, I was shockingly bad at achieving any of them! In fact, as I look back on the lists of goals I’ve made for myself over the past 5 years, I’ve been consistently shockingly bad at achieving any of the things I’ve set out to do! (Although this year I finally read over 50 books, which according to Goodreads is apparently something I’ve been trying to do for quite some time and have never seemed to manage).

But as much as I was an under-achiever relative to my goals and aspirations for the year, this was a year that brought more glimmers than I ever could have imagined. There were glimmers of success in seeing my quilting and artist statement as part of the Liberty 150 celebration in London. There were glimmers of joy in seeing my kids reach wonderful milestones (drivers licenses and starting high school). There were glimmers of remembering who I’ve been as I worked to rediscover a new gym routine. There were glimmers of future fun as I registered for the Princess Half Marathon Weekend at DisneyWorld. And there were a million little glimmers of pure happiness as our ordinary life marched on this year.

I loved living with my word this year. It was a constant reminder to look for the little bits of good or joy and that there is always a bit of sparkle in life if you just look for it.

And so on that note, I’m going to go and revel in the sparkle that is Christmas Eve. I hope everyone has the most magical Christmas and a thoroughly enjoyable end to 2025. xoxo.