It's July. It's hot. It's muggy. It's tempting to start every day with a case of the mid-summer slumps. But instead, I start every day in a December state of mind. Specifically, I start every day with Christmas on my mind. That's because I drink my coffee out of a Christmas cup every single day.
I began doing this 3 Christmases ago when a beautiful friend gifted me with a holiday china coffee cup. I used the cup every day that season to remind me of her. As I poured the coffee, Sara's elegant face came to mind and I gave thanks for the gift of her friendship.
For many reasons, it was important that Christmas for me to remember all the gifts I'd been given in my life. Not the ones under the tree wrapped in shiny boxes... but the ones that were walking around in my life and in my mind.The people, the experiences, and the memories.The gift of time, marked off by each sunrise.
And so, after the New Year had come and gone, I just kept pouring my morning coffee into that Christmas cup. Each day from then until now, that cup has reminded me that no matter what I wake up to each morning... I wake. Each day is a gift. And just like the snowflakes on my Christmas cup, no two gifts of a day are the same.
Gifts don't do you any good if you don't unwrap them, use them, play with them, read them, or enjoy them. Gifts that aren't used just sit there and grow old, get dusty, and take up space. They serve as reminders that we are too busy, too tired, too scared, too angry, too worried, too whatever... to enjoy them.
If you are reading this, you woke up this morning. You got a gift. What will you do with it? Use it? Or, lose it?
I think I'll start unwrapping my gift by having a cup of coffee. In a cup that reminds me to try and put a little Christmas into every day.
Love it.
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