January 3, 2021

Good Bye 2020 -December Gratitude

“To speak gratitude is courteous and pleasant; to enact gratitude is generous and noble; but to live gratitude is to touch heavens”  Johannes Gaertner

Happy Christmas to all of you ! reading this post ! May the Babe of Bethlehem 
bring you love, joy,peace, good health and harmony !

December is my favorite month and it feels so good even before I step into the month for two most important reasons, firstly because Christmas is one of the biggest and happiest festivals and I love to celebrate no matter what happens around – this season energizes me fills me with hope and rekindles beautiful memories of celebrating this festival right from the time I was a little girl. The joy of sorting out every thing – especially my cupboard, de cluttering the closet and redirecting to needy persons. Taking stock of everything and in a sense preparing to spend time and help one another in the family clearing up in the kitchen and planning for meals, decorating the Christmas tree and putting up the star, changing everything for Christmas is so much fun.   

Thinking and planning small little gestures of meeting those who have no one to take care, giving away clothes and sharing all the Christmas goodies is always fun.  Christmas is also a time that brings memories of all those who have journeyed along with you, remembering them with gratitude and ensuring that they are thanked and prayed for with gratitude is also one of my past time. There is so much to write about Christmas and I am always filled with awe and the memories brings smile on my face. Due to COVID we had to be careful while going out, visiting the church and meeting friends and relatives, we ensured that mask was worn and hands were sanitized and social distancing maintained..

small joys that has memories of gratitude....

I am so grateful for so many things this month – a thoughtful gesture from one of my old students who traveled a long distance only to say thank you and gifted me with a book by Jane De Suza called “The Spy Who Lost Her Head”. I am yet to read the book, what touched me was her thoughts, the efforts she took to order the book for me from amazon and getting it to my centre and personally handing it over to me. .. I am not only impressed, but felt so good for connecting with her personally.

I am grateful for my sister in law for the regular supply of roti’s for us for dinner, as our family got accustomed to eating light meal at nights. We also got to taste some cutlets which she makes it very well; and my nephew who attempted chicken liver toast and invited over to his place for dinner wherein we spent time singing carols, using karaoke on the net and recalled some memories and enjoyed the pre Christmas evening.. at my brothers house.

memories are such no one can steal it :)

I am grateful for whatever that comes into my life; sometimes its unexpected persons. Neomi (niece) who arrived for a short holiday from Canada and while in quarantine sent some little things for me and my daughter, through my brother who I saw after a very long time.  He being unwell but made efforts to meet us and hand over what she brought and made us speak to her. It’s the small little gestures that I keep counting and thanking God and these things keeps me constantly cheerful and happy.

The second most important reason that I love this month is I celebrate my birthday on the 29th of December. It’s an important day of my life as it brings to my mind the memory of my parents and the love they showered upon me and for giving me space and freedom to follow my hearts call. My friends ensure that I don’t forget the day and they are there for me not only reminding me but also surprising me in various ways. I owe a lot to David and Dorothy who always take care of me and celebrate my day.

Happy Birthday to My Beautiful Self:)


The first call of the day was from Sr Joshina ( My eldest sister’s friend) a nun who offered mass for me and called me immediately after the church service to wish and bless me and I felt so overwhelmed by her thoughtfulness and prayed over me for my good health and success in life. She has always been concerned about me and keeps in touch. I am honored to have persons like her to keep praying, encouraging and assuring and reminding me constantly to trust in the Lord and to always do His will in my life.

This birthday I went out for breakfast with my friends, and had my favorite Dosa – it was yummy and I cut the cake and moved on to my workplace to get back to work. I was so happy to have begun my day with friends who are affirming and thoughtful, the best thing is that we are all involved in the social sector.  I attended mass in the afternoon and came home and there was family dinner. I cut almost 5 cakes for the whole day J and I was free from my kitchen. As David took responsibility in organizing everything.

I had my nephew’s family and my brother and also David’s friend’s home for dinner. I was happy to connect with a very old from my previous church where I was actively involved for more than a decade and she surprised me with a song on my phone… made me so happy and recalled our days of togetherness and for a brief moment it was a flash back and this conversation energized me, filling me with joy. There are some people who connect easily and it just happens even though I have not spoke for years as she too moved on to another community from the parish.

On the work front I have been going almost 4 to 5 days a week and attending work; I had been meeting students, follow up on telecounseling, emails, whatsapp and also referring them to required services.  This month there was little stress as I was dealing with a challenging situation and I had to coordinate and also connect with few more friends to help a student who was a victim of sexual harassment and she was suicidal. Luckily I have a good support from my HOD who is always helpful and understands the situation at the centre, there are also others with who I net work who guide me and help me deal with the situation.

I am so grateful for all those who took time to wish me, chat with me and affirmed me in their own ways and I am content, feel blessed and there is so much to be grateful for and I store every little details in my heart so that I never forget how blessed I am and the privileges I enjoy.

December being the last month – there is so much to be thankful for the whole year that has gone by and it’s the grace of God that I and my family are in good health; even though we did have some minor health issues but manageable; This pandemic turned the world upside down and to see whole world go through so much of suffering created fears, anxieties and uncertainty all around and suddenly there was lock down and everything came to a stand still.  I am grateful that we have survived despite of all the challenges and we hope that we will take the lessons that came through and improve the quality of our lives and the environment too.

I am grateful for the 12 months, 52 weeks, 365 days including the 5,25,600 minutes and 31,536, 000 seconds and still alive and breathing, which is the biggest miracle of our lives.

How was  your December and the year 2020? Would love to hear from you?

Thank you for reading my post; would appreciate to hear your thoughts.

I thank vidya for initiating this process of forming a gratitude circle and inviting everyone to share the monthly gratitude post.. If you are interested in joining the Gratitude Circle:

Write a gratitude post,

Add the badge

Post it on the last Thursday of the month and

Add your link to the Gratitude Circle. https://vidyasury.com/

Wishing all of you compliments of the season and a wonderful year 2021 ahead !

Be Happy & Be Blessed!

4 comments:

  1. Lovely post Genevive and having your birthday at the end of the month, with all those wonderful affirmations from friends and family is the cherry on the cake (all 5 of them!).
    May 2021 be your best year yet!

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    Replies
    1. Thanks Susan, happy New year 2021 to you and your family. Its such a pleasure to connect with you and I am always glad to read your comment. You bring smile on my face and enhance my confidence, appreciate you for being so kind and generous. May this year bring you Good Health, harmony and happiness to you:)

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  2. A belated happy birthday to you.
    Though the last year was such a challenge, it taught us many lessons too.
    Wish you good luck and lots of joy in the new year.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thank you so much and I appreciate you good wishes. Hopefully we are in together for a healthy, happy and harmonious 2021.. we have survived 2020 and I am sure we will survive even the coming year:)

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