Merry Christmas 2024 - Being thankful for many things... including Hive

Merry Christmas everyone!

It is Christmas eve and in the Mobey-Ludick family, we have the big dinner on Christmas eve because tomorrow my step-son goes to his dad and thus tonight is the big family night.

And as we are preparing, me with the parenting/providing mind, the budget mind - I count up costs, spending, future costs and future spends... It's enough to make a person anxious!

I literally did stationery shopping for the 3 kids on my very first day of my leave. I do that to make sure that the important stuff is paid and that means that I can relax.

And yet, as I am thinking along those lines above I realize how it is easy for myself to stress myself out... and we have not even eaten the food or unwrapped any presents.

I realize that I take my job very seriously and that I probably need to cut myself some slack.

I need to slow down. Those things and items I am stressing about are happening in the future and there is actually a plan. Stick to the plan, breathe.

I realize that I need to focus and be thankful of the main things that matter:

Christmas dinner is going to be amazing.
There are plenty of gifts under the tree.
School stationery is sorted out for next year.
The rent is paid.
The car is paid.
Minor accounts are paid.
There is food and treats in the cupboard.
I have 2 weeks and 5 days or 19 days of holiday which for ME is a long time.

That's actually a lot to be thankful for.

I can be thankful for having a caring wife who really puts in a lot effort into making things special for the kids. She is always such a festive person.

The last year has been really hard with her health and knee injuries. She is on the mend mentally and physically and I can see the change.

The kids all passed their school years and they are developing well as people. I mean... I yell and lecture a lot but I love them and I am secretly quite proud of them! Haha!

They are actually great kids and it is MOST evident when my kids need to go out into the world and other people give me feedback.

I am grateful for my home that I live in. The big garden and space to be creative and productive. The Veggie garden is currently dead and a large part of the lawn as well... but this is nothing that can't be fixed!

I am thankful for the SPACE that I have and that it is all mine. All ours. My family's.

In previous years we were heavily influenced by other family and persons who were controlling and had no boundaries. Some family politics I guess.

I am thankful that there is none of that this year!

So yes... plenty to be thankful for and one BIG thing to be thankful for is Hive. For THIS blog. For a place and a space to be creative and make all sorts of things happen. A space for me to write a blog like this one and get my thoughts out.

That in itself carries value.

Value to ME because even if nobody reads this. It allowed me to express myself.
Value to the reader because it shows a human experience written by a human and no generated content by a soulless language model. This is something that will gain value over time as well since there will a flood of soulless content and what will matter is real interactions with real human beings.

We just need to learn to be less awful to one-another. Haha!

Here is a gnome that Claire bought for herself from one of our friends who makes them herself.

It looks pretty cool with all the Christmas decorations.

Thank you for taking the time to read this post and have a very merry Christmas!

Cheers!
@zakludick

Hive South Africa