2009 is Divine and Your Year to Shine! :)

Can you feel it?
Do you see how YOU actually are a spark of the Divine?
A beautiful child of God…a precious soul…a being of light…an amazing, loveable expression of God’s Love, creativity and beauty….Yes! That is who YOU truly are.

Just take a moment—if so inspired—and close your eyes and really breathe that in.
Get in touch with who you really are.

And I hope that you and I stay aware of who we really are lots this year and allow our love and light to shine oh so brightly! When it does—it uplifts us all! :)

And if you ever are having one of those moments....and you need me to tell you how beautiful you are—just say the word. I can do that! :)

So, Peter and Kelly’s visit for Christmas was wonderful and so much fun.

Christmas Eve we hung out a bit, baked cookies for Santa, and then David had us all write him a letter. :) We watched the DVD from Peter and Kelly’s wedding—(which of course made me cry a bit)—and enjoyed remembering how amazing it was. David’s commentary made us laugh as well. Out of the mouths of 8 year olds! :)

David had me up at 1:40 am to see if Santa had come….and sure enough he had! :)

Thankfully, we fell back to sleep until 5:30 and then tip toed out to the living room, sang Happy Birthday to Baby Jesus, put him in his manger, and checked our stockings!

Once everyone was up—we opened gifts-- and believe it or not--a sock monkey was clearly the present that David got most excited about! :) He is so darn cute.

When Mom and Dad arrived—we did our Goofy Grab Bag exchange, which always brings us lots of laughs.

It was incredibly special to have Mom and Dad here because--though they live only an hour away-- they have not visited us in over a year—due to mom’s pain and medical issues. It was a real treat!

Meghan, Hal, Julia, Ryan and Ava were out East—but luckily they sent photos over the internet and we got to connect by phone. They've put in their request for all of us to join them in Boston for Christmas next year....and I asked if we could celebrate Christmas in October or November! :)

After a yummalicious dinner, we had lots of laughter as we played a new game—Pictionary Man— and then watched Elf. (Oh my gosh! David and I can watch this movie any time of the year and laugh on and on at Elf's innocence and way of being.)

I feel extremely blessed whenever I am with my family. Every one of them is such a good person and I just love them so much. (Thank You, God! And thank you everyone in my family for being who you are!) Having time to be with them and play together is my favorite present ever! :)

Over the next couple of days we got to see a couple of movies, take a walk at the ocean, play at Boomers (lazer tag, go karts, and video games) and eat at Islands.

New Years Eve David, Werner and I did our yearly tradition of going to Legoland and having a big party there. They bring in a band and do the fireworks for the kids—just after sunset. This year we invited David’s Hip Hop duet partner, Taryn, and her parents-- and it was even more fun!

Then we went out for sushi and talked about our favorite 2008 moments and dreamt out loud about what we wanted to see happen in our lives in 2009.

When we got home we caught New York City bringing in the new year and I felt complete! :) But for the first time David asked that we stay up until midnight.

At 11:55--as he lay asleep next to me--I sat him up and tried to get him to wake-up! :) And at 12:00 I was still trying to wake him so that we could celebrate! He--with eyes half closed--said...."Yeah, Happy New Year..." and was back off to sleep! :) He barely remembered this in the morning!

New Years Day was gorgeous, here in CA—so, I did another beloved, yearly tradition—and ran 3 miles at the beach. Then I sat in the sand, enjoyed the sunshine, beauty, and the sound of the waves and wrote to God about all that I am grateful for. I also noted some things I’d like to accomplish in the coming year.

It’s kind of neat because since I got my overeating thing worked out—about 12 years ago—I can actually stick with my intentions for the year—when I choose to make them. Some years I don’t feel inspired around making any goals, but this year I had a few in mind. And so far, so good! YAY! "Thank You, God!" But there’s no pressure. The things I noted, I want to do and/or be.

So, here’s a belated “HAPPY 2009 ~ A DIVINE YEAR TO SHINE” to you! :)

Know that you are loved and that I am pulling for you always!
Kathryn/Kathy