Happy New Year! 2020 was my fifth year taking part in a daily gratitude challenge. Finding one little thing to be thankful for each day has now become part of my daily routine and has helped me through some of the hardest days of my life. It hasn’t always been easy, especially since losing my beautiful daughter Jessica in April 2018, but I will keep trying to find little things to be thankful for in honour of my beautiful brave girl who gave so much joy to others during her life.
My round-up posts in 2021 will look a little different as I have decided to combine them with my ‘Friday Focus’ post where I look back over the week as a whole and share my word for the week.
If you’d like to join me in sharing something you’re thankful for each day in 2021, you can find me on Instagram here, where I’ll be sharing my #365daysofgratitude posts each day.
Here’s my final round-up for 2020, sharing my grateful moments from the past two weeks:
Day 355 – I am grateful for an evening walk with Sophie to spot Jupiter and Saturn closely aligning in the night sky.
Day 356 – I am grateful for a festive trail to help make a walk more interesting. We had lots of fun at these 12 trees which each showed a line from the 12 days of Christmas. Sophie and I sang all the way down the path, running back at the end to try and reach each of the relevant trees for each line.
Day 357 – I am grateful for steristrips.
Day 358 – I am grateful for the joy of singing Christmas songs along this mini trail on our walk today. Each stop had a QR code linking to a singalong video clip. We had fun guessing which one it was going to be and singing along.
Day 359 – I am grateful for moments of finding joy. Christmas can be a tough time and we are far from alone in finding it hard this year. Sending love to all who are missing loved ones this Christmas – whether through bereavement or through enforced separation. You are not alone xx
Day 360 – I am grateful that we got through Christmas Day and that Sophie and Thomas had lots of fun. It’s our third Christmas without Jessica and it’s been the hardest one yet. Miss my big girl so very much especially at this time of year.
Day 361 – I am grateful for a Boxing Day walk and the opportunity for Sophie to use her new outdoor microscope to take a closer look at nature.
Day 362 – I am grateful for a successful geocache hunt with Sophie.
Day 363 – I am grateful that I managed to hit my target of 1000 hours outside this year with three days to spare!
Day 364 – I am grateful for snuggles on the sofa.
Day 365 – I am grateful for an impromptu scavenger hunt helping make today’s walk a little more interesting.
Day 366 – I am grateful to my husband for taking over parenting duties and to Sophie for reading me stories and bringing me Jessica’s toy dog ‘Rosie’ to cuddle. I’ve been laid low all day with vertigo but Rosie has helped give me something to focus on when the room was spinning which helped. Also grateful for having completed five years of daily gratitude posts – they’ve helped me through so many tough days. Hope that tomorrow will be a better day and 2021 will be a better year for you all.
Aww! Poor Thomas. I hope his head is healing now.
It looks like a great couple of weeks. Lots of Christmas fun. It must have been so tough spending it at home without Jessica. Sending love and hugs.
I hope you feel better soon and the vertigo does one.
Wishing you all the best for 2021 x
Thanks Kim. Vertigo all gone now, thank goodness! All the best to you too for 2021 x
Happy new year Louise. Ouch with Thomas’ head. Thankfully we’ve never got to steri-strip level – I’m not sure how! Glad you’ve been able to find some positives. 5 years is a long time to do it.
It is a long time but I’m glad I’ve managed to keep doing it.
Hope the steri strips did the job. Love the idea of 1000 hours outside, I should be able to get a fair few in while I’m in Dubai and with the dog walking when I get back to the UK. Hope the vertigo has eased up for you. Hope 2021 is a good year for you all x
Thank you, the vertigo has gone now, thankfully. Not sure I’ll manage 1000 hours outside this year – we’ve not got off to the best start so far. Glad you are managing to get in plenty of outdoor time though.
Hope your vertigo is easing and you are feeling better? We have just discovered geocaching and the benefits of getting the boys more excited when out walking. Wishing you call the best for 2021. xx
Thank you Clare, the vertigo is much better now.
We loved seeing Jupiter and Saturn closely aligning in the night sky, it really was a magnificent sight. Wishing you and your family a very happy new year
Thank you, happy new year to you too.
Well done on spending 1000 hours outside! I love watching the skies. Hope Thomas wasn’t too upset by his head injury #project366
Thank you. He was fine – only cried for a few minutes. I think we were more bothered by it than he was!
What a lovely idea with the festive trail, we had festive rocks, nice when people in the community go the extra mile to make it special even more so with the year we have all had! Awww your poor little ones head, hope he was okay! Love the idea of singalong on your walk!
It is lovely to have things like that in the local community. The festive trail was such a lovely thing to do especially with everything being so restricted. Thomas was fine – we were more bothered by his head injury than he was!