We had a joyful houseful last week for the holidays–my parents visiting from northern Idaho AND our three youngest kids.  Last year at this time we had lost all custody rights to the kids due to our alcoholic relapse, so we’re fully cognizant of the blessings of having our 15-year-old with us full-time, and a joint schedule with the youngest two.  The best Christmas gifts can’t be found in any catalog!

My folks are known to the kids as “Grandy and Boboo”–Grandy because my mom said she wasn’t ready to be called “grandma” or “granny” or any of those old-lady-labels, and Boboo has stuck ever since two-year-old Christian invented the tag for  “Grandpa Bob.” So Grandy & Boboo brought “Santa” to our house–and in addition to science kits for Christian, doll clothes for Elena, and books for both, (and gift certificate for Kapena–because who can shop for a teenager?!) they got for us a pair of lights to install underneath the kitchen cabinets to illuminate the counter.

The little lamps are activated by touch–you just press on them to turn them on, which is super-convenient when I’m groggily fumbling for the coffee pot in the dark before starting on an early-morning writing assignment!  Just now, when I leaned across the counter in the pass-through from the living room to smooch my cooking hubby, I bonked one of them with my head and accidentally turned it on.  Contemplating the suddenly lit bulb above my head, Keoni politely asked if I’d just had an idea?  I told him this is the only way I’ll ever appear to have a halo…

I certainly don’t qualify for any halo that doesn’t come with batteries–and a better person than I might be trying to remedy that fact by making Resolutions regarding various Very Bad Habits.  I’m not a Resolutions kinda gal, though–if I’m honest about it, I like some of my Very Bad Habits (which is no doubt why they’ve become habits). Instead, I’d like to celebrate what is now my all-time favorite list of New Year’s Resolutions–posted this morning by Becoming Cliche–by passing along the Awesome Blog Content Award to her, and to some other Awesome Authors-of-Blogs.

First, I’d like to thank Restless Jo, who honored me with the award, and who is very deserving herself!  And I’m honored to forward the tribute to some of the (many!) bloggers who keep me smiling:

• Becoming Cliche
• Spoiled Fruits of Empire
• The Urban Misanthropist
• Running Naked With Scissors
• Scattering Moments
• Riatarded
• How the Cookie Crumbles
• MacKenzie’s Dragonsnest
• A Quarter Beneath Your Tongue
• Life as a Publisher

There’s some fine reading among those blogs–I hope you enjoy them as much as I have!

****

We had a massive hail-and-thunder storm the night before last…  Lightning so close the whole sky was ablaze, thunder shaking the house, hail blanketing the yard in a matter of minutes…  And of course the electricity down!  I was grateful for those battery-operated lights under the cabinets to help me find our supply of candles.

Along similar lines…  I’d like to pass along an award to some bloggers whose sharing-from-the-heart keeps me inspired, particularly given the various challenges they face.  When the “electricity of life” goes out for a while, these folks can keep a candle lit!  My thanks to Diabetic Redemption and  Time After Time, both of whom gave me the opportunity to pass along the Candle Lighter Award.  I’d like to convey my deepest respect to the following Candles of the Blogging World:

• Taking Candy From a Baby
• I’ve Survived! And I’m Flying!
• A Mind Divided
• A Day After the Bottle
• The Curvy Spine

****

This next award, the Kreative Blogger, was really bestowed on my cat, Suzy, who corresponds in Hawai’ian Pidgin with Pedro the Cat at Maru Can Kiss My Furry…  But since Suzy is currently consumed with the determined pursuit of a spider, I’ll do the honors myself…  I’d like to commend the creativity (sorry–Kreativity) of the following bloggers:

• Beth Parker’s Art Blog
• Cosy Travels of the Viking and His Kitten
• Spades High Reads
• Bookish
• Pillows a-la-Mode

****

And lastly, I’d like to give a grateful shout-out to several people who sent me the Versatile Blogger Award.  My “forwarding engine” is running dry for the day, but I’d like to acknowledge the bloggers whose own blogs are so worth reading: “M” is for Marriage and Motherhood, MacKenzie’s Dragonsnest, Southern Sea Muse, Life on Earth, Help for the Heart, Diabetic Redemption, and Memoirs of an Evil Stepmom.

My thanks to all–and happy reading!