What December Taught Me.

Welcome back to real life, friends! I hope you all had the merriest Christmas ever and that your post-Christmas blues aren't too painful. Not to rub it in your face, but this picture is from yesterday. I spent the day after Christmas in an 85-degree paradise by the pool. If there's one way to fix the after-Christmas slump, it's that one. 
December is coming to a close, as is 2016, so it's time to talk one final time about what I'm learning from this year. December taught me. . . 
To be more present. I know a lot of people say, Stop working, put your phone away, be more present! But that's not my problem. Mine is that I look ahead and try to plan, constantly. Chris doesn't get a lot of time off, so when he does, I always want to take advantage of it. Sometimes that makes me look ahead too much and not enjoy the moment. We'll be on a walk and instead of just enjoying the walk and the time we have together, I'll be thinking, if we head home in the next five minutes, then we could eat dinner quickly, then we'd still have time to watch a movie before we need to go to sleep so we can get up early enough to go to breakfast and have time to go shopping after that. Please tell me I am not the only one who does this. 
I'm learning that on many days, silencing my need to plan every detail is the key to being present and enjoying the moment. 
To think more about my priorities. December always seems to bring the reminder that you don't have time for everything. You don't have money for everything, you can't go to everything you're invited to, you can't do everything you want to do...you have to choose what's most important to you. This is something I want to carry on throughout the year. I want to think often about what my biggest priorities are and shape my days around those. 
To put things in perspective more often. Life is good, end of story. There are hard days, but those will always (eventually) be followed by good days. We made it through this crazy year and had a wonderful Christmas. The good is always on its way.
That Christmas with a baby is the most magical thing ever. There's really no way to explain this, so I'll just leave you with a picture. 

I MEAN. Pure joy. Nothing like getting to see that for the first time. 
What did this month teach you?