How is it that my favorite Christmas present this year is a coffee mug?

Dennise got me this coffee mug as a gift this year:

It’s a ceramic Starbucks mug, and in this pic the top is off. It’s just so much more substantial than plastic mugs I used to have. It keeps the coffee hot and my hands from burning…but it also allows some of the warmth through…just the right amount.

I love the morning ritual of coffee-making. I love the warmth and smell of it. I love how it goes with my aforementioned favorite breakfast. It’s the only consistently good thing about morning.

Yes, I am not a morning person. In fact, I *hate* morning. Not just dislike, but hate. (Is it bad karma to hate something in the middle of a “Daily Gratitude?”)

But coffee centers things back again, no matter how much the getting-up sucks.

And, of all the presents I got for Christmas, this is the one I love the most.

So, I am grateful for my new coffee mug, and for the little drink of grace that goes in it.

(During this year, my goal is to find something new to be thankful for every single day, and to add that thanksgiving as a blog entry, under the title “My Daily Gratitude.” I started this kick back around Thanksgiving, and it’s already resulted in a favorite new song of mine. The goal of this ongoing spiritual exercise is to see if doing such a thing might inspire even more gratitude within me, and to foster general awareness of life on a deeper level.)