What are you grateful for?

What are you grateful for? Yes I really am late for the party. I know Thanksgiving has passed, because I missed all of the last couple of weeks. Ok, who am I kidding, I've somehow managed to miss all of November. I haven't read enough, liked enough or laughed enough this month, and somehow managed to miss writing regular posts on time. Including this one. I have tons of excuses, all the way form "I had so many health scares this month" to "the dog ate my laptop". So what if I don't have a dog. But the end result is the same - I was a bad friend, reader and blogger this past month. And my post is late. Again.
I am most certainly NOT grateful for that.
But I really liked all the posts (titles. I told you I missed the reading part) I saw going around talking about what you are grateful for. It's such an important concept, and one that I personally keep forgetting, to stop and look around. We've been living in London for almost a year and a half now, and we still haven't toasted our move here. Who am I kidding, I don't think we've reached the point of celebrating our move to Gibraltar... Sometimes I think we live our life like it's a race, like if we stopped we would die or something. You either move forward or backward. Evolve or die (loved The Croods by the way). I know it's wrong, that we should stop and smell the flowers, but really who has time? As we speak I just remembered I hadn't folded my laundry and that today is Saturday, aka another laundry day.

Pumpkin pie, because what's Thanksgiving without a pie?

That, together with some need for positivity (doesn't happen much, but still) caused me to decide to make my own list of ten things that I am grateful for. Then it turned out I found 12.
I'm grateful for the fact that after more than a month in a bandage, my hand is finally better and I can now wear my gloves and watch (also for the fact that it doesn't hurt anymore, but more for the gloves).
I'm grateful for my family (though not at this particular moment when Yon filled the floor with cookie crumbs and Ron is playing a football game that sounds a lot like bombing on the computer).
I'm grateful to be living in London. It took us eight years and a lot of work from the moment we first set foot on London soil and declared we are never leaving and until we actually came to live here. We now live in a tiny shoebox of an apartment, that sits in a see of green and is surrounded by "young professionals" with no kids. And we love it.
I'm grateful for heated floors and good winter clothes, otherwise I would have been frozen (or just never leave my bed) from October to April.
I'm grateful for internet shopping, because otherwise I would have no food and no Christmas presents. I find I do 99% of my shopping online. It's a combination between not having a car, being endlessly lazy and the fact that it's cold outside!
I'm grateful that we got Yon's diagnosis this year and that we are finally in the process of getting his Partially Sighted certificate. And then I feel awful that I'm grateful for it, but it will make his life and ours so much easier and will enable us to get him all the help he will need (ok it won't, but it's a first necessary step).
I'm grateful that for once the money we were supposed to get arrived on time, and Christmas will be ready on time (and mostly on budget).
I am grateful for good friends. I am not a very friendly person, so I don't make friends easily, and I tend to move around which makes it even harder to keep the ones I do have. So I am very grateful for my old and new friends (you all know who you are, No need to name names), who know I am extremely bad at keeping in touch meeting, and talking in general, but still love me.
I'm grateful that Hidai still claims to love me, and that we are crossing into double-digits wedding anniversaries next month (have to say I'm partially grateful and partially surprised here. Even I don't like myself that much most days).
I'm grateful that Arsenal are having a good season, because I'm a massive football fan. lol. I made myself laugh here. No, really, I am grateful for that because otherwise my weekends (and most weekdays) are all about "the team" - What will be the end? Will we ever win a trophy? What should we do? Should Wenger go? You get the point. Now I can just tell them not to jinx this lucky run by talking about it!
I'm grateful for my blog, and each and every one of the people who reads it, comments on it, emails me, likes me and follows me. When I started out I don't think I have ever imagined how important this blog will become for me. How much I would get back from it. It is my little corner of the world, the only thing that is just mine, and my passion. And I thank you for coming over and sharing it with me.

Oh, and how could I forget, I am thankful for chocolate. Because really, life isn't worth living without it :)