I arrived back on the Outer Banks yesterday evening after a 14-hour drive and fell into bed, exhausted. I awoke this morning to dazzling sunlight streaming through my bedroom window. Sitting up in bed, I stretched and gazed out at the sparkling blue water of the Albemarle Sound. I had almost forgotten how stunningly beautiful the Outer Banks can be when the weather cooperates. The temperature is forecast to climb to 75 degrees today, uncommonly warm for this time of year. It’s almost as if God planned it for me because I dislike being cold and the Outer Banks is usually blustery in December.

I have only just arrived and already my calendar is filled with coffees, lunches and dinners for the next six days. I am SO blessed. I have a wonderful, loving birth family as well as an extended family of loving friends. I don’t know how I got so lucky. It’s definitely put me in the Christmas spirit. I am grateful and thankful and I think the best way to spread that feeling is to share a video that my friend, Mary Jo, sent to me today. It’s the Indiana University Men’s A Capella Choir performing at their Christmas concert. If you’re still in Grinch mode, listen to this Christmas medley a couple of times; it’ll give you goosebumps:

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