The weather outside has been particularly wintery. Outside it is cold, windy, and wet. Inside, well…inside, it is warm and dry, with hands filled with warm cups of joy: whether it be coffee, tea, or, my favorite, hot chocolate.

For today’s Lovepop Advent, Mickie, Minnie, and Pluto our comforted by cups of steamy Hot Chocolate by there hosts : Iggy, Higgy, and Ziggy.

Today’s Lovepop advent introduced us to three new characters: elves with the intials H, Z, and I. Three new friends for Mickey, Minnie, and Pluto.

Mickey and Minnie found themselves at a strange cabin, alone, but with a glowing and warm fire in the hearth. There they found comfort and safety.

Today’s Lovepop Mickey and Friends Advent brings Mickie and Minnie closer to each other. They find a house!

Today’s Lovepops Mickey and Friends Advent was a lantern. The story said that Mickey carried the lantern with them into the woods to light there way. Figuratively speaking Mickey was Minnie’s guiding light. I like that.

This morning, when Darling opened the Lovepops Advent, she received the next part of the story. Mickey and Minnie had gone further into the woods and Minnie had heard an Owl. Based on the story, it is obvious that Minnie may be becoming frightened during their adventure, but she knows that Mickey and Pluto will be there with her through the adventure. Likewise, I also know that Darling will be there with me through our adventure.

Ever since, we have had to go and get a tree from a lot. Lot trees are absolutely great and, at least here, they are run by local families or charitable organizations, but what they do not have is the fresh, Christmas Tree smell. When Darling opened her Lovepop advent today, I laughed: Trees!

During our 30 Days of Thanks, we talked about family a lot: how important they are to us, and how much we are thankful for them. Friends, on the other hand, are the family that we choose or who chooses us. Friends are amazing and no friends are closer than Mickey and Pluto!

Advents are funny. Every day is something new. They go on-and-on until suddenly, they stop. For the remainder of the advent calendar, we are going to continue to follow Mickey and Friends, but we would also like to discuss other things as well. Today, the topic on my mind is shopping.

Hi! It’s Darling making my first letter to you. How I wish you were here to witness all the positively wonderful moments you’ve made in families everywhere.

So for our last 30 Days of Thanks, we are thankful for the Internet.

Walt Disney said, “One day I learned that dreams exist to come true. Ans since that day I do not sleep for rest. I sleep just to dream.” Learning that dreams exist to come true is the embodiment of Disney’s creativity and, in consequence, our creativity. Today, we are thankful for the creativity of dreams.

However, it is the things that are awesome in spite of us that we are thankful for today, specifically the oceans.

The month is almost to an end. Darling and I have made sure that each day we have thought about what we are thankful for, both simple and complex. We treated each day anew, each day asking each other what we are most thankful for. Today, as everything begins to come to a close, the thing that we are most thankful for is the time we have.

Today’s 30 Days of thanks is similar to yesterday, Darling and I are immensely thankful for chocolate!

Today, Darling and I thought about what we are thankful for. We have had a long week. We were seated at our kitchen counter, eating brownies and ice cream. I asked her, “What are we thankful for today?” She sat for a minute, looked at me and smiled and said, “Ice cream.” So, we are thankful for Ice Cream!

Today is Thanksgiving. Over the last few weeks, Darling and I have thought long and hard about we are thankful for. We will continue for the remainder of the month, but really the culmination is today. Today, Darling and I are thankful for Thanksgiving itself.

Today, Darling and I take vacation, not as regularly as either would like, but more than I ever thought I would have. For today’s 30 Days of Thanks, we are immensely thankful for vacations.

Today, I drove Darling to the store. On the way, I heard two ambulances, saw one driver attempt to create an automobile accident, and, I imagine, my blood pressure increased significantly. Darling looked at me and said, “At least we have insurance.” She is correct, like with most things, it could be worse. So today, we are thankful for car insurance.

I think many people use the virtual letter, either blog, vlog, or email, to represent something that we have had for centuries, and we forget how nice it is to get a letter, your own physical personal letter. Today, Jim and I are thankful for the post and receiving letters from friends and family.