On New Year’s Eve, after returning home from an out-of-town trip, I made a quick run to the grocery store. I needed to pick up something for dinner and enough snacks to get us through a night of many boardgames and and attempt to stay up til midnight to greet the new year.

In case you have never been to the grocery store at 4:00 on New Year’s Eve, allow me to give you some advice: don’t. Because everyone and their uncle will be there. You will park far, far away from the door. And you will sigh deeply as you find aisle after aisle difficult to maneuver. And you will wait in long — very, very long — lines when you finally get to the checkout area.

Or maybe that was just me.

Anyway, let’s just say that things were rather crazy at the grocery store.

And they were so crazy that somewhere between paying for my groceries and getting out the door, I dropped or misplaced or otherwise lost a gift card for the aforementioned grocery store.

(Small bit of background, not that you asked for it: We purchase grocery store gift cards through C.’s private school and do most of our shopping with those cards. It serves as a bit of a fundraiser for the school, and gives us a percentage off tution. Win-win.)

The gift card I lost was partially drained, but there was definitely still some money on it. And by the time I realized it was missing, two days later, I didn’t even know where I might have lost it and figured it was gone for good.

First, because there was no identifying information on it.

And second, because I was pretty sure that anyone who found a gift card lying around would rejoice in their discovery and tuck it away in their wallet.

While I was bummed about the loss, I just hoped that it was found by someone who really needed it.

Imagine my shock, when, 2 days after that (4 days from the original loss), I got a call from the grocery store, asking if, perchance, I had dropped something in their store within the last four days.

Incredulous, I asked if it was a gift card. And it was.

Someone had found it lying in the store, and rather than tucking it in their wallet, had turned it in to the store’s office.

And then the manager went out of her way to track down where and when the card had last been used, and whose store discount card had been used with it… and then located my information and called me.

I was surprised, thankful, and amazed to be reunited with the gift card. And to be honest, I was a bit humbled as well. Humbled that the extra kindness — out-of-the-way, above-and-beyond kindness — of two nice people had saved me from my own flusteredness or disorganization or whatever it was that led to losing the card in the first place.

I truly appreciate their kindness, and I am officially on the lookout to pass that same kindness on to someone else.

How was your Christmas? I hope it was delightful, filled with love and family and joy and time with your favorite people.

Ours was all that, but it was also exhausting. It felt like we were on-the-go for about five days straight. It probably wasn’t quite that bad, but that’s what it felt like. Time with my family and my husband’s family, guests, parties, board games, gifts, baking, errands, church, friends, food… whew! It was all good, but I think I am now officially ready for the slower days of January.

(I don’t particularly like the grayness of those January days, but the slowness? Yes please.)

As we celebrated the gift of Jesus, we also had the joy of giving and receiving some fun and enjoyable (though more temporal) gifts with each other.

C.(13) is now the owner of his very own Kindle. He loves to read almost as much as my husband and I do, and this way, he can collect even more books without overloading his already-bursting bookshelf. He’s already completed his first Kindle book and is on to more.

L.(5) received a variety of Angry Birds paraphernalia. I tell you, this kid is obsessed with Angry Birds. And each time he opened a gift that involved one more Angry Birds item, he giggled spontaneously and then couldn’t stop smiling. He can now spend a good portion of each day creating and destroying his own game levels.

Chad received some things to make his favorite hobby, cycling, a little more fun.

And we now have an elliptical machine residing in our basement. Which means I cannot use the gray days of January as an excuse for not exercising (as in, “Well I would go for a walk, but it’s too cold/dreary/snowy/hilly/insert-your-favorite-excuse-here.”). The elliptical will always be waiting for me. And after yesterday’s session, I am even more aware that my cardiovascular system could use some major improvement.

I have to admit that as much as I enjoy tearing open wrapping paper to see what surprise awaits me, I really love when I pick that “just right” gift for someone — when I manage to surprise them with something they didn’t even know they wanted, but instantly love. It doesn’t happen all the time, but I managed to get one or two of those instances this year. Total fun!

I’m also happy to announce that we were not struck with a Stomach Plague this year. I probably shouldn’t even type that out because as soon as I hit “Publish” on this post, one of my family members will likely bolt for the bathroom. But seriously, after last year, when one kid was sick right before Christmas, I got sick on Christmas, and the other kid got sick right after Christmas, I was so thankful to not be spending this holiday with Clorox wipes and a bucket. There were some minor, upper respiratory illnesses this year, but nothing a humidifier and some Vicks couldn’t solve.

And now, I find myself looking at the end of the year already. Just a couple days left in 2011. This year seemed to fly by.

I haven’t decided yet if I’ll make a list of New Year’s Resolutions. Some years I do and some years I don’t. But I do hope to be able to set aside some time to think about the upcoming year, to pray for God’s guidance, and to regroup a bit before heading into 2012.