For many years I didn’t consider myself a handy person. Using a screw driver was about as extreme as I got and that might be a stretch. Then, I went and married into an extremely handy family. They did all kinds of stuff DIY. I had no choice but to learn.

My first memories of considering myself a DIY kind of guy was when Marixa and I bought our first house. I did a sales job on her to get her to buy that house in the first place. It was very rough and ripe for some improvements. For some reason I thought we could do it. Never mind the part about not being handy at all.

I remember that several fans and light fixtures needed to be put up in the house after we moved in. I had zero idea of how to do it, so Marixa asked her dad to show me how. As he put the first one up I remember thinking to myself, “Is that it?!” It wasn’t long after and I was installing everything myself. So thankful for a patient father in law who showed me the way!

Fast forward a few years and we are in a different house and we wanted a bench for a breakfast nook. I had come far enough by this point that I took measurements and built it from scratch. I was really proud of that one. It was built into the wall and gave us a lot of extra seating, but the coolest thing was it was a permanent addition that I had made to the house…and it looked really good.

A few years ago we went with Marixa’s family to get wood from the old family farm. There was a cool old barn that had to be taken down and we went to harvest the wood off of it. One of the things we found out there was a panel from an old wagon. We don’t know how old, but from looking at it it had to be very old. We didn’t know what we would do with it, but thought it would be a good piece to keep for later.

Last year, after a few years of it sitting around we finally figured it out…a potting bench. So, we went to Lowe’s and got the needed wood for the body of the table. I designed and measured it out and we used the wagon board as the table top. In the end it was a very sturdy, and heavy, table that Marixa will be able to use from years to come to create beauty in our back yard. It is also extra special because it is part of her family legacy that we were able to turn into something new.

Being handy for me come fairly natural now, but that is only because I decided to start with something small and work my way into it. If you had told me all those years ago that I would have built several pieces of furniture and fixed many things around the house I probably wouldn’t have believed you. Now, I feel confident I can take care of most anything I face.

I am certain that the approach I took with this applies to so many other parts of life. We aren’t naturally good at much. It takes loads of practice and failing to get better at things. It takes trying and trying and trying to get further along the path.

Is there something you want to learn to do? Go start doing it. Those little steps you take will turn into bigger steps tomorrow and pretty soon…you will be able to build things that look good even though you used to have concerns about properly using a screw driver.

This week we took a couple of days off and traveled back from Texas to Oklahoma to see my parents. It is an old familiar drive that we have made several times. Used to, it felt like coming home when we crossed the state line heading north. Now, it feels like a very foreign place. That may be because of all the casinos and weed signs in Oklahoma now, but I digress.

This trip up made me think of my first car and the first time that I ever drove from Oklahoma down to DFW when I was a teenager. To this day I don’t know why my mother let me do this at 16, but me a three friends hopped in my 1984 Pontiac Bonneville and headed south to go to Six Flags.

I loved that car. Yes, it was as big as a boat, but it would sure run. I remember once I freaked out one of my buddies when I got the old car up past 100 on one of the old county roads. It was great. It was also great for road tripping to the big city. Lots of room for friends and snacks.

Back to the trip. I have always been a confident kind of guy. Boy did I have my confidence tested that day. One, this was way before GPS so we had to use a map to get down there. Two, I had zero idea of what to expect when it came to traffic. I swore more on that day than I probably ever had in my life to that point. Not proud of it, but it is a fact. Third, I was 16 and driving a couple of hours away at that age is enough to shake you a little bit.

I don’t remember much about being at the park that day. I have been to Six Flags several times, so that part all seems to merge together. Getting down there in my old car, that is burned in my memory forever.

Now that I think about it, I really did drive that car everywhere. Me and a buddy took it to Norman, Oklahoma once for a DC Talk concert. We bought a six pack of Jolt Cola on the way and had quite the sugar/caffeine buzz during that one.

I drove it to Edmond, Oklahoma once to go see a college friend my Freshman year. The muffler fell off of it halfway there and I had to get it cut off completely. The old car sounded like a hot rod when that happened.

I kissed a few too many girls in that car as well. It would be ungentlemanly of me to say any more on that one.

Looking back now, I miss that old car. I sold it in 1997. It is 22 years years since then and it is probably sitting in a junk yard somewhere, but it was awesome while I had it. I had no idea at the time how good it was.

I have been reading a new book about creativity. It is a called Creative Calling. It is a book about establishing a creative practice in life. So far it has been an amazing book and there have been several things that have stood out to me. I’d like to share one of those with you now.

In the fifth chapter of the book the author, Chase Jarvis, is outlining why you need to make a space to do creative work in. Whether it is writing at a Starbucks, or having a dedicated place for a musical instrument so it is always out and ready…if you don’t have space for creative work, it is hard to produce. That is not what stood out though.

In this chapter he asks the question, what are your dreams worth? I have to admit, this question caught me off guard. Most of the time I have a hard time defining exactly what my dreams are… So how would I know what they are worth? I am 41 years old. I think it is time to get crystal clear on my dreams.

More than that though, Chase was making a point to say your dreams are valuable and you need to make time and effort to pursue them. If I don’t think what I’m doing is valuable, who else will? In truth, nobody. I have to believe that what I dream is important and work to pursue it.

I am wrestling with these questions. What are my dreams? What are my dreams worth? I do know this, they are worth defining. They are worth pursuing. They are worth fighting for.

If the last few years has taught me anything, I have learned that life is fragile. We on have one life. We need to be brave and bold and choose to live and love on purpose.

I know I am not offering much more than a question in this post, but it is a question worth asking. What are your dreams worth?

It is the small things that I remember the most sometimes. Things that we take for granted in the day to day did not start that way. It is only over time that we become so used to awesome that we think it is commonplace. An example? Holding Marixa’s hand.

It all started one fateful April Fools day back in 1998. Is that when she held my hand for the first time? No. It is the day we met. I remember it clearly. I was at church volunteering with our college ministry. The college minister and I walked into the building and there she was.

He said, “Hey David, I’d like you to meet Marixa.” I was pleased to do so. She was very pretty and…very not interested in me apparently. She gave me a courtesy hello and proceeded to talk with the minister. Over the next couple of months she warmed up though.

In June of that year our college group took a trip to the Royal Gorge. It is just like it sounds. A whole bunch of folks under 25 took off for Colorado from Oklahoma. It just so happened that Marixa sat next to me in the church van. Me being an extrovert, I did what can natural…I started asking questions. We talked the entire way up there.

I didn’t realize at the time that I was getting to know the person who would be the best friend I have ever had in this life. I just knew she was really cool, really pretty, and seemed to like spending time with me.

Well, after staying at Jellystone National Park (an awesome campground full of Yogi Bear likenesses…the minister thought it was Yellowstone…), getting talked into going down level 4 and 5 rapids (we were only supposed to do the 2s and 3s…I fell out of the raft in a 5), and getting sick coming down the side of Pikes Peake (you mean the driver is not supposed to ride the breaks all the way down the mountainside?!)…we made it through and headed home. She sat next to me again.

Amazingly, the conversation continued on the way back. It was becoming very apparent that there was something cool happening between us. Even as we got tired we sat there and enjoyed each other’s company. That is when it happened…the van hit a bump and her hand landed on top of mine. Was it an accident? What was she going to do? This beautiful awesome woman was holding my hand!!

Yes, I really was that excited. And for good reason. My insides knew what my brain hadn’t figured out yet. I’d found my somebody. She was right there holding my hand. The world felt very right.

To this day, the world still feels right when she slips her hand in mine. It still thrills me. I didn’t realize it all those years ago, but holding her hand is what home feels like. It feels so good.

Like I said, it is the small things I am thankful for.

It happens every year. It’s one of our favorite things to do. It just so happens it occurred a whole lot earlier this year than usual…we have already decorated for Christmas.

For some folks this isn’t a big deal, but I used to be fairly rigid that all decorating for Christmas had to be after Thanksgiving. Then we had the realization that you can still be as thankful with a tree is as without, so why wait?

Regardless of when we decorate though, there is one tradition that I look forward to every year while we decorate…watching White Christmas.

I remember watching White Christmas as a kid. My mom and I enjoyed all of the songs and sang along every time. I am pretty certain I had a crush on Vera Ellen at one point too. It is safe to say I have loved that movie for over 30 years.

When my beautiful bride and I got married we had a lot of fun creating our own traditions. There are many that have carried forward to this day. Whether it is seeing a movie on Christmas, or listening to our favorite Christmas songs, or decorating…we love Christmas.

So, why do we do what do we do? Years ago we were given a couple of Christmas trees by my wife’s grandparents. We were excited to decorate, but putting the trees together seemed like a drawn out task. We had a VHS player (it may have been a DVD…it’s been 19 years and my brain is fuzzy) and a copy of the movie, so I put it on. I sang along with the whole movie and we decorated away. It stuck and now we do it every year. (When my boy came along he added watching Polar Express right after. So good.)

But why is this one of my favorite traditions? The small reason is we love the movie. The bigger, more important reason is because decorating our home sets the tone for the Christmas season. We are firm believers that atmosphere has a great affect on response. By setting up the atmosphere to be festive and joyful, we prepare ourselves for the very same.

We have so much to celebrate and to be thankful for. Each of the traditions that we enjoy reinforces this in some way. From decorating to looking at lights, giving gifts to attending church services…all of it highlights the blessings we have been given and the gratitude in our hearts.

For me, Christmas is just a little bit brighter and a little bit better when Bing Crosby and Danny Kaye help is kick it off. Getting to share it with my two favorite people every year makes it even better still.