Happy Wednesday, friend.

I hope you’ve been treating yourself kindly and that you’ve shared some moments of spontaneity and laughter with people you love.

If you listened to my most recent Sunday Audio LoveGram, you know that I’m encouraging us all to think about the month of December and to consider what is most meaningful to us.

In that LoveGram, I talked about pausing to realize that you can create the kind of holiday culture you most want.

My guess is that what is at the top of your list is sharing time with people you love. I’m guessing you want to show up with great presence and joy. I’m guessing you want the people around you to know, without a doubt, how important they are to you.

So, my friend, have you given any thought to the Love List and which people in your life might be lucky recipients this holiday season?  

The Love List is simply this: a list of specific reasons that you love someone. It is the ways this person has impacted your life + the reasons they are unique in all the world. 

A Love List is sweet, funny, sexy, or serious. It can include any number — from five to fifteen to fifty — of loving attributes, characteristics, or memories about someone.

A Love List can be created with photos, in a Joy Jar, in fortune cookies, scribbled on a sheet of paper, in an Advent Calendar — or in countless other ways!

If you’ve been hanging around me for any length of time, you know that the LOVE LIST is my all-time favorite gift to give.

And, guess what?

I just RECEIVED one!

And, you know what?

It is the most amazing and unexpected “presentation” of a Love List I’ve ever seen: on a quilt! 

My dear, dear friend, Rachel Archelaus, surprised me with the quilt you see pictured above. She had gathered some “loves” from other friends in a group we call the BFF’s.

Rachel somehow “wrote” the Love List in rainbow thread on the quilt.

WOW-oh-WOW, right?

This gift touched me so deeply. I was in shock when I opened it. Later, as I took the time to carefully read each item and to feel the affection and appreciation that went into this gift, I started to cry.

Why? Because I felt so seen. My friends had taken the time to think about who I am and what makes me special to them.

Receiving this gift was an essential reminder to me of why Love Lists are the cornerstone of my work. It is exactly what we all want: to be seen, known, and loved for exactly who we are. We want to know that we matter. 

When I hold that quilt and read what my friends wrote, I know, without  a doubt, that I am loved.  

 

Here’s what was sewn into the quilt: 

A love list for Sherry

I love your poetry bombs.

I love your honesty.

I live your curiosity.

I love your boldness.

I love your sweet & friendly voice.

I love your smile.

I love your hats.

I love your vulnerability.

I love your questions.

I love the joy you bring to the world.

I love your presence.

I love how you show the bad and the good.

I love your spirit.

Love, RoseAnne, Carrie, Dawn, Jean, and Rachel — your BFFs

 

What I want you to see/get/know is that YOU can be as creative as Rachel was in coming up with a novel way to present a Love List. 

YOU can turn any ordinary gift into an extraordinary gift by adding Love List items to it!

 

You don’t have to make a quilt. (But maybe you will!)

* You could buy a basket of tangerines or a bouquet of flowers and tie a Love List item to each stem.

* You could buy ten colored pencils for your artist friend and tie a Love List item to each pencil.

* You could send a postcard a day for a week to your favorite aunt who lives far away.

* You could bake your famous holiday snowball cookies and nestle Love List slips in between the cookies.

* You could put a jar in the kitchen and add one Love List slip every day saying why you love your spouse or child.

 

Please promise me to gift at least one person in your life with this beautiful gift. Use your imagination and see how you can combine a Love List with another gift.

And boy oh boy, I sure hope you will email me to share a photo and tell me about your gift!!!

Seek celebration — even in dark corners,

xo Sherry

 

P.S. If you have ever made a Love List — or when you make your first one!— please take half a minute to log it on my Million Love List page. (I want to inspire a million Love Lists in my life and YOU can help me reach that goal!)