Sunday Selfie | Sense of Touch.

I've joined a Sunday school class this season for an opportunity to dig a little deeper into Dickens' A Christmas Carol; we're reading The Redemption of Scrooge. Today's discussion focused on chapter two, The Remembrance of Christmas Past and how Christmas memories - and more generally our past - shape our today and tomorrow. I'm the youngest member of class, by at least 15 years!?!, and I enjoyed the stories of WWII-era childhood Christmases. 

We only had an hour, so maybe that's why we didn't get to one of my favorite parts of the chapter. The author talks about how many of our memories are centered around our senses - the sights, sounds, smells and tastes ... but "probably the most underrated sense during the Christmas season is the sense of touch." (p. 68) He then introduces a "touch inventory". What have my hands been doing all week? What is the thing I've most often touched?

Shades of brown and gray at my kitchen counter

...of course, I thought about knitting. Yarn and knitting needles are probably what my hands touch most.

But when I started thinking about all the things my hands have been doing this week - wow! - it's a long list. My phone, computer keys, food (I'm eating popcorn as I type this), mugs and glasses, dishes, soap and water, towels, clothing, bedding, mail (birthday cards!), a pen and paper, books, Holly, people (Marc, Katie, girlfriends, friends at church), my drivers license and car key, a credit card and even a little bit of cash ... and the list could go on and on.

I don't often think about the sense of touch as a blessing, but beyond that, how easy it is to count my blessings when I list those things I touch. and as Thanksgiving week begins, I'm looking forward to touching more family and friends, getting up close and personal with a turkey and a few sides ... and my knitting.

What are you looking forward to touching this week?