With 2023 almost gone, these are the little things I'm grateful for this year

It's hard to feel reflective and grateful when you have to brave the heaving hordes at the shopping centres and you'd rather stick a fork in your eye than think about all the cooking and preparation that goes with Christmas lunch.

So, as much as I am grateful for family, friends, my dog, a great community, our beautiful Bush Capital and my health, I do think, often, about the little things that have brought me joy this year.

And I do mean little. Don't expect anything too high-falutin' people.

For years, I have put up with a can opener that didn't work. It didn't grip the tin, it didn't slice through the top. It would go a little way around the top of the tin and stop and then I'd get a knife and lever open the metal and risk slicing open my fingers and ending up in emergency. I bet they see a lot of tin-opening-related injuries.

A lot of tins have those pull-ring tops now, but some of the good stuff like tinned beetroot and tinned salmon still require a can opener. (For tinned salmon, you also need to refinance you home loan it's become so expensive. The recipe for salmon patties may say use a 415 gram tin, but I've cut down to the 210 gram one and it's still $10 a pop. Also, I know tinned beetroot is probably declasse, but no salad roll in summer should go without a few hefty slices.)

The only time I remembered to buy a new can opener was when I had to ... open a can. And then my overloaded brain would promptly forgot.

So, a few weeks ago, I actually remembered and bought a KitchenAid can opener. My god. Life is so good now. It works!

Even in the Christmas frenzy, I still have to visit the local shops because my family has to, you know, eat. I'm no good at online grocery shopping. I am just not that organised. Kudos to you if you are.

I pretty much visit the Wanniassa or Kambah shops every day. I love their big carparks where you can always get a park for free. I love the shopkeepers, I love the locals, I love that I'll pretty much every visit see someone I know. I love the random buskers, especially the guy who belts out all the old-time hits at the Wanniassa shops.

Speaking of the Kambah shops, the local bakery L'épi Artisan Bakery Cafe has the best sourdough bread in Canberra. Hands. Down.

A loaf of the house sourdough just makes me very happy. Toasted, it is deliciously crunchy. Try it. But leave me a loaf ploise.

On this hot weekend, it's difficult, perhaps, to remember all that soaking rain we had last month.

Wasn't it great? Canberra airport, for one, got 134.2mm of rain for the month, almost double what it usually gets.

I remember one morning driving to work after a big dump of rain the night before, seeing a guy out in his front garden just looking around it with a smile on his face.

I get it. I do the same. I just go out to the back garden and just look at my plants and marvel at how much the rain has made them flourish. So good for the soul.

A few months ago, I started doing the Tuggeranong Parkrun with my kids. I'm hopeless. I shuffle like Cliffy Young on a bad day.

But, my goodness, I feel so fantastic afterwards. Thank you volunteers for helping this community event get up every week.

I'm grateful.