Christmastime is Here

Hi Friends.  It feels nice to be writing on this space today.  Sometimes we all need old familiar things, don't we?

I'm sitting in our den, or I imagine it was the den before the previous owners updated this side of the house and turned it into a great room of sorts.  In front of me is the fireplace with a half burned log left over from the fire I made on a whim at 2pm today. To the right is my snoring coonhound.  To my left is glass door to our patio and the small woods out back.  The fresh snow last weekend reminded us of how many animals freqent our yard with their telling tracks.  To the side is one of our Christmas trees, small colored lights and almost too full with family ornaments.  The kids decorated it entirely on their own this year while their cousins were in town from DC for Thanksgiving.  Our other tree is in the living room.  A tradition that started on our first Christmas here when all that was in that room were two rocking chairs and that tree.

Christmas feels so fast away this year.  Was Thanksgiving late?  I think so.  It felt like I sneezed and we're 1/5 there this December.  We're singing Christmas songs with the children at preschool, the kids have signed up for their Christmas Eve roles at church, my closet is bursting with not so hidden presents to be wrapped and my fingers can't move fast enough to knit all that I want in time for December 25.

I said yes to Elf on the shelf for the first year ever.  Louise has been so sweetly asking for three years. So ours came in an amazon box. My story sticks that I ordered only a Christmas book but the Elf came too, I guess we can let him stay.

Jingle, our elf, has sparked some much needed childlike excitement about Christmas for me.  He reminds me every day of my dad who was (and is) so filled with Christmas Joy.  Just today he dropped by to deliver an ornament making kit for the kids.  What a joy it is to live so close to be able to do that.

I find myself preemptively melancholy this season.  I know it's over so soon.  I just want to have this anticipatory feeling all through winter but I know that Christmas will come and go and January and February will be long and slow and I can do nothing to stop it. 

I can do my best to embrace this season.  I am so thankful for our Thanksgiving snow that allowed my three and cousins to spend hours upon hours outside. I am thankful for the extra costco sleds I stocked up on (I'm learning!) and extra boots and snow pants for those who needed them.  I'm thankful for hot cocoa and santa mugs, shelves well stocked with puzzles and games, Christmas coloring books pulled out from years past and woven bins full of holiday stories.

I hope that you and yours are finding joy in this season but it's ok if you're not.  Sadness has it's place at Christmas too.

All My Love,