A Public Thank You.

My mind wanders during our advent reading each night.  Engaging has never been my struggle…until now.  I find myself thinking of all sorts of things…with short bouts of the scriptures Chad is reading interrupting my thoughts.

Tonight I find myself wondering if writing will ever come easy to me again.  Or rather…the desire to write.  Just like everything else…I scoff.  The flare is dim.  Still lit.  But dim.

Normally…this time of year, the Christmas cheer would knock Chad (a logical man) on his you-know-what upon entry.  Thus far…I’m doing good to get the moments chronicled.  Much less…adding sparkle to them.  And the weird thing???  I don’t think the kids are even noticing.  I figure…this means one of two things.  Either…I am doing a superb job faking it…OR they never really noticed anyway.  Whichever one it is…I’m grateful for the grace they show.  At least I’m not hearing whispers of:

“What’s up with Mom not putting our appetizers on the cute, matching Christmas plates this year for the tree decorating?”  Or…”Is she serious with these haphazardly strewn lights in the yard??”  Or…”Holy hazelnuts…she just gave us our hot chocolate in a non-Christmas mug again!”

I stare at the decorations around me…for, what seems like forever…trying to muster up the magic.  “Feel the joy”, I tell myself over and over.  And I believe it’s coming.  I have to believe it’s coming.  I just know it.

So…we press on.  We rally.

I’ve always been a master of the rally.

****

When I was a little girl…I would touch every tree in the lot.  I took it very seriously…finding this perfect addition to our household for the month of December.  I would get lost in them…pretending I was on a mountain in Colorado among the cedar.  I still enjoy it…looking for the perfect one…appreciating the details of the crocked branches and ash colored trunks.  And the smell???  Is there a better smell?  I mean, really.

So…you can imagine what happened when I found an actual bird’s nest in this one.  Chad saw the look in my eyes and knew it was the one.

I climbed deep into the hollows of my closet…(and I do mean climbed…over clothes)…and pulled out my Dad’s old flannel.  This thing is a miracle worker in the holiday cheer department.

We prepared a spot for our tree…while Annslee slept.

On a side note…

I finally did it.  I found picture frames for a dollar…and framed each year.  We have seen the same Santa every year since Colt’s first Christmas.  Talk about magic.

If I had known how much each of the kids would enjoy looking at these…I would have done this sooner.

I’ve never been a cat person.  But there are times…when George Bailey makes me smile.

And I heard my girl laugh at my very favorite scene during the Charlie Brown Christmas special.

Let’s just pretend that Chad didn’t throw his back out while accomplishing this task.  A thrown out back doesn’t really go with the magic of the moment.

A home with a tree in it is just worth smiling about.  I mean…think about it.  A tree.  Inside your house.  I would just like to publicly thank whomever came up with that idea.

May your visions be of sugarplums…

(and not because you’re hallucinating…of course.)