There on her wish list last fall it was: Romeo.
"Romeo?" we asked. This little dog has been part of the family for seven years now. She explained that she really wanted him to be her special dog and she would feed and water and walk him. And she has been true to her word. She loves this little scruffy sidekick.
I found some more of the two of them through the years:
Outside: The snow still blankets the yard and has formed high walls along the driveway as tall as I. Temperatures have been low but Abbie and her neighbor friend especially have been undaunted and still get outside for a while daily.
Listening to: The Beatles today. One son said he had downloaded a couple songs and, did I ever listen to the Beatles. Um yes. Me and most of the rest of the western world. "Were they like, your band?" After explaining I wasn't actually BORN when the Beatles burst onto the music scene I made them listen to all my favorites on youtube. That took a while, especially since I had to sing my favorite parts. For him that was Hey Jude. For me that included Ob-La-Di, Penny Lane, Yellow Submarine. What say you?
Around the house: I should be showing you the newly remodeled school room and family room but the weather earlier in the month wreaked havoc on part of the area. We are back to square one. Stayed tuned. It's going to be wonderful. It WAS wonderful for ever so brief a moment. It will be wonderful again. Hopefully soon.
Creating: We just finished some flower girl accessories. Working feverishly to complete all our ideas for Moira's wedding.
Reading: Mama's Bank Account together. I remember loving it as a child and picked up a copy to read to the younger three. We are really enjoying it. One teen finished Animal Farm and is reading St Catherine of Siena now. Another reading Scarlet Pimpernel. Tess is working through the Little House books and Abbie is working through Beverly Cleary's Ramona titles
From the learning room: pastels and watercolors and snowmen have prevailed in art this winter. This was a favorite we learned from Pinterest, my happy place. Our craft project ideas here.
From the liturgical calendar: Today is the feast of St John Bosco. He has always been one of my heavenly heroes. I was given a relic a few years ago by my dear friend Rebecca and it hangs where I see it every morning. For parenting inspiration I recommend this which could be summed up with this thought below:
Of course this applies to much more than correction of children. So much more. In fact Psalm 141:3 is every on my lips daily right now given our contentious climate.
From the kitchen: printing recipes when I see promising things on Tasty etc. Using the instant pot a great deal. Here are some spaghetti squash boats from the other day. Spaghetti squash cooks in FIVE minutes in the IP. Amazing and so good.
Towards fitness: I subscribed to the digital Walk at Home membership before Christmas and love it. Have started incorporating Fitness Blender into my week again as well. I most love that when it's done.
John Greenleaf Whittier
Each evening draws to a close without me sitting down to write, it seems. Truth is it is difficult to string together a thoughtful piece this late in the day. It occurred to me it might also work to share bits and pieces of life lately. So there is the first random bit: I ran across this image the other day from a house we visited in England. Took my breath away. The sun shines against the shiny tile and I can imagine the smell of bleach as the linens dry there. I love everything about this. While I feel we are where we ought to be (most days) I miss the pace we lived there.
We watched The English Patient this winter for the first time in many years. It bothered me in ways that I had forgotten and sparked some thoughtful questions from my daughter in law. One part that caught my particular attention, oddly, was a story from Herodotus that the main female character told around a desert campfire about King Candaules who exposed his wife's beauty to his aide and how she repaid his betrayal. When I was browsing through a box of books our oldest son was storing here I found a copy of The Histories. I had completely forgotten about this passage and the movie until I began reading the first chapter. Who knows how far I will get but I have been picking up this volume here and there and enjoying these stories from so very long ago that describe people so very like people today.
I have been following Peter Walsh's daily posts of decluttering tasks on Facebook. If the day cooperates I will tackle one of the short challenges. A Bowl Full of Lemons is hosting a more ambitious themed house organization challenge that several friends have joined. The social media shares are inspiring. Similar but different – my friend Briana shared an article about Minimalism and where it sometimes goes off the rails. Good perspective to balance the current trend of elimination when it is for elimination's sake. Coincidentally I ran across this one later in the day. You've seen my pictures and probably guess where I fall on this spectrum though that really doesn't matter in the end.
The Federalist ran an excellent article about contemporary motherhood. Or about how to look at any job we find ourselves tasked with that at first is outside our skill set. Also about cynicism creeping into our vocation, our conversations. Cynicism is a joy sucker if ever there was one.
Fake news is the topic of conversation all over right now. This article from last month discussed the sort of news that captures attention versus the sort of news that actually impacts our day to day lives – personal narrative. Lady Lydia mentioned something similar today. The most important stories are not often told on tv. Or social media. Or any media. They are the kitchen table stories. After I read that one I decided maybe it is good after all to share the virtual equivalent of my library receipts or my daybook entries. Maybe it helps to hear what someone just like you thought about or read about or tried to do today.
so that's what I did
“Snow is falling outside and all is peaceful and still.
In such moments it is possible to believe that the world could still be good.”
― Richard Paul Evans
“Our favourite amusement during that winter was tobogganing. In places the shore of the lake rises abruptly from the water's edge. Down these steep slopes we used to coast. We would get on our toboggan, a boy would give us a shove, and off we went! Plunging through drifts, leaping hollows, swooping down upon the lake, we would shoot across its gleaming surface to the opposite bank. What joy! What exhilarating madness! For one wild, glad moment we snapped the chain that binds us to earth, and joining hands with the winds we felt ourselves divine!” - Helen Keller
On Dad's day after Christmas holiday we got it into our heads that we should find the best sledding hill nearby. It was cold but the sun was shining and so were their faces before it was through. They trekked up and down the hills for a good long time. Then we loaded up three very wet and happy kids for some hot baths and hot chocolate.
From where I sit I'm looking out onto miles and miles of snow covered pines and rooftops. We were snowed in for Christmas which has its perks. The day was necessarily spent at home together and a great deal of video chatting happened making our far away family seem not as far. The little ones got to show their big siblings what Santa brought and we were even able to send delivery dinner to our bachelor sons in Denver. This is not always the case but, on this day, technology came down firmly on the side of blessing.
The grainfree thumbprint cookies I mentioned before – here. I told Alannah she could make me these for every major event FOREVER. So good. All gone. I did not share a single one.
Our boys love their theme socks lol!
Lots of shoveling. We need to break down and get that snow blower. Meantime – LOTS of shoveling.
We had beautiful pink snow at sunset. Then we said our prayers, loaded up on cookies, and watched Christmas in Connecticut. I hope your day was magical.
We made it! It's been a busy but prayerful advent and here we are already at the end, putting finishing touches on gifts and wrapping up cookies. We've had our issues with "little foxes" here lately, which my friend Ella reminded me can sneak in and wreck up the most wonderful time of the year. The best way to brighten your own mood is often to look for little ways to brighten others'. The children have been SO fired about doing just that this week, they have been contagious and effective redirectors.
We started with blessing the delivery drivers whom we procrastinating shoppers were ever so dependent upon and grateful for. My friends Ruth and Mary Ellen had shared the idea and it was something the kids could pull together easily. Shortly after we stuck the bucket outside we had our first UPS visit. We heard a knock and a "THANK YOU!" through the door. When I went to get the boxes a few minutes later the driver was jogging back to the door. "Did you forget something?" I asked. "No," he said, " I've only had this happen to me one other time and I wanted to get a picture!" So easy. So much fun. (Yes, it's December and yes it is cold here. The shorts never get put away. Don't ask me why.)
We chose Grinch popcorn mix for the neighbor gifts. It's messy. Not gonna lie. There's nothing like a solid Pinterest project to perk a girl up though and our Abbie is ALL about Pinterest. Wonder where she gets this from?
The elves packaged and went door to door tonight.
I made a pie but then moved into present wrapping mode while Alannah did most of the rest of the treat baking.
With some help.
The gifts were wrapped and stockings stuffed before 9pm. It might be a Christmas record for us.
It's been prayers and stories and movies since, because this is the house that never sleeps and Christmas Eve does not look like it will be the exception.
But I will be heading with or without them, as soon as I get some of the grain-free thumbprint cookies my girl made for me.
In an age like ours, which is not given to letter-writing, we forget what an important part it used to play in people's lives.
~Anatole Broyard
I am part of a cusp generation, the last of those who may have had pen and paper pen pals. I have not forgotten the feel of feather-light airmail vellum envelopes with their red and blue edges. The penmanship of friends and family I have corresponded with is still fresh in my mind. For many reasons, electronic correspondence makes more sense today. Perhaps only one reason – speed. Perhaps that too, is its great downfall. We live in an age with no pause between reception of message and reply. I'm not sure we are better for it. Email and text have really replaced phone calls more than letters. Letters just sort of faded away.
Christmas is the one time of year when the mailbox once again brings real, tangible messages from far away. Today more than ever I treasure handwritten addresses and signatures. It is a truly restorative treat to sit quietly and pour over the new pictures of my children's friends even if I have seen some of them on a screen.
I sat with a cup of tea today and read a multipage letter from an old friend. She has email. So do I. It is different somehow to sit and read her stories of the year past and how she felt about it all. After her letter came a card with a short note from my late mother's best friend from school. We do not know each other well but the moments she took to tell me she was thinking of us mean more than I can say.
Old fashioned handwritten correspondence was something that fell by the wayside as the tempo of my life inched upwards. My own bookish and artsy younger children are helping me revisit this habit. I hope we can turn this around a bit, for the sake of us writers as much as for those we send our letters to.
Some ideas for those cards and letters arriving in your mailbox here here and here
Tess has wanted so badly to go ice skating and we had every intention of taking them this weekend until we caught sight of the temperatures forecasted. Not only was it cold by the weekend but we still had opened decorations boxes at the edges of the family room. One tree sported strings of lights knotted tightly around the branches after a boy helper noticed the tree could spin on it's base and thought he landed on a speedier method. The card was finished but not ordered. Secret Santas needed to go shopping.
We talked about maybe going skating later in the week when it might warm up, and we maybe would have our Christmas ducks in a row. While we talked about all these practical things I noticed a hint of tears pooling in one girl's eyes. We immediately changed course. This, after all, is the whole point of Christmas anyway. (besides the larger spiritual focus, of course) It is about us. Them. Together. It's about making memories. All the rest of the holiday cheer is there to serve that bigger purpose.
So we kicked the boxes aside, piled on extra layers, and headed to the little outdoor rink.
Dad hung in quite well all things considered. Abbie Rose spent a fair amount of time hugging the railing or picking herself up off the ice. No complaints from either though.
He's a darn good sport.
Tess put in a lot of laps trying to remember how to push off and stop.
It was as cold as predicted, but not so cold that they didn't still order Italian cream sodas afterwards. And then, with their emotional tanks and ours full once more, we did go brave the toy store to pick out the gifts for the children they chose from the Giving Tree this year. A teen rescued the tree from the light string lasso. The boxes are still there. Tomorrow is another day. It reminds me that there is always time. Always time. We just have to order our priorities and get those big rocks in first.
Starry Sky Journal 