Savored Moments In Time

The past three weeks have been full to overflowing...
Full of family.
Full of fun.
Full of festivities.

Things are just now slowing down enough to have time to reflect and savor those wonderful moments shared together.

First my parents arrived. They were here in time to involve themselves in the pre-Christmas festivities. Some shopping, batches of cookie baking, lots of package wrapping, and a lovely music and message filled Christmas service at our church.

On Christmas Eve my oldest brother and his family joined us for dinner and treats and it felt like Christmas had really begun. We continued to celebrate even after their leaving...with our traditional Christmas PJ opening and a Christmas story to fill our heads before nodding off. (Oh, and the strict admonition to the little girls NOT to wake any of us before 7 a.m., are we mean or what?!)

Christmas arrived with a dusting of snow. It never really stuck....but the effect was magical all the same, just to look out and see the big flakes falling was treat enough. Stockings were oohed and aahed over, strawberry crepes were assembled and quickly consumed (much more quickly than they were made, I might add, but they were also much appreciated). Then our Tomie dePaola Book of Bible Stories was pulled from the shelf and handed to Grandpa, who read us the Christmas story...another savored moment of our Christmas tradition. The snow continued to fall, presents continued to be opened throughout the morning, and the turkey was tucked into the oven for our Christmas dinner. The day was lovely, lots work of course, but worth it for this Mama to see the joy it brought her family.

Next up was the much looked forward to visit from our Idaho family, who arrived quite late on Saturday night. The visit was very worth the wait! We had three very intense, very lively days of visiting with 20 people in our home. We attended church (yes, we all made it out the door, but not in time for the 8 a.m. service), celebrated a birthday, brought in the New Year, the adults took a marathon long walk, the college girls sipped gallons of tea, some watched movies and all thoroughly enjoyed each other. It was especially wonderful getting to know my newest nephews and niece!

Bit by bit the company left and the house felt empty, after all only 8 of us were left to rattle around in this hilltop home. But we had more to look forward to . A trip to our favorite mountain getaway. A great chance to relax and reconnect with our own family. Here we had real snow and lost the power for the night and had to be pulled out by the neighbor's "machine". Here we watched The Invisible and Wives and Daughters. Here we played Carcassone and caught up on our reading and built snowmen! Leisure was the name of the game and we all won!

Today we are back to the real world...and it feels good. It's a good thing to pull the readers and workbooks back out of the cupboard. It's good to chain up the car (we had real snow overnight) and have Dad drop the college bound girls off at school so I don't worry that they're in the ditch somewhere. It's good to read aloud again while the laundry gets folded! Yes, life is good indeed.