Saturday, December 24, 2011

The Gift of This

This.
This is my favorite part of Christmas. This twinkly, firelight quiet.
Monkeys are scrubbed and brushed and tucked away with books and kisses and hugs and drinks of water.
Little snores will be lilting down the stairs in a few minutes.
And this. It settles like a sigh over the house.
The planning is done.
No more shopping, no more traveling, no more making lists.
Just this.
We pad around and shush and giggle and shush again while we stuff stockings, wrap a few last presents and put them under the tree.
 No hurry, no rush. Just this.
This basking in my family.
This quiet teamwork with my soul mate.
The quiet pride in our little people.
The quiet time together to reflect on our year, our monkeys, our life.
This quiet, simple good.
The rest of the world melts away in the circle of warmth and light that surrounds us.
Nothing matters for a while  but the precious heads under this roof.
It's us and we're here and we're strong.
No matter what the year has brought us, we can always look back with joy.
We can always look ahead with peace.
There is faith here, there is love, there is safety, there is strength. There is this.
This is my favorite part.
This.

10 comments:

  1. Beautiful. Merry Christmas to you and your family :)

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  2. Sweet! Enjoy those years.... we are on the other side but not all the way to the next generation. It is nearly 11:00 pm, and the four of us just finished stuffing stockings together! Then we hauled out those presents that Santa is bringing us and put them around the tree. It is still a lovely night, it its own way. There is lightness, humor, and some of the just baked coffee cake meant for breakfast filling our "almost time to go to bed" time. Merry Christmas, my friend.

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  3. -Bing-
    -25th-
    Now its time for 'That'?
    (I want to stay in bed just a few minutes longer)

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  4. Beautiful words...as usual :-)

    Merry merry Christmas...

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  5. Love this. We are so happy to have three of our four children home this year and my fourth somewhere safe with people he cares about who care about him. Merry, merry Christmas to you and yours!

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  6. Merry Christmas to you, Tangled Lou.

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  7. For me the perfect sentiment, at the perfect time. Thanks.

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  8. So beautiful, as always. Wishing you, your soul-mate, and your monkeys a very merry.

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  9. Beautiful! I hope it was a very Merry Christmas for you all:)

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