All is (or soon will be) Calm

Christmas is over. I have undecorated the house, and as it always is, undecorating was a little bit sad. I love how festive my house looks at Christmastime, how the sparkly lights make every nook and cranny inviting and warm. And cozy. Cozy is the best perk of all. This year, it was especially hard to take everything down and pack it away mostly because all the greenery and bows and baubles and lights made it easy for me to ignore the things in our house that are still unfinished after 8 months of renovations. Now that Christmas is packed and stacked away in a tall, neat pile of tubs in a far corner of our basement, it is as cold and dreary inside as it has been outside.

I miss all the shiny brightness that the Christmas is.

This Christmas season brought a great deal of joy, too…another reason why it was hard to wrap it all up and box it away.

For lots of reasons, I am feeling emotional not finding it easy to write about the past month, so I will show a few pictures, share a few words, and call it good.

*My kids were all home for Christmas. I’ve already written about that, and it was the best thing about Christmas this year. After all of my anticipation about having them all home, it almost didn’t even happen. Tony’s mom ended up in the hospital having heart surgery just 2 days before Christmas. Tony, Brandon and Lauren went to be with her, and they barely made it home for Christmas. On Christmas Eve, we met Justin’s new girlfriend, and she is adorable and very sweet. A weird new addition to our Christmas Eve celebration...I made Jello shots for my kids.

 

 

 

At the last minute, my sister and her family came to spend Christmas with us. It was so nice and the first time ever that I have spent Christmas with just Theresa and her family. We went to a local park for a walk since the weather was a bit warm, although it was damp and foggy. It wasn’t our typical way to spend Christmas day, but we all enjoyed it.

 

 

 

 

This picture makes me smile because it reminds me of how Brandon was always so difficult when they were all little and I tried to get a decent picture of all of them.

 

 

*My life the past month has been a whirlwind of cooking and baking. And I spent oh so much money at the grocery store. Holy wow! I do love having everyone home, and I want to make sure I cook each of my kids’ favorite meals when they are home. But having three home at once, along with holiday baking…I am saying with all honesty right now that I am tired of cooking and baking. I am hanging up my oven mitts and skipping by the baking aisle at Schnucks. 

So, why did I title this All will soon be calm?

By this time tomorrow, it will be calm around here for the first time in weeks. Brandon is safely back in Glenwood Springs, CO. The girls are both heading back to their schools tomorrow. By the time I get home from work, my house will be so quiet. Rachel has been home for the longest of all of them—almost 5weeks.

I am going to miss them all.

I am usually full of many words, but for now, that is all I can muster.