Friday, November 27, 2009

Holiday time.

( My moment of celebrity...with a drying rack on the right, markers on the left...can't get any more glamorous.)






The holiday season is magical. I love anticipation. This bubbling in my soul, excitement. The mundane things in life are infused with energy. Now, that's just me talking. It may not happen to everyone. It started on Monday. We had snowfall during the night. I woke up to a crisp, white, country calm. Suddenly, it came. That feeling. Anticipation. I put a Christmas CD on in the kitchen. Big breakfast. Christmas music. Can you think of a better combination. I pretty much danced my way through breakfast. The kids off to school, I sent Ben to the shop to drag out the Christmas stuff. I'm usually not so premature. The snow got into my system, my Christmas biological clock, I guess. By day's end the "pretty"tree (we do a "fun" tree and a "pretty" tree) was up, the nativities out, stockings ready to hang (can you believe this house doesn't have a fireplace...my one major downer to my little country dream home...well, that, and the master bathroom).

Lest you think Thanksgiving slighted, I did gratefully acknowledge and fully embrace the day. Two months before Thanksgiving I spent practicing with a community choir for a concert on Thanksgiving morning. It was dreamy. A professor at the college and his piano extraordinaire wife have led this choir for fifteen years. It was a privilege to be part of this rigorous and challenging performance. Dare I admit that two of the pieces left my abs burning? Who needs sit-ups? Isn't that funny? Being involved in something so much bigger than yourself is amazing. That's how I felt. The concert was a soul-filling moment for me. I felt this awesome energy.

After the concert, we had the traditional feast, like most of you. My Aunt's children, and their kids came, as well as my parents, and us. I love my Aunt's children. They're all such academics. Intellectuals. I love the conversation, discussions we have together. It's like a 400-level humanities, anthropology, political science, culinary, and english course all in one. I couldn't get enough. The kids love their kids. Everyone was happy. It was filled with moments that I know I take for granted because it's always been this way. I forget that so many don't have ideal, traditional holiday moments. I am grateful, really grateful.

The company left this afternoon. Ben, the kids, and I had a simple cream-of-wheat-and-toast dinner. Then, we brought bean bags, blankets and pillows and crashed on the family room floor, lights out, Christmas tree on, and watched Polar Express. Peaceful, magical. My kind of night.

It's been a great week.

2 comments:

Janie said...

I'm with you. The holiday season is so magical. We are putting up our tree today and I can't wait. Two stations I listen to on the radio have already been playing Christmas music for two weeks and I love it. The holiday cheer is greatly needed this year!

PS. you look great and that coat your wearing looks fantastic on you. No need for White. (wink):)

Kathy said...

i tot agree. i love christmas, and our tree is up and the house is ready for the season. . . we are just missing the snow :( i NEED snow for it to be magical. i'm praying it will snow soon!

i love your tree. love it.

Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...