After All: 5 things

I’m disorganized today, the house all in a tip, disaster everywhere, and I’m working hard to pull it together for New Years. I tried pulling my thoughts together into one cohesive thing – but it wouldn’t go, so Five Things and a few pictures from the last few days it is.

candlesdinner 2015-12-30

1. I heard someone complain the other day that Christmas is so much work for such a fast payoff… that it’s days and days of prep for just one day.  I thought about that, and I tried to sympathize, but really, around here, Christmas goes on, and on and on.  It’s really more of a season for this family. We had almost 20 gatherings of friends and families over the last month, and I like it just that way, I think.

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2. I am very tired.

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3. On Christmas Eve, we celebrated together at Joe’s sister’s place, and then came home, together as a family. The  ladies all spent the night here, sleeping in their old beds, and as parents, we wondered (over a good glass of whiskey after they were all tucked in) if there is ever a time that it stops feeling wonderfully right to have them all under our roof.

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4. On Christmas morning, we came downstairs and made coffee, and got the last bits together, and as is our tradition, the ladies waited at the top of the stairs for the green light to come down. They urged Ken and Joe and I to work faster, and giggled like maniacs while we got it all together. Joe walked around like he does every Chistmas morning, saying things like “Oh, it looks like Santa Claus came last night” to further peals of laughter.

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When we put the music on – that’s their signal, like it always has been, they came tearing down the stairs, and sat where they always do, and said what they always do, and at some point, as they all carried on the way they have for years and years, Joe and Ken and I realized that for all intents and purposes – that morning they were children again. Even though they’re all in their twenties, and Amanda is closer to thirty than she is twenty, it hadn’t occurred to a single one of them to come downstairs and get a coffee before the music played. Not one of them suggested sleeping at their own homes, not one of them said anything like “Hey, I’m a grownup now, this is a little silly.” They all fell right in line. It was…. delightful. I’m sure the year will come when one of them refuses to wait at the top of the stairs, or wants to stay up and have that glass of whiskey with us.. but this was not that year. I love that.

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5. All handknits were happily received this year but honourable mention goes to Pato, who was so delighted to receive his first pair of hand knit socks that he instagrammed them.

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There’s a good boy.

How did yours go?