This has been an unusual year for me. Typically, I am over-excited about Christmas, with its bows and lights and songs and trees and cocoa and giftwrap and stories and firesides and activities and tearjerker films and family gatherings... I relish the first listening of my favorite carols for the year... I plan elaborate gift ideas... I live for the traditions and prepare for perfect gatherings.But this year, all I want for Christmas is right here, in my little Mason Attic. It's not too fancy-- the little apartment with dust bunnies in each corner and a pile of laundry needing to be folded. There's no designer Christmas tree with matching ornaments... No beautiful mantle with stockings and fresh greenery artfully arranged. We don't have cute furniture (well, except for the bed and the crib...) and the hardwood floors are getting scuffed...
But in the pack-n-play crib behind me is a grunting, snuffling little 6-week-old trying to get to sleep... His sighs and snorts are so perfectly dear and satisfying that I think I don't need any other music. And in the room adjoining this one, my handsome, loving, due-for-a-haircut, overgrown kid of a husband is sprawled on the couch watching his gift from me (three seasons of Arrested Development on DVD) at a minuscule volume out of respect for the baby (What a good dad!). He is equipped with hugs and kisses on demand, so what other gifts could I possible ask for? And I am in my p.j.s, rested from a nice afternoon nap, comfortable and content with the time I have gotten to spend with our families but oh-so-glad whenever we make it HOME...
And this is all I need this year. I don't need gifts and "memory making moments" and trimmings and parties. All I need is my husband Joe. My baby Noah. Some choice moments with Joe's family and some good ones with mine as well. And my HOME.
So peace to you and yours, and I hope you can find the joy and contentment I have found this Christmas season. I'm sure that in no time at all, the world will crowd back into my life (and yours as well), but until then, I am going to feel this pervasive deep gratitude and let this moment last a bit longer.
i was going to mention that joe looked a bit scraggely in the last few pictures. i'm hoping to have what you have next christmas. well, not a baby (well maybe) but that contentment, being at home, and all of that.
ReplyDeleteThat picture is PRICELESS. I love it.
ReplyDeleteGlad you guys had a good Christmas. Wish ours was that peaceful. Unfortunately, with a giddy 10 month old, it's hard to have a peaceful house. :o)
I love the pic! I'm with you, he's all I need. Happy New Year.
ReplyDeleteoh emily, that is beautiful! the picture, the prose, the visual image of your precious family...
ReplyDeletelove it
(oh, p.s... G is me, galen!)
ReplyDeleteOk, I love love love that picture. So appropriate with this post. I love the way you put it and how nice it is to simplify your life and appreciate the most important things, your little family. Glad you had a good Christmas!
ReplyDeleteI too spent several days near the holiday wondering why the Christmas spirit couldn't be found. I binged on Christmas music, read Christmas stories to my kids, and nothing. It took only one moment for my kids to get me in it - and then peace and calm, and rejoicing began. You will find yourself feeling the same thing you did this year, for years to come. Christmas is love - love is all around you - and when you have children it becomes so much easier to recognize.
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