Christmas in four boxes

Oh good grief Maggie,

You said your resolution is to take better care of yourself.  Which is absolutely not selfish. It is the perfect way to maintain yourself so you can maintain everyone else.  But then you say you are fighting pink eye and congestion and exhaustion. This is where you prove you are going to take better care of yourself.  Your body is crying out for rest. Don't fight it, honor it.

I was inspired to take down all of my Christmas decorations today.  Usually I do it on your birthday, on the Twelfth Day.  But today was right.  In the end, I had Christmas neatly packed in four boxes...

What I noticed about this year, is that I was reluctant to decorate. I didn't feel it. I finally did, and it was made more fun by the delight in my granddaughter's eyes.  But I had to force myself, and I didn't linger in memory...which is the fun part.

But that part happened as I was taking things down. I was handling each ornament, each figurine, and I was remembering.  My favorite ornaments are the kid-made ones that have survived.  A black calico stuffed star...a cardboard disc that has a drawing of a Christmas tree and child-like lettering - Merry Christmas...a big pile of popsicle sticks wound together with blue yarn.  Those are my treasures.

I had kids all weekend long.  Both of the girls stayed here New Year's Eve.  We were all awake to watch the ball drop, by internet, of course. And we fantasized about going to the city someday.  My grandson was not here, because he had woken up and vomited all over.  But by the next day he felt great. So the little one went home, and the middle one showed up.  There was an overlap of a couple hours while my youngest was here.  We all worked on a jigsaw puzzle together.

Then S#3 arrived with her two oldest. For some reason the kids were a little more maniacal than usual, so we separated them for the night.

I had my two here most of today. S#3 had to leave early. So we played dominoes and made paper airplanes.  The watched a movie while I took down Christmas, and then helped me bring in firewood, which turned into a contest.

Nice day with them.

I love them so much.  We were talking about our safe places, and my grandson said my house is his safe place.  I was touched, and reminded him he is always welcome here.

I have a feeling 2017 is going to be a good year.  I have a feeling we are going to have the very  dark and the very Light again, but that the Light will not be something we can overlook. It will be Light.

Sending Light and love all wrapped in hugs!

Clare