Lulu the red-nosed 'gator...

I didn't think the swamp would have a reflective floor, because there is so much murk floating on the surface.  It almost seems to be a fake floor.  You step on it and you go under and come up spitting out muck.  But you are right - if I am thinking about decorating the swamp, I am claiming it and altering it.  I never would have considered that truth!  Thank you!  What I did think, though, when I read your observation is that I am seeing the swamp from a different angle.  I was seeing it more as a whole, contained, with a position, and with surroundings.  It's something different now.  So I guess I will continue decorating.

Maybe I'll put a red nose on the 'gator and write a carol.

I have been thinking about what I love about this time of year.  I don't think I am up to five yet, but I'm willing to start and see where it leads.

I love the silence of this time of year.  Nature is quieter.  People are quieter.  When we get together, we are laughing and enjoying each other, soaking in the kid joy, but it's a different energy than the exuberance of the Fourth of July.  We are more reflective, more centered.  The house feels cozier and more snug.  I don't know - it's silent...

I also love the smells of the season.  I love having the fragrance of  a fresh cut tree.  I love the scent of baking cookies, of cinnamon and ginger.  I love knowing there soup in the crock pot and herb teas brewing.  Some of the scents take me back to baking rye bread in our home and at Grandma's.

I'll keep thinking, and eventually I'll find five things I love about this time of year...

With your boys, trust your instincts.  How were the girls at the same age?  Have the boys analyzed any of their instant gratification decisions and considered other possible decision/outcome pairs?

What are MMA lessons?  Martial arts?  Can you find a teacher who teaches self control and never fighting without reason?

I got rid of the TV and never regretted it...

Keep smiling, consider yourself hugged from afar.  It is hard work to raise kids.  I honor the thought you put into it!

Love from Clare