Life.Planted.

Christmas Day.  A magical day. Full of laughter and music. Full of aromas of Christmas candles and warm cinnamon buns from the oven.  Children rushing in early and waking you up.  The faces when they find what Santa has left.  A picture perfect memory put away of children unwrapping presents, wrapping paper thrown everywhere. The most beautiful mess there ever was.  This Christmas we stayed home of course and cooked prime rib and lobsters! Way to much food for our bellies. We stayed in our pajamas and we went for a drive down by the water.  (our van once we got home from dropping off gifts from family and receiving even more) Dropped presents off to the nephews and niece <3 A week or so before Christmas we went for a Christmas light hunt drive. This house goes all out every year- they definitely win Christmas!! 

Kieran,  Life gets so busy in the month of December.  But  On December 23rd, we put everything aside, We step away from the noise of the world for a little while,  we slow down for the day and we celebrate and spoil you.  Sweet child of my heart. You have made it 9 years around the sun.  Our shy, sweet, distracted, empathetic middle child.  Always thinking of others first. Watching tears roll down your cheeks on a sad part of the movie. Always willing to help out. The biggest smile holder, you get that from your dad.  The kind of smile that makes your eyes light up and the people around you can't help but smile as well.  Our tall, green eyed 3rd grader.  You love so deep.  You are loved a ton, more than you'll ever know or understand.  Your absence is always felt in this house when you are away.  The year hasn't been entirely sunshine and rainbows, But you always show up with a positive, contagious attitude. So with a bell...

I watched the sun rise this morning, in the warmth of our bed, the warmth of my soft, thick, turquoise blanket layered across my body. Beams of light sneaking in from the snow covered sun roof. Then 1.....2........3 kids (and a wagging tailed dog) made their way into our bed, into my arms and into my heart where they have always been.  We have been busy living life, slowing down and taking in all the treasures of the season in front of us. Lights, snow, creating, giving, baking, learning, loving, cuddling, sledding. Today we embrace and celebrate the winter solstice. The shortest day of the year.  We baked sun bread and read cozy, winter stories.  From this day forward, the light will shine through the dark a little longer each day.  From this day forward the light will return. I felt the shift today. I felt something inside me change. I felt inspired. I felt calm. I felt humbled. I felt surrounded by love. We have it good and we have enough, we have more than enough...

We had a great magical weekend!! We did a lot of running around on Saturday. It was rainy, snowy, sleeting and windy! On Sunday we woke up to presents from St. Nicholas, you would have thought it was Christmas morning the way the kids ran up and jumped on us awake. We learnt about St. Nicholas and how he spent his life helping others. After breakfast we took off on a hay ride to the field of trees to find and chop down the perfect Christmas tree for us. Then we went home and spent the afternoon hanging ornaments, lights and putting out mangers and garland. We ended the night with a Christmas movie, of course, and hot cocoa with candy canes- our favorite! It was the perfect, cozy wintery day.