Winter Wonderland...

So, in my last blog post, I was all about how time stands still when my girls are gone.

This week, life has returned to normal at a breakneck speed.

The girls and I took down Christmas for 5 hours on Sunday. I loved having Christmas up for that extra week, because I love Christmas so very much, but it was most exhausting. The girls still like to make our Winter Solstice tree out of the real tree-basically, we take the tree outside and put fruit with peanut butter and birdseed on it. We also had our Epiphany celebration, culminating in our Wise Men figurines making it to the stable. We blessed the house and had our Epiphany cake.

(When Betsy was five years old, we were walking around, blessing the house, Nick carrying the incense with his normal, ‘Why did I have to marry this crazy lady?’ look on his face, and Felicity was just little still, so I was carrying her, and Betsy looked at me with complete sincerity and said, “Mommy, why do we do weird things like this?” It remains one of my very most treasured memories.)

This week has been full of time spent with good friends, a much-needed hair appointment, Math Club for Betsy and dance for Felicity, small group...which makes my heart so happy, but makes my body so very, very tired.

This particular life I lead- it can easily feel overwhelming. When the girls are home, we want to do so many things. We have gotten away from doing all the things but we want to spend time with friends, watch all the movies, read all the books (maybe that one is just me).

Things I love this week:

What Should I Read Next? Episode 165: 1000 Books to Read Before You Die

Normally I don't love lists like this, because there are so many books to read, way more than 1000, and many that are hardly classic literature. But this discussion was just amazing and I couldn't get enough.

The Christmas Sisters by Sarah Morgan

Such a delightful read in the week after Christmas about 3 sisters trying to sort out their lives at their family home in Scotland. Nothing life changing, but a lovely read, especially with a cup of hot chocolate in the light of my Christmas tree.

I'm so looking forward to being snowed in this weekend- the girls and I are watching all the Disney movies in chronological order (my favorite way), we have managed some sledding, and I have an overdue library book to finish.

Life is pretty grand.