Christmas Past

This Christmas:

::I finished most of the things I wanted to make (Laurelei's dress, for example) and didn't let myself feel guilty about cutting from my list the things there just wasn't time for. 

:: We immersed ourselves in this beautiful place we live in and let our spirits and our bodies be renewed by the magic of a forest in winter. (I wish Brian was in this photo, but he's always the one taking the pictures).

:: I tried to remember what Christmas felt like when I was a child, and looked for that same wonder in my children's eyes, listened for it in their whispers and anxious sighs.

:: I thought of my mother as I chopped walnuts in the kitchen on Christmas Eve, and I wished, for just a moment to be there in my parents' house, in the kitchen with her...the windows steamed over and the Kitchenaid whirring and the steady chop chop chop of walnuts on the cutting board.  

:: We went caroling (with Brian on guitar) and sang to the firefighters at our neighborhood station who couldn't be with their families because they were there for us. Just in case.

:: I did something I haven't done since childhood Christmases and lost myself completely in one of my presents -a book, of course- for most of the evening Sunday and as much of Monday as possible.

:: Riley developed a fever and spent Sunday evening and most of Monday sleeping in my arms (which didn't hurt my sit-on-the-couch-and-read plan one bit).

:: But most of all this Christmas, I tried to live each moment fully- tasting and breathing it all in. Making memories and bearing in mind that all too soon, this Christmas would be another Christmas Past. And unlike a certain Dickensian protagonist, whose tale I also found time to revisit this Christmas, I'd like to be able to welcome the ghosts of my Christmases, when they come upon me in the night.

"I will honour Christmas in my heart and keep it all the year. I will live in the Past, the Present and the Future. The Spirits of all Three shall strive within me. 

I will not shut out the lessons that they teach."

-Ebeneezer Scrooge

How was your Christmas, blogland? 

I hope as beautiful as mine.

xo

p.s. Thanks to my hubby Brian for the photos in this post. When Riley's feeling up to it, I'll share some photos of his Christmas outfit as well.