Simpler Christmas Revisited

Well, turns out I'm not the only one on this journey...

Read this, and you will also enjoy reading the comments that follow.

Boys in My House

There are boys in my house – and Spiderman shoes
And 200 papers in various blues.
There's Bob (he's a builder) and Thomas the Train,
There's a fireman coat to wear in the rain.
They have cars on their shirts and frogs on their hats
There's a glove and a ball and a red plastic bat.
There's dirt on a face and a smudge on a nose;
Grass stains on knees and sand between toes.
There's bathtime at night with bodies to scrub,
And when we're all done there is dirt in the tub!
There's bandaids and bruises and curious bumps,
There's smiles and laughter and sometimes there's grumps.
There's odors most icky; there's boogers so green
There's more yucky things than I'll ever get clean.
There's piles of laundry; there's stories at night;
There's bedtime and bathtime and dinnertime fights.
There's cars and there's trains and there's books about trucks
There's Scoop, Lofty, Dizzy, and Travis, and Muck.
Sometimes there are bugs, and sometimes there are frogs;
Sometimes they are lions, or dinos, or dogs.
There are cute little vests and darling neckties
Dragged right through the mud – oh what a surprise!
There's running and climbing and jumping and falling
And laughing and crying and hugging and brawling
And rolling and losing and finding and creeping
And whining and stealing and sometimes there's sleeping.
There's tantrums and time outs and extra loud noise –
There's love in my house shaped like two little boys.
Author: Erin Jo Kilmer

I Love Living Here

This is the view from my front window


This is the view from my back porch


I love that Andrew squeals with delight every time he sees a bunny.


I love the hawks with their impressive wing span and the frost that shows up when it is 7 to 10 degrees colder than on the coast (although I hope we're done with the latter).


I think it's interesting (?) that the occasional bears (black spot by the front of the house) will greet the sun in our front yard as the fog lifts and I love the otters that frolic in the backyard when the 'lake' is fresh.


I spot peacocks that take mid-morning strolls and I hear roosters that announce the most beautiful parts of the day - dawn and dusk.


I have a front row seat to the most beautiful display of thousands of stars, and it doesn't cost a dime.

My amaryllis bloom shows up overnight, always when I least expect it, and puts a smile on my face, like a good friend stopping by for a surprise visit.


Thank you, Lord, for this beautiful place I call home.