Happy Christmas!

I had all kinds of good intentions for a moving and thoughtful blog post today, which included writing it yesterday and scheduling it to appear this morning while I was busy gobbling up time with my precious babes and my dear parents. But now it’s after 1pm on Christmas Day and I’m finally sitting down to write.

First off, I know that not all of you celebrate Christmas and I want to be sure you know this is not me foisting my holiday on you. However, when I started to title it Happy Holidays, that seemed contrived because today is Christmas and I’m writing this while Christmas carols blast in my living room, my parents dig into the books they unwrapped a few hours ago, and all three kids are happily ensconced in getting to know their newest belongings. My belly is full of egg casserole and monkey bread, two things I eat only one day a year. Nick is puttering around, ripping new CDs and charging batteries. Frankie is prowling the premises looking for unattended ribbons (for some reason none of us know, he loves to shred ribbons), Gracie is hunkered down in her crate guarding the beef jerky stick she got from Santa, and Daisy is curled up savoring my dad’s affection.

So, you see, there’s no denying what today is.

What’s more, for me at least, Christmas is about love and generosity and peace and hope; and those are all gifts desperately needed in our world and our homes. So…….after much struggle and more than a few bribes……..

Happy Christmas from me and all the critters currently filling our ark: