Christmas Quiet

When I have time to sit and write on the blog I find my mind wandering to the big events of the year, and then straddled between those moments are the sweet and wonderful glimpses of day to day life that I want to hang on, sometimes even more than the big events.

Like the moment Owen read his first word independently, or the moment Collin chose to help a friend before helping himself, or even the days that they surprise me with the tiniest of gestures by cleaning up, or getting the mail or putting their dishes in the sink, just to be nice.

This year, I was fortunate to be able to savor the big with the small over holiday. For Christmas this year we stayed put. We cozied up on the couch to open gifts and made our holiday quaint and special. We celebrated with hot cocoa, simple surroundings and an abundance of love. My heart overflows with love for my three boys and at Christmas, it runs wild with appreciation for the gifts they have given me.

Even though we were by ourselves, it was a generous holiday. I felt so relaxed and comfortable in the time off, happy to be able to just enjoy time with my husband and boys, which during the winter, feels like it comes in fits and spurts, not nearly often enough.

Since we were home for the holiday, we also got to enjoy many of the Christmas events in the cities, including our annual trips to the night trains and to see Santa at Macy's Christmas wonderland. And soon after Christmas, we were graced with a foot or so of white fluffy snow, making the Christmas holiday complete.

Outside of my favorite part, the time together, the boys had their favorite gifts, including many tonka trucks, magna tiles, and legos. All boys, all the time, these two. We spent the week playing with those new toys and building for hours and hours. At some point we decided to build every lego set we have as a family, so each day we'd work together on four or so builds. By mid January we had a collection of more than 20 lego builds. I loved getting to see the boys put their minds to building and watch Collin master how to complete a lego build without much help from us at all.

I love seeing them walking home from sledding on the big hill, hand in hand, and waking up to Drew shoveling the driveway, with the boys screaming in excitement to go out and help shovel. I loved baking and cooking on those days, with lots of little footsteps all around and I loved seeing them be content in the moment.

So even though I very much miss the big and eventful family Christmas's we are used to in Michigan, I am finding that I love Christmas quiet too. I'll never forget this one, and look forward to many more.