I know I may say this every year, but to me there is something magical in the air at Christmas time.

Something that makes it thicker.  Somehow more sparkly.

As I drive down the street by my house lined in Christmas lights, Christmas music filtering in the background, that “thickness” fills in all the nooks and crannies in the air around me.

Even if I’m a stress-case.

Even when there are 6,582 things that need to be done on the new house and I realize I really do have to do some things for Christmas even though we are giving away ours to the people we’re going to visit in Mexico.

And even when my sweet as pie children (ha!) are in the 124th argument of the day about something like who touched something that has been left out last (because of course no one did it if that means they have to put it away).

But the air continues to thicken because it keeps coming back to the real-deal:

Christmas.

And if you stop to feel it long enough at Christmas, even just for a few minutes, it’s there:

Thick air that is beautiful surrounding you.

And although it thins after Christmas, it’s still there.

Because the vacation lingers.  There’s no school.  There’s no schedule.

Most of Dave’s family is in town for our niece’s wedding.

Which means the girls go to lunch.

 We have our traditional New Years Eve dodge frisbee tournament.

We watch fireworks at a freezing cold park to bring in the new year.

…and celebrate the next morning with Martinelli’s and ocean pancakes.

Our beautiful niece gets married.

Followed by a big dance party.

 (I love watching Dave and his siblings in their dancing groove.)

We stay up late into the night laughing until our cheeks hurt with Dave’s family.

We go bask in the beauty of the earth on a hike.

Which ends well at sunset even after an emergency bathroom episode.

As we gradually take down Christmas (amidst the wedding festivities and our 8 houseguests), that Christmas feeling thins out.

But for some reason instead of being sad to see it all the hoopla go, the thinner air makes me excited for all that lies ahead.  I’m not a schedule girl.  I love school breaks more than I can express.  But there’s something about a schedule that is so solid and good to me.

We wake up early.

We read our scriptures.

We hug.

We head into life.

We get things accomplished.

And all is right in the world.

How grateful I am for the opportunity to slow down a little bit over the break.

To unwind.

To do scarcely a thing on that new house of ours.

To connect with extended family I love so much.

And now onto the schedule I love to dread but that is going to be so good for us.

It’s going to smack us down a little after all fifteen of us in this house have been up past midnight nearly every night.

But it’s gonna be good.

On to 2014.

Love to all of you out there starting into the routine along with us today…and good luck!!

5 Comments

  1. You captured my sentiments exactly. All about thickness at Christmas, no schedule, schedule being good, and excited for what is to come. You write so beautifully. Thank you for sharing your blog with me.

  2. i'm sure that park was FREEZING – especially considering the -20ish temps the east coast has been seeing 🙂
    miss you a LOT! want to talk and hear about mexico!

  3. What a great writer you are! The words describe what happened maybe even better that the pictures! A picture may be worth a thousand words but words are worth a thousand thoughts!

    Love this!

  4. What a great writer you are! The words describe what happened maybe even better that the pictures! A picture may be worth a thousand words but words are worth a thousand thoughts!

    Love this!

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