Hi!
Welcome to my home!
Please, come on in!
I'll bring you a cup of tea, I'll show you around.
This is my life. Today.
I haven't opened one single Christmas storage box yet.
I haven't "decorated".
If you'll please excuse the bit of projects here and there, thank you.
If you'll overlook the half-decorated window sill,
the mop I just used in the kitchen, which is now drying in the sun on the deck,
the hum of the dishwasher and dryer run through their cycles,
cleaning up after yesterday's adventures,
and
the baking debris in the corner as I make thank-you-for-teaching-my-kids goodie bags.
I have been guilty of slaving away in the kitchen baking dozens and dozens of goodies,
while worrying about just the right touches to adorn my dining room.
But, it hasn't happened yet, because we are in the process of staging our home to sell it.
This room is taking longer to paint it that anticipated,
because I keep getting "interrupted".
And it's okay.
I am grateful to have a home.
And paint. And especially a ladder.
Our mantel still has Autumn's decor on it.
My cloche on the table between the red chairs remains empty,
waiting for some bauble or glittery addition.
The coffee table has my daughter, Miss A's Algebra 2, Chemistry, and Chinese class notes on it,
because she has finals this week and has to study.
And she chooses to do it right in the middle of all the activity.
The sofa's slipcover is in laundry room.
And it's all right.
The inside of the ex-TV armoire, where our high schoolers keep their school stuff,
is trashed from said teenaged girls coming and going to separate schools.
Miss A's stuff is on the left,
and Miss Lovely's (our S. Korean exchange student daughter) stuff is on the right.
Piles of books, calculators, pens, binders, and Miss Lovely's camera that she keeps ready
at all times to capture something curious to her about us Americans!
I could fuss and fume about the clutter.
But, when I look at this mess, I see the future.
These children are learning and excelling in areas I could only dream about.
When I stare into the piles I hear the lectures, the clicks of the locks on the lockers,
the between-classes bell, I smell the cafeteria food.
It brings me back to my high school years, and I remember to hold onto
these moments with these young people, and encourage them and reward them
for our world rests on their little shoulders.
And their shoes remain on our stairs for only a little while.
This is the room that usually holds the Christmas tree.
Yet, in the spot where it should go, the mirror and the artwork for the dining room rest.
The top of the piano is eerily empty, and someone has left the tissue box on the floor
near the heater which was warming their tootsies.
I am tempted to stress that "the tree isn't up yet".
But, I won't.
For some reason, I'm not offended by its absence.
I'm not compelled to action by the bins in the garage, containing its contents.
And it's fine.
We have a budding pianist that performs in this room.
Miss Lovely plays from memory.
I have an international star in my home!
The only thing Christmas-y our half bath has going for it, is the remaining red wall.
The others have been painted contract-on-the-house khaki.
You see, we started a teeny weeny project after Thanksgiving, that we thought would take a day,
two days, max, that turned into a bigger project when the new faucet we installed
started leaking behind the pedestal sink.
The sink waits patiently while we attend Christmas parties and drive offspring to recitals
and their own holiday gatherings.
No matter.
I did manage to whip up 2 dozen cupcakes for the youth group last night.
I would have saved you one, but they're gone.
And I did manage to let a whole card full of faux snow escape onto my foyer floor
You're a stinker, chica.
My excuses for not being more prompt with decking the halls?
The second Saturday this month, I hosted a regional P.I.E. gathering in our basement cafe'.
host families together. Eight other host families and their students came to our home,
with their international stars.
Poon, from Thailand (not pictured yet), wrote Merry Christmas for me on the chalkboard wall.
Translated into Romanized font, read this out loud: "Sook sanwan Chrismass."
There, you just spoke Thai!
Then, Jeep from China (below), wrote Merry Christmas in Chinese for us.
I can't pronounce it and won't even try.
I got teary-eyed as I took this picture in our backyard.
Amazing young people. Left their homes for a year to experience our way of life.
I never would have thought in a million years, that souls from many other nations
would have graced my home!
How am I so blessed?
From left to right, countries represented:
Back row: Brazil, (this is Poon) Thailand, China, Mainland China, South Korea.
Front row: Norway, Brazil, and South Korea (our Miss Lovely).
A few days after they left, my mom (#1) and my other mom (#2) prepared
for a Gingerbread House Workshop, also held in my cafe'.
We each plugged in our Kitchenaids.
And got the gingerbread dough cranked out!
12 batches of it.
Mine.
Mom #1's (the mom who birthed me) mixer.
Mom #2's (the one who lives near me) helper.
I did this for a few days.
And loved it.
I especially loved being with my moms, making messes and making memories.
Thank you #1, for all your help.
Wow. You are one incredible woman.
Giving, kind, and knowledgeable.
Mom #2, thank you for all your help.
I am grateful that you always wash the dishes after the fun is over.
What a servant example you are!
Miss Lovely and Miss A, after Miss Lovely's Holiday choral performance at school (she is a soprano)
doing that peace sign next to the face thing all teenagers do for pictures nowadays.
And to that I say, "Yes, I have peace, too."
I have peace this year, more than any other before.
Why?
Because, I think Christmas (maybe) doesn't come out of storage once a year.
It's something that we should perpetually live.
Christ came from His throne, to be engaged in our way of life.
Our Emmanuel became God with us.
To empathize, to give hope, to heal, to share, to love.
And I want so much to be like Him.
And though I acknowledge His arrival, and I am certainly not anti-Christmas
(in fact, I am having a blast
Pinteresting and visiting everyone's beautiful homes),
I have concluded (through tears and a tantrum or five) that I DO NOT have it have it all together.
I decided that I can't do it all.
I decided to accept the beautiful messes. The decorations of life.
Starting this afternoon, when the last bell sounds for school to be out for winter break,
I am looking forward to the next three weeks with my family!
I choose to be just as excited for this winter recess as I was when I was a kid!
Maybe we will put the tree up this weekend.
Maybe not.
Either way.
It's okay.
I will rejoice!
(I'm glad I thought to grab this swag at Trader Joe's for $5.99 last week!)
This concludes the tour. For now.
To be continued....
