Here.

I live though the holidays at a different pace.

I'm embracing chaos, or fighting it, depending on the moment.

The children sleep in, and I sleep in even longer, and we wake to a world covered in snow.  Out here in the country, this much snow means no traveling anywhere for any reason, and so we accept our God-given boundary, and we let the snow rule our day.

If I'm honest, I'll tell you I miss "my" nap time quiet.  I do. I miss the hours of nobody talking to me, when I can give attention both to the lists, and to the things on my mind that need to be wrestled through, prayed through, sorted through while I sit at my keyboard.

My house and my mind are more cluttered than usual.

But, everybody is here.

Life falls down heavy like snow on my branches.

And I'm not going to shake it off just yet.

The school is quiet.

This place is not.

But it's beautiful, too.

They are here.

I'm trying to be here, too.

I think they appreciate it.