the calm before

the title of this post came to me this morning as I was getting out of bed. I know most everyone has celebrated Christmas already and now look forward to the New Year with all of its promise of renewal and hope for the future. Around here, however, we do things a bit differently every year. One year we'll all get together the weekend before Christmas to celebrate with the small family unit, followed by a get together with the larger crowd, another we'll skip the large gathering to have smaller get togethers with the kids at different times; this year we are still doing the gatherings, but just with a bit of a different time-frame. With the oldest boy being in Findlay, our little punkin' moving to Chicago and a few new additions to the family we've had to adjust a bit here, tweak a bit there and generally make our gathering happen as best we can. Which brings me to the title of this post (thought I'd forgotten? nope, this mind is like a vault...only sometimes I misplace the key:}.
As I type this I'm enjoying the peace of a house where the only human inhabitant is moi...I've got a cat on my lap, a strong cup o' joe by my side, and I can hear the gentle squawking of a guinea hen outside..total solitude! We have not had our Christmas with the kids yet, that is to come...hence the title of this post "the calm before"...because come January 1st this house will be teaming with wild bohemians (along with their parents) plus an additional granddog (our precious little Winni) to make things even more crazy! Don't get me wrong, I love those babies (both big and small) and this is one of the events in our year that I absolutely cherish and look forward to, but the calm right now is very much appreciated as well. We are also going to attempt a visit to the larger group at my sister Mary's place on Sunday; even more bohemian madness there!
But for today, I'll clean a bit, wrap a bit, ready up the place a bit but also take time to appreciate the solitude and the calm before the storm that is my family.

I hope each of you have a grand time with what remains of 2013 and find your own time of solitude, no matter how small, to appreciate life and those you share it with.

P.S. Of course I'll post after the party for those of you interested in seeing the wild bohemians in action:}

cheers