Back to Ordinary

   Today I woke up and got Delainey ready for school, packed her lunch, made breakfast, and fixed her hair.  We made it to school on time with minimal fighting!  I made a pot of coffee and planned my day off.  I have dinner in the crock pot, the dishwasher running, and laundry in the washer and dryer.  I might go see Jim on his lunch break to visit with him.  Nothing special, just ordinary times at our house.

     Later today, I will be taking our Christmas tree down.  I usually take it down the weekend after Christmas, but this year I wanted to leave it up for the 12 days of Christmas.  Last night after dinner, I gave Jim and D a small gift to celebrate Epiphany.  The gifts weren't elaborate, just a drawing book, ink pens, and highlighters for each of them to put in their "war bags" as Jim calls them.  As I take down the tree, I want to take my time this year.  I want to remember the Christmas's of our past as I look at each ornament.  I want to savor the memories that each one brings to mind.  I want to reflect on why my family really celebrates the season the way that we do each year.  Of course, my least favorite part will be hauling it all out to the shed to store until next Christmas!

     Then it will be time to put the house back in its ordinary order.  Time to move the furniture back to it's ordinary places.  Delainey has been asking me to teach her to sew.  When the sewing machine gets moved back to its home, her first project will be learning to hem the curtains that Santa brought (not sure why he didn't just measure first).  Again, nothing special will be happening, just back to ordinary.  It will be nice to once again have family pictures out that were put away to make room for the Christmas decorations.

     I love the ordinary times that we have in our life.  I love the season of Advent...a time of preparing.  I love Christmas...a time to celebrate the birth of Jesus.  I love the rituals and celebrations of those two seasons.  But mostly, I love the ordinary times of life...the times of making breakfast, spending time with family and friends, being quiet, reading, watching tv, just living life as it comes, day by ordinary day.