i’ve learned, in the six years i’ve spent the christmas season down here, that, if i am to satiate any of the craving of the northern holiday magic i have known all my life…i have to create it.

and so we began.

it’s chilly this weekend.
and the house smells like balsam & cedar.
and the christmas music has played.
the lights have been lit.

and, following healthy heaps of thanksgiving leftovers friday evening, we ignited our first fire of the season…and opened the magic of stored boxes from the attic…with papa’s help.

we watched our girl as she, bundled in her christmas jammies, unraveled strands of twinkly lights, unwrapped the tiny cradle ornament from the year she was born, and smiled at the memory of her nutcracker from last year. or, as she says…mine buttcracker.

oh, it was heavenly. and i know i’m hormonal and emotional and my sentimental heart beats wildly at these kind of things, but really. this season is so special and having this little one to carve out traditions and memories and childhood magic with…what an honor.

embracing the honor like the author of a timeless masterpiece of literature. i am writing her book. and so i fill it with every bit of magic i can think of. and, far greater than gifts and santa and all the hub-bub…are the little things.

our advent pails have been filled with little treats that will begin on tuesday morning…

(target dollar bin pails, two paint pens, a yard and a half of 2.99 fabric and a pair of pinking shears…inspired by this one for twice the price…and our pails are big enough to fit two or three treats for multiple littles)

and last year, anna ruth had the fabulous idea after christmas to take advantage of the bookstore’s 75% christmas books…so we stocked up, and she will unwrap one every night before bed in december…and we will cuddle and read and make memories.

i am working hard to finish the holiday work so i can take a break and drink in our family and last weeks of our ‘only daughter.’ and yet, the anticipation for this season and family and all the beauty that this month holds still can’t hold a flame to the anticipation i am feeling for this tiny one to join our family in january. i love her so much already…and just cannot wait to meet her.

while we wait, we are enjoying crisp hot cocoa mornings.

and cozy hats that seem to don her sweet head just about every moment of the day. she loves her hats.

merry magical season.

while tempted to start plunking away a rote list of what i’m thankful for tonight, it seems a bit prosaic for this place i’m at tonight. and it’s exactly that–not just a state of mind or an emotion that bears this unworthy cliche’ title like ‘gratitude’ or ‘thankful.’ no, it seems an actual place. its own little latitude where i have settled and claimed residence and walked its paths and met its people. and it is a good place. a real place with, yes, some dark corners and fixer-upper fields. but, overall there is just so much beauty here…and the more i stay, the more i see.

the place of gratitude…of knowing where we’ve been and where we’re going and in between all that, recognizing that where we are is important.

breathing it all in tonight.
where i am.

in our friends’ home this morning for our fifth annual pajama breakfast .

where we sat and talked and sipped coffee out of perfect cups from a perfect hostess…
and later reclined to couches where littles felt the littlest move…

…and where lainey found herself so sleepy, she finally climbed in her bud, alec’s, bed all by herself and just camped out.

…re-energized later to help me in the kitchen for the making of the pies followed by hours of good kitchen love.

we were joined by brett’s mom and little sister for what turned out to be this perfect, peaceful day…with really good food.

and while thankful lists are just perfectly good and all, i’m tired enough that attempted words would surely cheapen the beauty of this place tonight. and while i am loving the beauty of my own place tonight, i know so many others are in places equally beautiful…and for that i am thankful. for happy family & friends…

…and for the richness of our life right now and every little moment that adds beauty and character to ‘our place’.

hope all have found their happy place, seen its beauty and continue to walk new paths to find new joys…there are many.

happy thanksgiving.

do you know what this is?

that, my friends, is steam.
significant steam rising from my coffee cup this morning.
steam that dances upon the surface of its coffee stage because the air around it is slowly cooling, making way for another glorious cold front.

it is a new day.
it is a new time.
it is a new month.

november.
i think my favorite month.
you know what happens in november?

cold fronts. putting up the christmas tree. planning the thanksgiving spread. family. making stocking stuffers. designing the christmas mailer…and the ceremonious evening of handwriting each address, sliding the little gift into that envelope, and preparing it for its journey across the country. fall cleaning. thanksgiving pajama breakfast. newborn clothes–unwrapped, washed and folded into waiting drawers.

ah, november.
welcomed this morning on the lanai with cinnamon rolls and coffee and the jungly sounds in the woods behind us.

and a ‘foot war’, a favorite of hers.

and we kissed october farewell last night with the loveliest of halloweens.
papa arrived, paintbrush in hand ready to transform this mama into the ethereal mother earth i had in mind…

i suddenly felt incredibly powerful…and responsible for world hunger and disease and natural disasters, not to mention a little itchy from a couple layers of acrylic paint.

…and friends soon followed, filling the spaces of our driveway with costumed littles and laughter, good food and the energy these sorts of gatherings bring. it was a family free-for-all and while i feel i lacked a bit in hostessing last night, it didn’t matter because everyone was here for one reason…to soak our littles with a really good time.

thank you, joanie, for the cupcakes!

‘

and that we did.

she totally got it this year. the trick-or-treating. except when the door opened, she said something that sounded like trick-or-treat and then just walked in everyone’s house. past the candy, towards the couch…just kept on walkin’ like she lived there.

and if there was a dog? oh, forget it.

and if there was too much halloween decor at the entrance, she opted to skip that house. we’d point and ask ‘this house?’ and she’d answer, ‘no, scare me.’ …and move on until she found a skeleton-free happy house…with a dog. ‘c’mon,’ she said. and brett & i could not stop smiling.
and as we walked, quietly, hand-in-hand, brett said…‘i love this.‘

i love this too.

oh, happy november.
there is so much good in store.