Monday Morning

This weekend was packed full but began in such a lovely way...a quiet (if there is such a thing) dinner at my neighbor's house.  That guy that I like so much had a big rehearsal and Brian wasn't feeling so hot so it was just me and my middle guy...that time with just one boy at a time is always really sweet.

But more than that...I needed a hot meal really super bad.  Not one I cooked, not one I purchased but one I had to put absolutely no thought into...as in, can I please just walk in, have someone stick a glass of red wine in my hand and put a plate of delicious food in front of me?

 And it happened just like that.

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The house slowly got decorated in her Christmas finery over the weekend and it feels good.  The tree will happen at some point next week...sometime in between concerts 2 and 5 and when the middle boy can go haul it home from the store in his truck.  It'll come...and hopefully with a grande holiday spice flat white latte, nonfat please, in my hand.

  I'm dreaming of a stroll through Disneyland, too...add that to the 'when we have free time' wish list.

It will.  It always does...though sometimes the wait seems a bit long.

I think the shopping is pretty much done and while the wrapping has yet to happen, I'm not feeling the rush yet.  I've made lots of lists...the planning of the student party we are having here this weekend (little house, 50 college students) plus the meals that need to be cooked for Christmas Eve and Christmas Day and all the ones before that.

I find such joy with a good list.  My brain loves the process of writing things down and crossing things off and my boys all know that the first thing I'll say when they tell me of something they need is to 'put it on the list'.

I'll take whatever help I can get.

The annual fruitcake was baked a month ago and has been resting lovingly in the back of the fridge...or rather crammed in the back with a leftover pan of lasagne on top of it but hey, it's a fruitcake.  It can handle anything.

A few days a week I unwrap it and resoak the cheesecloth in rum and gently rewrap it...the smell is out of this world because seriously, it's rum after all.

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And last night we finally snuck a piece.  It was heavenly.  

I promise you, I'll make a fruitcake lover out of anyone.

Maybe.

If not...more for me.

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Brian's football banquet, all 3 1/2 hours of it was on Saturday afternoon.  It was so fun watching him play and while it was scary and he got hurt and now has a huge piece of hardware in his body for the rest of his life, I'm proud of him.

And I'm so glad he's retiring.

This morning I was out and about for work early before the sun even came up and now I'm home and the house is so quiet.  Everyone is gone to either work or school and it's just me home alone, something that doesn't happen often in this houseful of boys.

There are so many things I should be doing...laundry and floors and cleaning and work, but for now, I'm going to take my coffee and sit in the garden and enjoy the quiet for just a few minutes.  I have so many things to talk to God about but I haven't been able to form the words...but I love knowing that in the quiet he just reads my heart and knows.  

He just knows...and I'm thankful for that.