A Christmas miracle in the living room

The spider webs looked like they’d been spun with kite string.  I jogged by them, wishing I could stop and take photographs of the frosty spidery magic . . . well, mostly I just wanted to stop jogging, but I did not.  I dragged myself out of my warm house into the frozen fog this morning to continue my Couch to 5K running program.  I have no real intention of actually running a 5K race . . . who has time on a Saturday for that?  But maybe I will.

But those spider webs, frosted by the frozen fog were beautiful.  The morning–opaque with fog–was much less glorious.  It was cold with very little visibility.

I work for nine hours on Friday, so most of my day was spent at my computer.  My teenagers went to a birthday party/sleepover.  They left at 2:30 p.m. and will be gone until tomorrow at 5 p.m.  It’s always very quiet when they’re gone.

Tonight, between my work shifts, I started unpacking the Christmas decorations boxes I’d moved to the living room yesterday.  Grace wandered downstairs, noticed what I was doing and began to decorate the tree.  I hollered to Zach and asked if he wanted to help and what followed was the most polite cheerful conversation I’ve ever heard between those two.

It was like they were on a first date, all sweetness and small talk.  It was a Christmas miracle!

And now, the emptied boxes have been stacked in the storage room and the living room looks like Christmas.

I wonder if my heart will feel like Christmas at some point.  It’s hard to capture the peace of Christmas when you are racing through the month, trying to get everything done before the finish line.