Moving Pieces. Moving Places. Moving Peacefully.
Gratton Christmas Card 2013
Here’s a glimpse at this year’s Christmas card. There’s something I completely love about doing these each year. While it’s a lot of effort to take on amidst a busy season, it’s a welcomed opportunity to share a little love and joy…even if it’s just through smiles and songs. We’re fairly simple people but always have more than enough of those to give.
Merry Christmas!
Here We Come A-wassailing
Our annual Christmas song has been released… may love and joy come to you!
I’m a fierce dreamer.
I mean this both in the literal and metaphorical sense. By night, I am running from science, secrets and gun shots but by day I am thinking of all I want to do and accomplish. The past week I’ve had so many harsh dreams (or nightmares) that it makes me wonder why. Why do I have such vivid and crazy dreams, so much so that they alter my days and throw me in such a deep daytime trance? What adult has nightmares several nights in a row or dreams that stick for years and still ache to remember? Does anyone else have dreams this intense and frequent? Is this just the way it is and something that will always happen? Or does it indicate something else?
So I suppose it seems like I fell off the grid for a couple of weeks, at least in the blogging world. Write something about life being hard and crazy sometimes and then go silent. Not exactly the most reflective of the latest. To be honest, I have a blog post or two just sitting, waiting to go public but haven’t hit the button. Something about this time of the year feels like everything is in fast forward, and I can’t keep up.
We are a third of the way through the month! Can you believe it? I sure can’t. There’s parties to attend, gifts to get, people to see, stuff to do. Between all that and everything ramping back up for both of us work-wise, I go back and forth between scrambling like a crazy lady and wanting to snuggle under some soft, warm blankets without tending to any of it.
Sometimes I feel like I have to fight and struggle to accomplish all the normal boring life things like paying bills and ordering checks (yes, I still use those), so adding anything else seems like a big deal. But somehow I’m going to find the time to sit still. To be. Be with people and not have to run to the other room to check something or do something else. My prayer today was that I could have a home that’s open and more importantly, available. I am so grateful for our house as it truly feels like a home and want it to reflect how I want to live. I want to see everyone and do everything, but not at the expense of our sanity. I don’t want to be a little stressball when things aren’t done yet, pushing out the people I want to be with and love on. I want to show love and care to others but not be so exhausted from running around that I have nothing left to offer. But hopefully what I lack in checked off to-dos I can make up for in sweet winter moments—alone, with the hubby, with friends, with family, with neighbors and with strangers.
This is just the story of my life right now.
90 percent perfect and shared with the world always changes more lives than 100 percent perfect and stuck in your head.
Ever find yourself in the middle of one of those days? Those days that you have such a river of thoughts but know as soon as you start to really sit down and think about it, you’ll be opening the flood gates and aren’t quite sure you’re ready for that? This weekend was like that for me. All in all, we had a good weekend. Hung out, had a date night, spent time with friends and enjoyed our time. But underneath it all I had all sorts of thoughts bubbling up about ready to spill over. Sad thoughts about all that’s wrong in the world and how badly I want to help make it better. I’m a blessed and grateful girl, but that does not mean this life is not hard. It downright breaks my heart sometimes how cold and cruel this world can be. I want to bang my fists on the ground and cry out. I want to bless my neighbors and protect those I love. I want to start a movement and circle the world with wisdom. I want this messed up world to be turned on its head and make sense again. The brokenness makes me want to shout and scream.
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Then there’s Christmas. It’s a few weeks away, and I’m longing for what it’s really about—a broken world and a baby born to bring us salvation.
“Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men.”
– Luke 2:14
This. This is what I want for the world.
It’s back and better than ever. Welcome to Thursday! I’m not sure anybody else celebrates Thursday quite as much as I do, but it’s nice to spread some love around the whole week, not just Friday. I used to go all out nuts on Fridays at 5:00 p.m. and practically run out of the building, only to realize I still had an hour and a half (or more) before my commute home was over. It was still this desperate moment of celebration after a week of longing to escape. Not really a way to live, so I am grateful to have a mile long commute now.
1. My dad visited the big NC this weekend. We made sure to show him around town (mostly by eating everywhere) and hiked at Hanging Rock State Park a few hours away. It was crazy foggy but still quite scenic. All in all, a good time.
2. A home theater now resides in our living room. The hubby had been wanting something that didn’t weigh 100 pounds and make a high-pitched noise every time you turned it on. So when a friend of a friend was moving and needed sell a TV for cheap, we came in to save the day. What I didn’t realize at the time of said agreement was how huge it was. Movies have been an entirely new experience. The first movie to hit the screen in our house?
3. I am content. On a drive home from dinner with a friend, I couldn’t help but think of all I had. I have so many good things to be grateful for. A loving husband, good friends, a decent job, an adorable little house, overall good health and plenty more. We live in a more, more, more society, but today I am declaring contentedness. Obviously it’s still good to work towards goals and by no means do I have a pair of shoes to match every outfit in my closet, but I am happy where I am right now with what I’ve got.
Isn’t it always a holiday season? We’ve got New Year’s, Christmas, Thanksgiving, Easter, Halloween, Independence Day and of course, Groundhog Day. A constant something to celebrate. A constant to-do.
Regardless of the holiday, I want to make an effort to cherish it but with a spirit of celebration, not of stress. Not expectations or disappointments. Not dread or longing for something different. Not comparisons or excess. I want to consider what it means, what it represents.
Decorations can be beautiful and get you into the mindset of the season, but sometimes it amounts to more stuff and clutter. Sometimes the food and costumes and traditions can cloud out the joy and meaning. I want to put that love and joy first, then the extras.
So regardless of the holiday, let’s put a little more thought into the true purpose behind it. Maybe it’s focusing on one holiday at a time or maybe it’s spending everyday in quiet thought about the current season. Consider what it truly means and embrace it with a joyful heart.
3. We’re settled in, finally. People keep asking if we’re settled in and unpacked and I would now like to formally announce – YES. With my dad coming to stay for the weekend, we had a deadline and little choice but to finish the job. See that room up there? Well, that’s just a glimpse of it in the final cleaning stages. I seriously wish I had before and after pictures from this weekend because let me tell you, that room was completely filled with boxes. The bed was vertical up against the room because there was no space before now. It was embarrassing, but it was also a fact of life. If you managed to miss any of the blogs from the past three months I’ll fill you in—it was hectic. We were busy and exhausted so clearing out the spare bedroom just wasn’t a priority. But now, we’ve moved in. The job is done. There’s a few odds and ends but all of our rooms are fully functional and you can see the floor. It’s amazing, and we love our little house all the more.