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Thank you for all of your print and book orders! I'll be closing up the shop in an hour or so, and will reopen with the few prints that are left, and the regular stock of books after the holidays.
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It's a delicate and constant journey, this attempt at simple living, isn't it? Especially in the midst of the not-always-so-"simple" details that make up our days with five little ones. Especially in the midst of homeschooling or homesteading or trying to make a living doing what you love. Especially in the midst of trying to keep track of seven human beings worth of wool socks on cold mornings like today, just for one silly, but true little example. At times like that "simple" can sometimes seem like a far-off distant concept or even a laughable dream.
And yet, it's here, really, within us all when we look for it, and something we all feel harmony and peace from when the balance is walked well.
I've been thinking about that a lot this holiday season, as our family has grown just a little bit more this year; as we've learned from years past where perhaps we did too much; and as our children grow, and with them, our own traditions take root and stand firmly on their own. I've been thinking a lot about meaningful simplicity as we balance just how much we take on, give out, let in during this could-be-busy season.
One day in late October, I found myself alone with Annabel, waiting for our ballet boys. Feeling a little melancholic about the winding-down days of our own garden, I decided to wander in a nearby garden nursery. In the greenhouse, with babe on my chest, I walked the aisles. The paperwhites were there, and I bought more than I ever have before. It felt a little indulgent, to be honest. I took them up to the counter to pay before I had time to change my mind.
In recent days, those little bulbs have become such a source of light for me. As we determine just what we do in our days this holiday season, I've been checking in - in my mind and with my eyes - with those growing little flowers, as a metaphor for so many other things in our lives and hearts. Are we noticing them? Is our pace one at which we can watch those flowers grow?
The first round of those planted bulbs live in every room of the house, and this morning are just about to burst forth with flowers. I'm certain it will happen by lunchtime.
It feels like magic. It is, really. How lucky we all are to notice.
