Happy Tuesday!

No big important message today. I just feel like rambling, so thanks for indulging me...

Today is  an ordinary Tuesday. Six-plus inches of fresh powder fell yesterday, blanketing the yard and creating the perfect excuse for me to sit inside by the fire, reading. Even the chickens don't want to come out of their coop. It's a cookie baking kind of day too, so that is what's on the agenda for this afternoon, besides writing. I may or may not get there.

We put our tree up early this year (part of it is pictured above.), so I'm also enjoying that. Normally we wait until my husband's birthday on the Feast of the Immaculate Conception, but we wanted to include our Christmas fanatic, college student daughter, and waiting until she comes home for the holidays would be putting it off too long.

My family tolerates me tweaking the decorations - a wild conglomeration of homemade craft projects and oddball church bazaar finds - which I do throughout the season. This constant editing is a carryover, I suppose, for writers. I can't seem to help myself anymore than I can stop mentally correcting people's grammmar. But, payback is finally coming; my children now correct MY grammar. Gleefully, I might add.

This will be the first year we won't all be together for Christmas. I sent my eldest some decorations for her tree, mostly those given to her by her godparents over the years. It will feel strange not having her here, but time moves on, and eventually, so do children . I was able to give her the gift of some great news yesterday via a video chat, and was rewarded with the kind of happy exultation you see when a child opens a package containing their wildest dreams come true. Her brother was with her there, sharing in the good news. Watching them, feeling thier joy, made Christmas come early for me. Maybe that's why I'm so content today, sitting here under the tree.

I think, perhaps, every day can be like Christmas if we appreciate what we have more than dwelling on what we still long for. Today, I am thankful. Hope this Tuesday finds you thankful, too.