No ordinary day

It seems that every single day of this week has rolled seamlessly into the next without a whole lot of fun interspersed to punctuate the mundane. Following the frenzied pace and excitement of the Christmas season, Ordinary time has been feeling just so...ordinary.

Today has been gray and windy, cold and dreary, and I, for one, was feeling in desperate need of some good old fashioned cheering up. Meghan fell asleep right after lunch, so I thought I'd take the opportunity to enjoy some special time with just "the big kids". They watched in wonder as I spread a big old blanket on the living room floor, then set out a plate of cookies and mugs of hot cocoa. We sat together, sipping and munching, as I read to them some of our favorite winter books and poems, including The Snowy Day (much beloved and fondly recalled from my own childhood); Henrietta's First Winter (a gift from my dad this past fall, which was an instant favorite for all of us); and "Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening" by Robert Frost. This was so much fun, so incredibly simple, and so very sweet. It's something I plan to continue in the months ahead, if not every day at least a few times a week. The smiles on Dylan's and Caitlyn's faces were priceless! And the love and peace I felt in my heart, snuggled down there on the floor with my kids, reminded me of how very extraordinary these "ordinary" days actually are.