home is where the heart is

The Christmas tree went up last week and so did the decorations.

                                                           little feetsies.

I noticed how many hearts we have at home.

                                                           another angel

I have a confession... a lot of these hearts stay up all year round.

I just sort-of forget to pack them away and gradually they have become a feature at home.

When we had our first child, I absolutely knew that I wanted to create a home that had a lot of love in it. And these hearts just act as a little reminder, to me and my husband and my boys, to love one another. And the rest will follow.

I'm not ready

We're over half-way through Advent and I'm not ready.

The tree is bought but still in the back garden.

Some of the lights are up. Some, this year, don't work.

The candles are lit when it gets dark (I love my little angel peeking out from behind)

I've even put up some baubles (my son said this twig looked like reindeer antlers so I couldn't resist bringing it home)

When I went to the shops and saw everyone else bustling about, loaded up with bags and bags of stuff, I felt very un-ready. They all seemed to have it taped.

I really needed to remind myself that it's all the imperfections in my life that make me human. That being frayed around the edges and a bit ramshackle here and there is a good thing. That the BEST Nativity plays are the ones with old checked teatowels tied round little heads and Mary dangling baby Jesus by one foot.

all the extras are just that - extras

I never feel I'm 'ready', for anything

and I'm pretty sure God doesn't mind

I am grateful

for the birds singing this morning, at the darkest time of the year

for the wind being behind me on the second half of my run tonight

that I didn't inadvertently burn down through 2 days of the Advent candle today (thank you, boys, for keeping an eye on it)

for the mysterious, uncontainable creator God who sustains me.