yesterday morning i woke to a thick and beautiful hoar frost. as soon as i was ready for the day, i stepped outside into the magic of the morning. i breathed the cold deeply into my lungs. i crunched ice crystals under my boots. i captured some of the beauty with my camera.
the hoar frost clung to everything, each twig, each blade of grass, all day. clouds moved over, breaking and joining and breaking again, and when the sun shone through, the light caused every crystal to sparkle.
i kept looking out the window by my desk. i'm so grateful that there is a window by my desk. that i can see out, even when i can't be out.
at lunchtime, i took a few moments to walk away from the school yard, to walk to the fairgrounds at the edge of town, to look out and away, to move, to breathe, to listen to silence, to capture a few more pictures of the beauty God dressed our little corner of the world in today.
really, what a perfect way to welcome december, what a gorgeous way to step into the advent season. beauty simply found. beauty to be noticed and intentionally captured. this season, i am intentionally capturing the best moments. this year will look different for us. already, i have been playing christmas music for weeks (gasp! since well before thanksgiving!) as i prepare to play for the school christmas program - which will take place this coming thursday. maddie and isaac and i have been doing a slough of christmas crafting in preparation for a christmas craft fair/market day - which will take place this coming friday. i am working at doing what i can and doing that the best that i can. there are only so many hours in a day, in a week. and i want to enjoy those hours. i want to help my family to enjoy those hours. so far, we are doing a really good job of avoiding the crazy that can come along with this season. we are enjoying our preparations. we are working together and smiling and listening to music and laughing as we make some christmas gifts and christmas trimmings.
one of these days, i do hope to get a good picture of the four of us to use for a christmas card. i wish that we were all standing on the road together in the picture above - wouldn't that be a lovely christmas card? we'll see what we come up with in the next few days. that's one thing that i don't want to give up. (i think that saturday will have to be the day - we should all be home together during day-lit hours.)
i hope that this advent season will be full of peace and blessings and moments to be savored, my friends.
go gently and be wonderful. love, ~e