One of Winter's Side Effects

Winter.

Lately I've been reading lots of opinions on this glorious season, not all of them favorable. I happen to be a fan. The snow. The crisp air. Fires in the fireplace. Hot chocolate. Hearty soups and stews.

It's all good.


I know that winter does have some side effects that aren't so cheery. Lack of sunlight is hard on a person. Being cooped up inside along with everyone else also provides a wonderful breeding ground for all those germs and bugs that are just waiting to attack. So there is also much illness with which to cope. Colds, flu, various viruses...yuck. Not winter's most endearing qualities, but sometimes you have to take the bad with the good.

But winter does have one very positive side effect for our family. It seems that whenever the temperatures drop and Old Man Winter settles in for a nice, long visit...
...we tend to spend a lot more time together. Good, quality, family time. Board games, jigsaw puzzles, card games. They all come out of the game closet and get the dust blown off them.

Some of our favorites include...





And of course dominoes.

We LOVE dominoes. They are such great teaching tools, too. Perri learned great math skills playing dominoes and now Tucker is doing the same.

What does your family do to while away those chilly winter evenings? Do you have a favorite board or card game? Are you a jigsaw pro? Do you get crafty? I'm always looking for new things to try and I'd love to read your suggestions. :)

Sentimental Journeys

I am very sentimental. Extremely. And this time of year brings that sentimentality even more to the forefront. There are so many things to treasure! All the family time; reminiscing about holidays gone by and loved ones who are no longer with us; preparing the recipes that have been in the family for years; digging around for hours trying to locate those recipes.

Okay, not so much that last one.

A little history of Kelli:

In the beginning...my lack of organization was a nuisance. Too often I would be mixing up a batch of cookies and discover I was missing a vital ingredient or I would find myself frantically searching for immunization records before Little League sign-ups ended. Everyone has these moments, but it seemed I had them more often than most.
I really struggled to find a way out of the chaos. Then I met and married Phil.

Phil is an everything-in-its-place kind of guy and suddenly I began to see a light at the end of the tunnel. Of course, I often wondered if that light was attached to a speeding (but well organized) train that was about to run me over. Total chaos is tiring, but complete organization can be exhausting. Eventually I discovered my happy medium. We could gladly arrange the cabinets, closets, drawers and a few other aspects of our lives, but we would not meddle in one place that is very precious to me.

My recipe file.

I use the word ‘file’ very loosely. What I really have is an old plastic shopping bag stuffed with recipes from the many phases of my life. Some typed, some handwritten by friends and loved ones, and some clipped from newspapers and magazines. There are the tried and true and the ones I hope to try. It is now and will always be a work-in-progress because I've discovered that I like it that way. Spending ages digging for a particular recipe isn’t my idea of a good time, but I love to go rummaging through that bag. It is chock full of the wonderful little gifts that help to make my life so sweet.

Way back when, I put things wherever there was a vacancy. Yes, there were sleepless nights spent wondering where I had stashed the overdue library book and countless hours of searching for the mates to shoes, earrings and socks. My life was definitely made more difficult by the total disorganization. But I still consider my messy recipe bag to be one of my greatest gifts to myself, because within that jumbled mass of sheets and scraps I always find something that makes me smile.

You see, since I spend most of my time in the kitchen my recipe bag is always at hand. Usually when handed a book report that received an A+ or a colorful piece of artwork designed by one of my children, I simply open the cabinet and place the treasure inside that plastic bag. In the beginning I reasoned that I would happen across the item the next time I was ransacking the recipes and then I’d take the time to find it a suitable home. Now I understand why I really do it.

I’ll be digging around in that bag and suddenly there it is! A note written by my precious daughter, thanking me for allowing her to have a slumber party for her seventh birthday. The crooked letters and misspelled words are a sweet reminder of the child she used to be. Or I might run across the snapshot of my firstborn when he was only five and dressed as a policeman, posing proudly beside his father’s cruiser. There is a sandwich bag of dried dandelions and clover picked by my younger daughter when she was only 4, and a laminated lock of golden hair from my baby boy’s first haircut.


Too often we tuck away these little mementos that aren’t worthy of a frame or a place of honor on the mantle. We place them where they’ll be enjoyed only occasionally, when we put forth the effort to dig out a scrapbook or need to find an item that was stuck in the cedar chest for safekeeping.

I strongly prefer my keepsake storage system. I like to take every opportunity to remind myself of the many blessings that define my life and never take them for granted. In this busy world it is far too easy to let everyday routines get in the way of all that’s sweet and good.

So in that way I’m still just a little bit disorganized. I’m also happy to say I wouldn’t have it any other way. :)

Taking Back Christmas

*This is something I had published a year or two ago, but I thought it might be nice to share with you now, just in case the pressures of the commercialized Christmas are getting to you. Sometimes we forget what it's all about. I'm awfully glad I remembered. :) *


The written word is my best friend and yet the ability to convey the depth of my love of the Christmas season eludes me. I am the sentimental fool who cries each and every time that little bell rings and Clarence gets his wings. I admit to getting teary when I hear Linus read the Christmas scripture on A Charlie Brown Christmas.
The day after Thanksgiving begins my celebration when I erect the first of my five Christmas trees. The weeks that follow are spent in the kitchen baking the dozens and dozens of Christmas cookies that I hand out to friends and family.

But best of all, every night of December my children and I wind down by curling up together and reading one or two of our favorite Christmas stories. I wouldn’t trade those magical, wonderful times for anything in the world. But once upon a time, they did almost get lost in the shuffle.


It happened a couple of years ago. I knew it was spinning out of control when the approaching shopping season filled me with dread. There is something less than endearing about maniacal bargain hunters who are willing to use elbows and shopping carts as lethal weapons in order to make their way to that well advertised deal that awaits them in the toy department. I’m definitely not a last minute shopper, but I also never saw the appeal of shopping before sunrise on the day after Thanksgiving. I really do enjoy being out and about amongst all of the holiday decorations, carols playing in the background in an attempt to boost the Christmas spirit and encourage one to part with those hard-earned dollars. It just loses a little of the magic when an evil-eyed, credit card wielding woman is willing to cause bodily injury to anyone who gets between her and the last Tickle Me Elmo on the shelf.

Things were out of control at home, too. Families grow and things change. Often difficult to accept, and even harder to remedy. We used to all get together; brothers, sisters, nieces, nephews, parents and grandparents. Each of us would buy a present for all the others and Christmas Eve was an evening of family, food and fun, with a healthy dose of chaos thrown in for good measure. Then the kids grew up, got married and had kids of their own. Scheduling conflicts became the norm. Before long, that healthy dose of chaos became an overdose of pandemonium. The hurrying and preparation were too much of a strain and the stacks of bills too much of a pain. Who can possibly enjoy something that you spend the next three months trying to pay off?


For my little branch of the family tree, it was time for some pruning.

My desire for a little less “What’s that worth?” and a lot more peace on earth began to win out over the whole commercialized extravaganza. Now I’m finding my way back to enjoying Christmas a little more the way it used to be and a lot more the way I think it ought to be. We still give gifts to the immediate family, but nothing extravagent or expensive. Instead, we opt to give Christmas to a family who might not otherwise have much reason to celebrate. It is a wonderful thing to open a beautifully wrapped gift from a loved one, but it doesn’t compare to the feeling you get when you put a smile on the face of a stranger. It was something my daddy taught me years before and I had nearly let it slip away.



I’ve decided that these lessons I’ve learned should benefit my children now. I don’t want them to spend years chasing down the perfect Christmas. I do want them to understand that it isn’t the hustle and the bustle, but quality time with friends and family. It’s not who gets the best gifts, but the birth of a baby who was the ultimate gift. After that, it all just falls beautifully into place.

This holiday season, do what makes you happy. And may you discover that the joy is indeed in the giving.

A Day Well Spent

You know how some days just leave you feeling peaceful and at ease? I've had one of those days today. :)

All of my kids were here, my grandson, my son-in-law, my same-as-daughter-in-law, and a neighbor girl who is just like another daughter. Dinner was good, dessert was better, and the company was the best!

I spent part of yesterday preparing for today so that I wouldn't be totally stressed out trying to get things done before everyone arrived. The meat loaves got mixed, the desserts were prepared, and the dishes were set out and ready to be filled. In the last couple of years I have gotten so much better at this.

I used to have a really hard time relaxing and enjoying my company because I was always fretting over everything being just so, every dish being ready at exactly the right moment, every detail falling perfectly into place. Now I do as much as I can ahead of time and at my own pace. And while it rarely results in perfection, it almost always turns out well enough to keep everyone happy. Including me. :)

I hope you are relaxing this evening, feeling peaceful and happy with life, and reminiscing about your own day well spent.