‘Tis the season – hubby is outside cleaning up the leaves and getting ready to burn them and my youngest (now 9) demands he wait so that she can have a romp before they’re gone. Oh – but they’ll be back, for certain – our own tree hasn’t even fallen yet so there will be plenty more where these came from, but she is out there enjoying herself at the moment. We older girls (the smart ones) have opted to stay inside and keep warm while dicing up onions and browning some ground turkey to make a crock pot of chili!

Huh. She just came in and showed me that she “found a little bit of the inside of a stick”. With the small joys and wonders of childhood come the big joys and wonders of parenthood!

I have to admit, as is the annual event here in my house, I become a bit more morose through the winter months. I am already beginning to feel trapped. I’m not a fan of cold weather, not a fan of frozen nosies or toesies, not a fan of driving on snow or ice, not a fan of sliding through stop signs or shivering inside a frozen car until the engine warms up – so I’ll stay inside and bake and cook until spring comes. I will probably also need to reacquaint myself with Captain NordicTrack, too!

For now, for today, I’ll enjoy the smell of chili drifting through the house (that’s whispering .. corn bread … you need corrrrnnnn breadddd….) — for now, I’ll record the smiles and smells and tuck them away in my mind for those days when the winter blues really get me down. For now, for today – I’ll live vicariously through the joy I see on my little girls face as she plays in a pile of leaves.