Christmas come and gone already

With Matt's funeral on Dec. 7th and then another celebration of his life in Peterborough on Dec 21st, our Christmas preparations were pretty rushed. In between those two events we came home, decorated, shopped and wrapped. Everything was simplified to save time and to reflect the basic fact that all the frills do not really matter. The only important thing was to be together.
Lucky me, no turkey to stuff; as usual we ate Christmas dinner at my parents' home.

As I wrote on Nov. 23rd. Alison Moyet said that " happiness occurs in minutes, suspended in pedestrian years."  And so, during this Christmas, I enjoyed a series of sweet moments, often at unexpected times.  I remember thinking about that, while lying on the couch. It wasn't one of those planned out moments like the opening of the presents or sitting down together for an elaborate meal. It was just me lying on a couch, listening to all the sounds of my family...people cooking, chatting, consulting on a crossword puzzle, laughing while playing cards, playing with the baby, playing the piano.  It was very ordinary and yet quite perfect.

From the other photo you might have the impression that we really are on top of things. However, this is really what our living room looked like for most of the time the kids were around. I'm fine with the furniture out of place and the Ikea tunnel in the middle of it all..it was a happy kind of chaos. Looks like our angel had a bit too much to drink.