A Christmas Vacation Well Spent

This week between Christmas and New Year is the most leisurely of my year. It's the only week without appointments and lessons. That said, I've done a lot of calling, planning, paying, etc. for the activities that are coming this season. I'm getting the regular cleaning done, and a lot of extra cooking and baking. I'm also reading for hours in the middle of the day and napping some, things I hardly ever get to do. I actually took time to simply sit in the silence and think. That never happens. I wrote a letter to a friend, and I completed some of those more random household tasks that needed to be done, like inventorying and reorganizing my pantries, closets, and storage rooms.

We started re-reading The Chronicles of Narnia (in order of their publication, of course) before our oldest, Norah, left for college. Now she's finished an entire semester of college, and she's back for Christmas break, but we've been moving so slowly though read alouds lately that she was actually home to finish the last few chapters of The Last Battle with us. We were all sobbing happy tears. I wish we had been going faster and getting more reading aloud done this season, but I also can't say that regret the fact that my oldest was home with us to finish the series that means so much to everyone. Moments like this make me consider that what I call delay may, in actual fact, be God's perfect timing. Next, we promptly started re-reading The Hobbit. When we discussed what our next read aloud should be, our youngest, ten, said she couldn't remember hearing The Hobbit read aloud, so that's a crying shame, and we all agreed resolve the problem without delay. 

We are spending the evenings beside the fire, reading, chatting quietly, playing games, or as it was last night, listening to the soundtrack from The Phantom of the Opera, recalling our recent visit to see it on Broadway, and discussing the lyrics and story in detail. While we listened, Norah worked on a holder for her dad's drinking horn that she gifted him for Christmas. She added the wire and decorative beads that will hold it to the stand. My husband still needs to cut and sand and stain some of the base, but it's coming along beautifully.