january happenings

January is something of a transition month. It arrives after the Christmas holiday, bridges us to the new year. It's something of a sigh of relief. "Oh, yes," we think, "the calendar doesn't have to be so full, does it?"

January is celebratory for us. We take time to love on Ella for her birthday...this year the big 1-2.

We try hard to have fun for her, because it's a bit obvious that cold, snowy January doesn't always fit with the definition of fun. (Especially when brother's birthday is in the middle of summer and it's so easy to find way to have fun.) So, smattered throughout the month was a visit to the arcade, the bookstore, the local tubing hill. Pastries and ice cream cake were consumed and a calligraphy set was attempted. Then there was another visit to the bookstore, because she apparently believes you can't have too many books (she's so right!).

Calvin and Hobbes, Peanuts anthologies, Wings of Fire series, Sonic archives, Harry Potter and Mandie volumes are being read at a fascinating pace. Oh to be 12 and have hours to sit in bed and read! (I remember vaguely those days, although Austen, Bronte and Hardy were on my list of reads - and I wasn't actually 12; voracious reading began a couple years later for me).

Ella's actual day was a white birthday so that was fun. Snow accumulation has been minimal so far this winter, but we're expecting the large storm at some point because it always seems to come!

January makes me reflective and I think often on Ella's birth and my transition to life as a full-time homemaker. It humbles me still that I have been gifted this time, this privilege to love on my family; that these amazing people are my family.