Have you seen the moon tonight? Through the clouds?
Truly an evening of soft rain falling on our fields (or backyards) and the wind gently but firmly blowing the clouds northeast.
And a dotting of bright planets and stars to stud the sky with dreams.
The week continues to be draining and absolutely full of Love and Magic.
I just love Christmas cards with the letters, pictures, and notes from loved ones. I never get around to sending out my own on this physical, ordinary reality plane, but I send them out with my prayers and Heart Love all the time, esp. NOW.
Things are rocking in firstgradeland. We spent parts of today listening to the rain in candlelight, finishing sewing our button blankets, adding sprigs of rosemary and cedrus atlanticus to our willow wreaths and then I showed the kids how to tie ribbons on their packages and how to make curli-cues. A little, very little math, some play, a whole bunch of Old Testament stories about how Abba takes care of us and how God did so in these stories. I'm telling you--with a little (or a LOT) of editing, these stories are better than movies and the like.
Good dancing, good teaching, and home for tea, cheese, pickles, Ottmar Liebert CHristmas music, and a happy dog for whom I like to cook and it makes the house smell good.
The Yuletide dancing has been going great! And the addition of the Tara dancers has enhanced and brightened each show in a special and different way. I love to see the hair-bling Colleen wears. Elegant, elegant. It was so GOOD to see my sister, Maude, at the Seattle show backstage. It means a lot that she came all the way down to connect with us. We miss her at every show and every time we dance. She doesn't know how beautiful she is on the inside and the outside. Makes us miss her even more.
Dad got the flu pretty badly and now it turns out that Mom and Mark have it as well.
Cross my fingers. I am so looking forward to celebrating Solstice and the Return of the Light up in Winthrop. A bonfire in a bag is my next figure-it-out thing. Truth is Life has been full of LIght, even when it seems as if it hasn't. It has been Life-giving backstage in all regards and another plus is that LIttle Feather was able to stay most of last week--at least her stuff and her smell-while she was helping to bring her new nephew into this world. We pray aa lot, share a lot, drink good coffee, walk in the darkness, and share ritual as a family. And it is a good thing when I get to walk with my dog all the way down the Shilshole way, to the beach, build a labyrinth, jump a bunch of logs with him so both of our tongues are hanging waggly out of our mouths, and return home for really great coffee and satsumas. Life doesn't get much better...and then it turns around and does.
Tomorrow is the Christmas program--not holiday happenning, winter wondershow, respect revue, or boring bonanza. It is a bonafide CHRISTmas program with all the carols, lessons, fidgety kids, fidgety parents, and beaming good will oozing out of pores and cracking 7th grade boy voices. Come to think of it, some 5th grade boys, too.