It’s a chilly, grey day in Texas, the kind of day that, anywhere else, would guarantee rain or snow, or both. Here, though, it’s just a thick, cold blanket of clouds that makes everything seem dismal and dreary.

Well, the Christmas lights look awesome in this light…but everything else…

I have just enough of a cold that I’m fatigued and cranky and cannot stay warm. I wanted to actually decorate the Christmas tree, bake something, write something other than a blog post – not that writing here isn’t rewarding, but…

But…

But instead, I’m half-watching a skating special that involves retired Olympic skaters sharing the rink with their children. It’s partly awkward and partly awesome and completely adorable, and if I were the parent of human children instead of the kind with four feet and tails and wet noses that seek my hands whenever they want contact, I’d probably be in tears from the sheer amount of cute.

I have chicken and vegetables becoming soup in the crock pot, and a freshly cleaned bathtub calling my name.

And the tree will still be standing later tonight or tomorrow.

Meanwhile, I have John Denver’s “Dearest Esmeralda” playing on a loop in the back of my brain…all this #MusicAdvent stuff has had me revisiting childhood favorites. I love the imagery of that song. And the story.

“We said goodnight in the candlelight and thunder, now I wake and find you’re never there.
I’m becoming old enough to wonder, happy that I’m still too young to care.”