After a crazy year of travel, work, puppy, moving, pregnancy, and a myriad of other less life-changing (but no less significant) events this year, we are crashing hard and enjoying a quiet staycation this holiday season. We have some friends and family rotating in and out of our home, but for the most part, we’re doing a whole lot of Netflix and nothing.

Christmas is always a dearly-loved, meditative time of year for me, and this year is no different. I love Christmas music (and still hold to the family tradition of waiting until the day after Thanksgiving to listen to any of it!), and the words of those special, anticipatory hymns hold much special meaning to me. This year I’m holding fast to a favorite verse from It Came Upon a Midnight Clear:

O ye, beneath life’s crushing load, whose forms are bending low,
Who toil along the climbing way with painful steps and slow,
Look now! For glad and golden hour come swiftly on the wing!
O rest beside the weary road, and hear the angels sing.

Merry Christmas, friends, from our home to yours. May it be full of all of the peace and joy that comes with resting and listening, and cherishing the good gifts we have been given throughout our whole lives, not just the ones we find under a tree.

I tried so hard to get a good shot of Gus by the tree. But wouldn’t you know, our pup hates to have his photo taken. Silly boy.