Little Houses

It's almost here! I can hardly contain my excitement. In less than a week family will fill these walls to brimming, and it will be WONDERFUL!! I am SO ready, but this year my preparations have more to do with the phrases, "Let it go," "Leave it be," and "There will be time..."

I have a tiny confession to make. I can be a bit obsessive about certain things... things having to do with hosting, for example. I spend lots of time prepping beds, cleaning house, preparing food. I want it all to be perfect when the family arrives. Thing is, it almost never is... perfect. I fret over... well, almost everything, and usually something -or several somethings- go awry.

Years ago, when the kids started getting into serious relationships and brought their special someones home for the holidays, I would worry even more about making sure things were "just-so." It was exhausting and ridiculous. I would snatch up every used cup and dish and wash them right away. I'd tuck, tuck, tuck the couch slipcovers, ad nauseum, every morning and evening. I'd even spend time during the visit re-Windexing the bathroom mirrors to get rid of shave soap and toothpaste splatters! I still do that to some extent, but I'm getting better. I promise!

And you know what?? No one cares about those things. They never did. Not. One. Bit. I'm beginning to understand and agree that "perfect" is both unachievable AND overrated.

Moving to this smaller house has really given me a new lease on life... at least the prepping for company kind of life. It's practically impossible to keep these 900 sq. ft. from becoming anything but chaos when the whole family is here, but it's the most beautiful chaos you've ever seen, and I wouldn't have it any other way!

This little house has taught me to let it go, leave it be... revel in the joy of the moment.

I can't begin to tell you how much I love seeing my family together. What's even more special than that is hearing their laughter. Oh, how I've missed that... the one laughing so hard, the story they're trying to tell is utterly impossible to understand. Though we can't make out a word, we're all laughing right along with them because laughter really is contagious.

Years can go by, decades even, but when the family is gathered together, reminiscing about old times, growing up together, swapping stories about things Mom is just now learing about (ahem)... it's almost as if time has turned back for a few precious hours, and the cares and concerns of the world have faded into nothingness.

I thank God, truly, that he has taught me such an important lesson. Time is a valuable commodity. It is valuable because it is finite. We value what we choose to trade in exchange for our moments, and once that purchase has been made, those moments can't be retrieved, no matter how much in retrospect we'd like to have them back.

I don't want to waste time on the peripherals when I have the solid gold right in front of me.

There will be time when the party is over to put the dishes back into the cupboards. There will be time to remake the beds, to straighten the house... to tuck the slipcovers back in place. And, truly, it will be kind of sad, because there is nothing quite so quiet, so lonely, so "empty" as a home after the last hugs have all been given and the cars carrying our loved ones have driven out of sight.

No. This Thanksgiving I am grateful for the blessing of this little house and for the family, the love, and even the chaos that runneth over in this place. Space will always be at a premium here. Being "up close and personal" is the only way we CAN be in this place, and that's just fine with me, because all that means is we'll be a tighter-knit group. And I'll take that any day!

So here's to little houses, to big families, and to never losing sight of the things that matter most.

Going to share with you one of my favorite poems about little houses... by P. Graham Dunn.

Love grows best in little houses

With fewer walls to separate

Where you eat and sleep so close together

You can't help to communicate;

And if we had more room between us,

Think of all the love we'd miss;

Love grows best in houses

Just like this.

A very blessed Thanksgiving to all of you! May you enjoy YOUR beautiful chaos to the fullest.