Not many pictures of today.
Yet, this one picture speaks for all our hearts this Christmas Day.
There was a twinkle in every eye and a squishy squeeze coming from every heart.

The grand boys loved their trucks, Kai's a remote controlled dump truck, and Aksel with his trio of road equipment. Kai took over the controls and had it going all over the place, Aksel on the other hand was sure that he had gotten some yellow chairs with wheels, he kept sitting on them!

The girls have so many socks now that Dirt is certain that they will not find themselves in his sock drawer anymore, at least they ought not to have a reason!

Elisabet's wheelbarrow was gifted unassembled (it fit in the living room better that way) and so they used the barrow part for sledding this afternoon and said it was the best and now everyone wants a wheelbarrow next year, unassembled of course. For sledding not working.

The food made by the girls was delightful. Anna's breakfast casserole was very good. Bet's breakfast super rolls were lovely and her dinner braid was very pretty and tasty.

Well, it was a delightful Christmas with so many little details that all run together, it was for me, one of the best ever. Christmas just gets better and better every year, each has a special cache of wonderful memories and each year I think that the next could never be better.

As the time approaches I look back at the wonderful memories of some of the years and I just know that though this year will be okay that there is nothing in the works to make it a special Christmas like the others.

And then all of a sudden in the middle of the ordinary, a less than perfectly devised and executed menu, uninspired presents, I feel the look that is on the picture above, inside me and on those around me. Then all over again I realize that the day does not depend on anything but the incredible love we feel for one another. A love born from the love of God.

We are not an incredibly demonstrative family and some may wonder at the banter that goes between us, but each of us knows that the others would lay their lives down for whoever among us would need it. Short of our very life we would even give the time, now matter when, if one of us would need another for the simplest of needs.

Sisters share gardens, prayers abound, advice is gently given, no different from most every other family. Dear Reader, I hope that today your eyesight broke through the familiar to see what God has given you and yours.

My house is fairly quiet now. The Manleys and the Stones have gone off to their homes or more family connections. Bet and Anna are sacked out on the couches with their dogs and kittens piled around and on them. Dirt is out in the cold on a coyote stake out as we lost one of last spring's biggest ewe lambs yesterday to a gruesome attack. So I am listening and watching the lights, ignoring the dishes and writing out my thoughts of today.

I am thankful for all that the Lord has done in my life. I often look at my life and realize that I do not deserve one ounce of what I have been blessed with; my husband, my strong, gentle and forgiving parents long since gone now, my children that fill my life with noise and solace, the leading of the Lord in so many specific things and for certain even the small and seemingly insignificant pieces of my life, for the friends that are bonded far stronger than any family bond...

Well shots were just fired so I am thinking Dirt has either gotten his villain or scared it off with a miss. He'll be in soon and close to frozen so I'll have to get back to those thoughts. Have a merry Christmastide.