I LOVE JANUARY!

Not sure how long I have felt this way... I know that I used to always hate February until we moved to this house and discovered maple sugaring and now I love February too.. This January... it started off pretty rough... sickness and conflicts... but I have found such rest! In the midst of snow and the flu and so many suffering from Seasonal Affective Disorders, I find myself feeling renewed! I don't mean to lack compassion, come July you will likely find me with reverse SAD, so I do sympathize with those of you who have the winter blues. You won't often find me rolling in the snow, or often donning the ice skates, and never the skis! But the children love the snow, their excitement is contagious, and taking them to the ice skating rink is a pleasure, especially when I get to sit by the big fire with a friend and chat for a few hours! Jason will be taking our older daughters to the slopes soon and I am excited to hear all about it! Coffee takes on so much more life in the morning when the air is crisp and the sills are fluffy and white... The spiders are not peering at me from every basement rafter while I do laundry, though there are a few seeking refuge in cozier corners upstairs, but not nearly as many as the warmer months. Baking and blankets, hot baths and snuggling with my hot man, stocking the wood stove and even occasionally stacking the wood, all bring me immense satisfaction and pleasure. I have to confess that being beyond the past year's holidays is also part of the joy, they were really great this year, and I am so appreciative of the reason for the season and the friends and family that share the joy in so many ways... but having a less busy calendar, taking down the decorations and giving the house a thorough cleaning just adds to the current cozy feeling for me. Seed catalogs have started arriving and so have the baby bunnies, and any day we expect to find goat kids waiting for us in the barn. Our orchid is about to burst into bloom and so is our wonderfully retarded Christmas cactus! Our anniversary and Valentine's Day and sugaring season are all just around the corner, and life is sweet! God is so good, and my cup of thankfulness is overflowing...