#21 Candle light.

I asked someone recently.
"Do you like candle light?"
"Yes, with the right person."

I love candle light. One of the things I love about this holiday season is my collection of candle holders. I found yet another box in the attic that held more candles! They are beautiful.

I also have a love for table clothes. Even when the girls were little I put table clothes on my table. I would have friends who had toddlers say
"Doesn't it bug you how quickly they get dirty?"  Nope, it never did. I figured if a table cloth made it through a full day, that was good. When I found these snow flake candle holders yesterday I was so happy to see how nicely they matched my most recent table cloth purchase from Marshall's.

In my living room today I sat on the couch and snuggled my boy while eating Christmas cookies and drinking coffee. I lighted these candles. I turned on the fireplace. It brought this sense of cozy to my morning.

I found this nativity in a box. My Mom gave this to Carl and I when we had our first Christmas. We did not have a tree in our tiny apt #6, but we did have this from Mom. She got it when she was married to my Dad, so its extra special to me.

I'm ending my day with this in my room.

If this past year has taught me anything its this:

Every moment matters.
The moments matter for different reasons, but they matter.
I've been shaped, broken, tried, tested, molded.
I've cried happy, joyful, lonely, grief filled, tears. All the tears matter, for different reasons.

On Friday I felt this unexplained happiness wash over me. I have no idea where it came from. I shared with a friend that straddling the fence of emotions gets better, then it gets worse, then it gets better....she laughed but recognized the honestly in that.

I have decided to light the candles. Celebrate the simple and unplanned moments. The voice, the laughter, the tears, the smiles across the miles of those we love so deeply, and just be. Breathe in, breathe out, I'm alive.

Sometimes joy does not come easily, but do the some-things that bring you joy. For me?
Lighting candles. My old thing, has become a new thing as I found all these lovely candles in my attic.

I'm officially lit...LOL.

Love you,

Julie