The Unending Tug-of-War

 

        Does this picture remind anyone of anything that is going on right now post-election?

Well, it was going on in our house, too, the other day! (For your information, that was an old sock, not a good one!) And thankfully, the tug-of-war was just between the dogs.

If there has been something I have noticed this Christmas season, it is the peace in our home.

 That doesn't mean there isn't anything upsetting or imperfect or quite non-angellic. It doesn't mean nobody is ever unhappy, or that nobody is ever impatient or that nobody ever complains. There is just peace. 

We get through the hard moments and come out still loving each other and sticking by each other.  

The children either go to work or do their work at home, do their school, and play music with each other.

They do their chores, operate their businesses, help each other, play games with each other, and spend bits of several days decorating for Christmas.

                           There is love here. We aren't perfect by a long shot, but there is love here.

And joy! It's something that is hard to explain. But today when we heard about another young person flying to someone else's home for Christmas, one of the children couldn't imagine going somewhere for Christmas instead of being home!

We realized that many homes are unhappy and young people would be happy to go somewhere else for Christmas. But I also hastened to explain that when young people grow up, they start wanting to stretch their wings and live their own lives, even if they come from happy homes. Spending Christmas somewhere besides home is a fine thing, if the other choice is healthy and happy.

I was just happy to hear my children sounding like the happiest place to be for Christmas was home! 

I hope it is always that way. I hope they will always want to come home. I hope they will know that here at home they are loved.

They are welcome.

And they belong.

I know after they are married, things will be different. They may want to sometimes have their own Christmas, or be with the in-laws. I hope they will know that is okay, too.

But I hope that here at home there will always be love and joy and peace.