Simplicity

The local school officials shut down any and all after-school activities. Everyone. Out. Go home. It might get slick later.

Good call, if you're asking me.

Tracy made Hopkins County soup. The kind that has all sorts of veggies and chicken in it and is really good and you make a pot of it and the whole family can eat for a week.

I built a fire in the fireplace.

We decorated the tree together. Laughed about all the ornaments they made in various craft activities--over a decade and a half of Decembers in children's Sunday School will provide the majority of tree decorations. Thought about the ornaments we've tried to buy each year for something significant--like the one we picked up at Rockefeller Plaza on an NYC vacation, or the Cinderalla's castle we got at Disney, or the DTS ornament I got near graduation, or the Santa in Cowboys colors we got upon moving to Dallas. It took a while...also because we're in the process of trimming down our Christmas boxes (some of the lights and decor we never use but we keep it--but not this year)...but it was enjoyable.

The girls have trees in their rooms. Little ones. They decorated them with their own individual flair.

We ate around the same table.

Marshmallows were on the ends of wire coat hangers.

Lounging on the couch under blankets and hoping for another day off (which they won't get--going up to 50 degrees today) with the dog asleep beside them, while watching the news. One channel had a camera set up at a predictably icy overpass near where we live and they just showed video of cars and trucks slipping and sliding. "Whoa!" "Oh my gosh!" "Man, that was close!" We were into it.

Washed dishes and went to bed at a decent hour.

Nothing really special. Everything really special.

And I wonder what would happen if L.I.S.D. just cancelled every afternoon activity once or twice a week...