#1,094 Christmas at Home.

8 years ago today, Ben came over to my parents’ house and met daddy for the first time. We watched the History Channel, and my parents gave a boy their stamp of approval for the first ever. It was a Christmas miracle.

We woke up to a bitterly cold and overcast morning that never warmed up or brightened. This is my favorite kind of weather in the world. With it I associate being inside, being warm, being cozy, being comfortable, being safe and sound. And of course with those feelings I associate Christmas. So while Ben was working on the script for the youth play the entire day, I was doing all I could to leave work early so I could just be at home, being inside our bright, warm and happy cottage seeing the dreary clouds go by through the windows. This house is finally scratching the surface of feeling like Home Home, the feeling of my parents’ house. I know this house can never be that since mama is at Home Home, but this is pretty dang close.

I got home around 3:30 and found Ben still typing in a frenzied, focused manner. I could see that I was on my own and decided I wanted to make cookies from scratch. So that’s what I did. Cream cheese snickerdoodles.

Baker sauntered into the laundry room after a scratch on the head at the back door and fell asleep to the whirring of the mixer before long. Chevy was probably watching, certain that Baker was being murdered since he went to the dreaded “inside,” which can only be the vet. Chevy won’t even come to the back door for cookie dough. Before long, Ben went to play practice and I took some warm cookies to my grandmother and parents. On Tuesdays mama watches Parenthood which is really, honestly, maybe one of the best shows on TV ever. I’ve watched a few episodes with her before and they were all great, but tonight was an especially sweet and happy tearjerking episode.

Ben walked in just as it was beginning, shook hands with daddy and sat down with him while mama and I watched, enthralled, and sobbed. We were there again, watching TV in that living room with them, just like so many years ago. And I love that feeling of home. It’s there, and it’s here in town at our house. It’s wherever the people you love most are.

And walking in your front door.