Christmas on the Farm

This will be our first Christmas on the farm. I haven't decorated like I have in the past. The porch is sadly missing lights and the garland that I had hoped to hang. The barn and the chicken coop aren't festively sporting any wreaths either. Instead we are surrounded by mud. Lots and lots of mud. It has been an unusually warm December and extremely rainy. I find myself skating to the barn on muddy poo every morning.

In my mind I was going to create a beautiful farm house Christmas. Candles in the windows and wreaths on all the doors. This year hasn't worked out quite like I had planned in my mind. The weather hasn't been cooperative. It's either been extremely hot or extremely wet.

I've been learning a lot about contentment in so many aspects of my life. I had my farm planned out in my mind and so far it hasn't lived up to my dreams. The kind of dream that went like this....

December rolls in with beautiful fluffy white snow, the wood burner heats the house and the candles (all homemade of course!) light the house with a warm glow. Candles in all the windows and garland light the front porch welcoming friends and family. The Christmas music plays all day long and the smell of cookies baking fill the air. The kids all play card games contently and go sledding down our hill in the back yard. They come in (not muddy and wet!) and I serve homemade hot chocolate and fresh doughnuts. Presents are wrapped and under the tree and the children happily make gifts for each other.

And here's the reality....

The kids are fighting (again!) over who can watch what on netflix. The oldest wants to record his game play so nobody else can use our sloooow Internet until he's done. It's raining. Again. The yard is a mud pit filled with pooh from the animals. I'm bribing kids to go out in the rain and do their chores. The mean rooster attacked me again this morning. (We are now making plans to kill him) I made cookies and the blessed children ate them in ten minutes. No hot chocolate they are too hyper all ready!! We put up our tree and tied it to the wall with hay twine because the floors slant. The wood burner either burns way too hot or not hardly at all ( and people complain either way!) Presents haven't been wrapped and I'm thinking we are skipping the homemade presents this year!

With all that said, I can't imagine my life any other way. I look forward to walking into the barn on Christmas Eve and pausing a moment to think about how Mary felt so many years ago as she gave birth to our Savior in a lowly barn like ours.

Wishing you and yours a Merry Christmas from our Big Blue Farm House.