Today's forecast had a chance of snow which quickly changed to a slight accumulation...and then a winter storm advisory. The flakes started to fall steadily just after 3PM. We sat down to enjoy a cup of hot cocoa and some chocolate chip cookies under the Christmas Tree...yes you read that correctly...our Christmas Tree. No sooner had we begun to enjoy our cocoa and eat our cookies while chatting about books the boys were reading when we looked out the window and saw it was beginning to snow. I don't know who was more excited me, or the boys. We ran from window to window watching the "snowmageddon". We do not typically get snow here in Eastern NC and when we do, we enjoy it, for tomorrow it will be a memory. The flakes were falling so fast that it was hard to capture pictures on my cell phone, but soon the wet flakes began to form and the accumulation began. Picture after picture, I began to post. Snow fall in our front yard, back yard...a snap shot of our house, the boys having a snow ball fight, catching snowflakes on their tongue and one of our Christmas tree illuminated on the inside of our house in our front living room and another of us watching the snow falling outside with the tree softly glowing in the corner of the room. Many comments, raised eyebrows...did I really still have my tree up? Yes, we do...Are we crazy...perhaps...but those very questions created this post....Why do we have a Christmas Tree up and it is February 16th? What is this all about? Well, last year we left it up because we were going to get a family photo under it...We always take one in January after the holiday hustle and bustle and then take it down just before the Super Bowl..but then one thing after another and no picture months later....then it was almost time to go to the beach for the summer and we thought...why not...my grandmother would leave hers up year 'round so we decided at that point (Mid May) to leave it up in her honor...and you know what...she was a genius! The boys love it, they call it the "Christmas Room" now, it's in our formal living room and we use that room for playing board games and reading books...I think my Grandma Cooper would be very proud and happy seeing our tree lit this evening as it was snowing outside. We even joked that we were the only ones in our neighborhood with a tree still up and how many families probably wished they could turn on their Christmas trees tonight with the snow falling gently to the ground. How magical it looked to see it glowing from the window while we walked down our street, how warm it's lights lit up the room while we enjoyed our hot cocoa and cookies. Christmas can live in your heart all year long...so why not live in a room in your house as well? Filing this moment under Breathe, Seek and Play....for it encompasses all three...the simplicity of keeping a tree up for next year, the focus on the magical wonderment that it instills in the child in all of us , the enjoyment it provides reminds us that it's not just a season...it's all year round. So yes, we have a Christmas Tree still up in our house...because the spirit lives in all of us...and what may have started out as my Grandmothers tradition of making things easier each year by leaving her tree up became a tradition to remind us to be childlike at heart...to keep the spirit all year in our hearts and in our homes ♥
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