Tule Fog

It’s been foggy at our house lately.  There is often fog during the winter over the Great Central Valley in California – they call it Tule Fog. During the day it tends to raise up a thousand feet or so. Then it settles right down on our home and our hill, which sits at just over 1,600 feet.  Often, you can only see a hundred feet or so.

Some people find this to be all too depressing: dark and gloomy, and oh-so-cold.  But I find it comforting.  It forces me to nestle down with a blanket, sit by the fire with a warm mug of coffee and focus on my home and my family.

It is especially nice during the holidays, with the house and the tree all lit up with Christmas decorations.  There are years that I look forward to taking down the tree and boxing up the ornaments and the nativity scene and the little village on the landing upstairs.  I look forward to reclaiming my home and getting back to “normal”.

But not so this year.  In fact, this holiday season is the most normal thing that has happened in a year filled with difficult and distressing situations, as you all know.  So I’m grateful for the opportunity to forget the outside world for a time and just enjoy being alive and warm and at home with my family and my God.

Not in a Hurry This Year

So, I am not in a hurry to take down the decorations.  It will happen soon enough, a day or two after the New Year.  And I hope that next year, when we pull out our dusty boxes of Christmas decorations, the world is in a lot better shape than it is today.

Have you been grateful this holiday season?  Tell me all about it at Lifting Her Voice, Facebook, Instagram or Twitter.