Hopes: Crushed

So many words to inspire;

So many names to hope.

Fail, fail, fail.

Finding a brandname

Has spoiled more than 

Two months of my life.

Three

Decked in winter clothes,

The three youngest,

Intrepid explorers,

Set off into the 

Accumulated inches.

The three bobbing heads,

Jackets brown, brown, blue,

Heading downhill,

Sticking to each other’s footprints,

All in a row.

Snow

A legitimate, all day snow

Falls so rarely, 

We skipped church to hunker down.

Piles

One of the best things about late Saturday afternoon,

Once paid work is done for the week, 

Is to turn my attention to the piles on the counter,

Gradually accumulated over the days past.

Not one of the items takes much time,

But altogether they require a few hours:

This receipt, that stack of books, this manual,

Those catalogs, these magazine pages.

And then I can go to bed, all items dispersed,

A clean counter my reward for my efforts.

Christmas Party

I am always so honored to be invited,

And this party, with my two oldest boys,

Was a joy from beginning to end.

Hot cider, Isaiah’s cookies, and peppermint meringues;

Conversation in depth with friends I rarely greet;

The general hubbub of cheerful, happy people;

Christmas lights and Christmas dresses;

A gaudy suit that lit up like a Christmas tree . . .

It was a party to treasure.

Weary

After an emotionally trying day,

I took a bath and went to bed 

Just after nine.

Slept the whole night through, too!

Tears

Caleb has been willful during school,

But when the time came to sleep,

He wept that he hadn’t read.

So I got him up, and he read

On and on, beautifully.