Wednesday, November 10, 2010

HIGH GRASS AND HOLIDAYS






This is my front yard. The native grasses are more lush than I've ever seen them before--so tall we can barely spot the deer as they stroll across. A magnificent, undulating sea. Easy to imagine great grass monsters slithering along beneath those rippling waves. Which is why I won't set foot out there right now. I don't go ANY-place where I can't see my feet!

We'll be spending Christmas here this year, with just one sister and brother-in-law as house-guests (and our two kids and granddog, of course!). I'm getting pretty excited about it. When we have all of my siblings, sibs-in-law, nieces, nephews and their spouses and pets together for several days at Christmas, eating all our meals together, trying to choose a movie or entertainment that everyone can agree on, even trying to all be together in the same house on Christmas morning for Santa and stockings, etc., it can get kinda crazy. After one of those years, we tend to swing to the opposite extreme, and opt for a quiet Christmas at home with just the five of us. But, then we find ourselves thinking "Wow, this is too quiet. Things are going too smoothly. It just doesn't feel like Christmas!"

Sooo, when my middle sister called to say they were going to be kidless this Christmas, and how did we feel about a couple of houseguests, it got me to thinkin'--about how nice it will be to have this extra festivity in the house, without being pulled in too many different directions. We will go to Dallas for one night the week before Christmas, for the whole family dinner at a favorite restaurant (probably Mexican) followed by desserts and gift exchange back at big sis' house, but then in Wimberley we can stick with our own special traditions, and then focus on doing just the things we know this one couple will most enjoy. I'm thinking this could be the perfect compromise between two extremes, and that it might just be one of the best holidays in years! So, which of our kin wants to sign up to be next year's special guests?

2 comments:

musingegret said...

Those are gorgeous pics---I could almost feel the grasses blowing against me and hear a soft shush-shush in the wind.

Having never grown up in the mid-west among grain fields, I can only imagine the sound multiplied by acres and acres of wheat. Or sometimes I imagine how the early pioneers must have felt upon encountering the waves in the sea of native grasses.

Thank you.

Hill Country Hippie said...

You're welcome m.e. The soft whoosh of the grasses, combined with the water coming over the little falls in the creek, is most mesmerizing - if you can drown at the traffic sounds in the background! Fortunately, that is minimal before sunrise.