As I write this, my office is too cold to work in so I find myself typing away in my kitchen by the fire and with the smell of hot coffee and fresh cinnamon rolls resting by the oven. There is a part of me that delights in having my office in the orchard, it practically forces me to sit at my kitchen table and take stock of why kitchen living is so important to modern life. When I am in the office, I am far removed from the ingredients that make life delicious, from the scatterings of daily life that populate our kitchen table and that warm fuzzy feeling that can only come when you sit down in the exact place where memories are made. I see the bowl of nuts that is so common on our kitchen table this time of year, the once overflowing fruit bowl that reminds me how much my children adore clementines, and the stock of holiday bunting that each night I have been busy sewing… life stands still and circulates from this hub, and being here instead of my office reminds me how very precocious our kitchen experiences are.
The children are growing up so quickly that I blink and suddenly notice that their jeans are 2 inches too short, their tiny toes are 2 sizes too large for my liking, and that this may very well be the year that Santa is caught stuffing stockings at midnight. In an effort to soak up every moment of our holiday season, kiss those too large toes, buy those ever growing legs new jeans and keep the spirit of Santa alive for one more year, I am taking the remainder of the month off. The only thing on my mind will be to embrace reality, slowdown and soak up the moments at our kitchen table and celebrate a good old fashioned family Christmas. I’ve not taken so much as a day off in the last 3 years; always chasing my dream at full steam, trying to find the perfect balance between being a mother, wife, sister, daughter and friend, with being the woman driven towards a dream of sharing my passion for kitchen living – the book, the TV show, the product line… my goals are lofty, my drive is endless but my relentless drive comes the sacrifice of never resting, always doing and often not being fully present in the moments that matter most.
The etsy shop will remain open until 18 December…because we can’t have Santa eating his hands….and of course, I will continue to share Instagram pictures when the mood strikes me. Wishing you and yours a fabulous holiday season, filled with real moments spent being present and fulfilled. Thank you for making my virtual world so memorable, for cheering me and sharing my passion for kitchen living, and most importantly being such an integral part of this journey towards my dream.