16th-20th activities of Advent: gone in a blur

This photo was taken on our walk to our village's luminary celebration, an annual event complete with luminarias; a bonfire; cider, popcorn, and donuts; a concert of Christmas music; and--Lucy's favorite--horse-drawn wagon rides to see the lights. I took it minutes after we narrowly missed being hit by a truck as we crossed the street. (I do mean narrowly: 2 cars had stopped for us, we began crossing the road, the 3rd truck didn't stop, we heard it crash into the 2nd car, Andi screamed run!, and we ran, avoiding getting hit by the ricocheting truck by only a foot or two.)

There have been Advent-y goings-on this week. There's been wrapping and mailing and lights and card-writing. But like the luminary celebration, they've been mostly lost in bigger events and emotions this week-- three days of croup, two nasty phone calls, and a crazy driver in a speeding truck...

I've been up too many nights crafting, wrapping, cleaning, so tonight, I'm just sitting in the mess and my exhaustion, ignoring the to-do list, listening, listening, listening for that scary cough, and planning to go up very soon to wrap my baby in my arms where she belongs.