to grandmother's house we go.

as i've said before, nick&bella&i just moved this fall into my grandparents old house. it's a three bedroom home with a beautiful front porch, a big yard and most importantly: lots and lots of memories. those just add to it's coziness and charm.

i love it.

i love knowing that i have a childhood worth of memories in the house where nick&i are raising our girls. i love that when i walk into the foyer of our home, i am brought back to cold thanksgivings where grampy greeted us at the door and grammy worked busily in the kitchen, the entire home warm from the smell of roasted turkey. i love that we eat at the same dining room table that held many-a-sunday dinner, all of us crowded around, passing bowls and platters as we talked and ate. i love that bella & emmy will get to run around in the backyard like gretchen and i did when we were little. or go on walks through the weaving neighborhoods and streets like the ones grammy took us on. or sit on the front porch on lazy summer nights, drinking raspberry ginger ale and playing cards.

anyone who knows me well knows this: i am a sentimental soul. i love anything and everything nostalgic. so that's why all of these things mean so much to me, and i am so grateful for them. i've been baking bread in my grandmother's loaf pans, have a section of our cupboards that houses several of her old china teacups, and in our living room sits a wingback chair that my grandparents gave to my parents as a wedding gift. i have loved having family dinners at our house, seeing how the faces around the dining room table have changed a bit, but still full of love and joy. we had my mom&dad over just days before my father was admitted into the hospital. he talked a mile-a-minute and would not stop raving about my broccoli cheese soup and homemade biscuits. oh how i've relived those sweet moments over and over in my mind, so thankful for that time spent with my dad.

around christmastime, i am especially this way. a sentimental sap, some might say. i dug out my grandfather's old window candles from a big box in the garage and put them in all of our windows. i found some old, antique christmas tree bulbs that have been in our family for generations. one day, when our girls are grown and not pestering the tree, i can't wait to use some of them to decorate. this morning, i made popovers and the smell of them cooking filled the house, bringing me back to christmas eve mornings when we'd wake up to my grandmother making these for a special breakfast. i can still hear the old christmas music playing from my grandparents record player that my sister and i played every year as little girls. i can hear the clatter of china from christmas feasts, the laughter from family being together and i can still feel the childlike joy welling up inside of me that did over so many, many years.

i love things like that.

these are the things i will hold precious this christmastime--and always--as i acknowledge the gaping hole that the loss of my dad has left in my life. these are the things that will make me strive to always make our house a home... to create new sights, sounds, smells and memories for my family and for my sweet girls... to savor each and every moment and as mary did in the christmas story recorded in luke 2 "treasure up all of these things and ponder them" in my heart.

these are the things that i will forever remember in the walls of my grandparents house. may our family only add to the cherished memories here... at christmastime and always.