The first fire in years

Today we were visited by a chimney sweep. We have looked forward to his visit for days! When we moved into this house, we couldn't get our fireplace to work- the smoke would always billow into the room instead of exiting up the chimney. For one reason or another, we never had the problem fixed, so for two years we have skipped the cozy fires of winter.

I adore a crackling fire, and sorely missed that element in our home. So. The chimney sweep was our favorite person of the season. The boys were so intrigued with the process, so our visitor had a rapt audience the entire time he worked. As an added 'wow' factor, he was also a fire fighter...so the boys thought this person was perfectly amazing.

After the work was finished and he gave us the 'all clear', we eagerly built a fire and congregated in the music room with cozy blankets and books.

It was such a delightful evening! Everyone cuddled and listened to our favorite entertaining stories for almost an hour.

Sarah and I took turns reading, accompanied by the sizzle and pop of our welcome fire. We laughed together in delight over the silly antics in A. A. Milne's classic book. It's one of our very favorite collections of stories, and we love hearing it read aloud regularly.

While we read, Diego crawled under blankets and played with the dog on the rug. The older children brought out pillows and made beds on the ground so they could lie down quietly and listen to the stories (it was past bedtime, but I couldn't bear to send everyone away from the cheerful fire even on a school night) 

Everyone was together and everyone was happy. 

The end. 

PS- This is my motto lately. I like having a one-word theme to ponder and keep in sight. A few months ago I was feeling overwhelmed with all my responsibilities and commitments. I felt weighed down with the daily grind of housecleaning, home school, animal care, toddler care, etc. I needed to focus my energy on the things that mattered most. And once again, I read this talk about choosing our best priorities. To help me keep this focus, I embroidered this sign:  

This is my daily reminder to choose the better path.

Choose my family over other commitments, since I only have these children for a short while. 

Choose my God over the petty distractions that tug on my time each day. 

Choose to feed my soul instead of surf the internet. 

Choose to serve others and not myself. 

Choose the best things and shed the rest, no matter how enticing they may be. 

I'm also keeping this quote in mind from Elder Neal A. Maxwell:

“Never give up what you want most for what you want today.”

I'm still working on this. I'm constantly resolving to do better. I'm weak and foolish and so often fall into old habits of spending an hour reading the news. But I have improved a little bit each week, so I"m hopeful I can continue to improve and choose the best things in life.