There’s a fire in the stove, the Christmas tree is decorated, my family is all tucked snug in their beds. The lights are dim, it’s quiet and the house is clean. I feel like I can take a deep breathe, let it out and relax now. Are the presents wrapped? No. Cards mailed? No. Groceries bought? No. Orders delivered? No. Does it matter? Tonight, not at all. I have a full heart, and everyone is under one roof and that all that matters today.
Hannah is sick again, though, we had an unexpected trip to see our favourite family doctor to tell us wheat we already knew, her ear infection was back. But her cheer is good, we had some awesome snuggles and I discovered I can no longer carry her around. Poor thing!! I feel so bad for her and I practically have to pin her down to get her to take the horrid medicine.
But, tonight, I’m not here to talk about that. I’m here to tell a story. A story that I’m not even sure how it started, all I know is that it continues on today. This is the story of two friends and a shared love of garden gnomes. Someone hid a gnome in a garden, probably Catherine hid it in mine. Not even sure how many years ago. But these gnomes keep appearing with very little fanfare.
Catherine had been questioning me as to when I might be home or when I might be gone. I’m not too surprised by this, she is very generous, crafty and secretive. These are a few things that make her an awesome friend to have. { She also makes a good cup of coffee and knows her way around Halifax…just sayin’ } Today she showed up, gift bag in hand. She had dropped very few hints and my one guess was wrong. I opened the gift to discover a super cute little homemade gnome, like what you’d expect to see in a Swedish home all decked out for Christmas. I thought the gift ended there. We chatted, I showed them some secret projects happening in the Studio and they left.
Fast forward to a few hours. I get a text. It’s Catherine. She asks if I found it yet. I had to ask her what it was I was looking for, you know how it is with Momma Brain. All she said was I would know it when I found it. You know I had to look! But I found it, or what I thought was it, and I didn’t even have to get off my chair. I was sitting beside the tree and immediately spotted a gnome in my tree!! But, alas, there were five more!!! Super cute blown glass gnomes!! They look fabulous tucked in my tree.
The best part? That I have a friend who values me enough to drive all the way out here so she could hide some gnomes in my tree. Now that’s a good friend!
To be continued,
Lori
