It's no secret that I am a little frazzled this time of year.  Between holiday excitement, daughter's birthday, and busy season there's barely room for clean dishes, let alone a decorated house.  And though we swore we'd do things differently this year, we never really got around to putting up a Christmas tree--despite how excited our two-year-old is about lights this year and all of our best intentions at the ready.  

So here we are--mere days away from Christmas itself--and I pull in the driveway after a long day in the studio (again).  As I sat in the car (listening to the last bit of World Cafe on NPR and my infant daughter's snores from the carseat) I stared absent-mindedly at our back deck, not quite realizing what was different...until suddenly it hit me.  We had a Christmas tree!  Nothing crazy extravagant--nothing at all like you might find in Elle Decor or Martha--but a tree alright.  In a bucket!  With lights!  I smiled as we headed up the back steps, and I can't tell you what joy I felt about a tree in a bucket.

From whence did the tree come?  Well, that's the best part.  You see, this morning my husband asked our toddler daughter what she wanted to get her mother for Christmas.  Her simple reply was "A Christmas tree."  And since she's two and knows exactly what she wants, they went out and found one.  And then put it in water and strung lights on it.  And I I love it.  I realized that, as much as I love what I do for a living (it is truly a pleasure to go to work each day) it is not everything.  All it took was a toddler and a tree to remind me.  

So we'll be taking next week off to bask in the glow of white lights on a tree in a bucket, and we hope that--wherever you are and whatever you do--you'll be enjoying the simple things in life, too.  Happy holidays to our incredibly kind and wonderful friends, family, Facebook fans, Twitter followers, and (last but DEFINITELY not least) our fantastic customers.  We love you all!