A Quiet House

 Stockings hung from the plate shelf for now.  Do you think Santa would find them there?

 A second bathroom in the house, which is now of course the one that everyone wants to use.

 A new home for some embroidery hoops.

 Rain jacket and boots haven't found their way to the closet just yet.

Pinecones in a basket, waiting to be used as kindling.

Our house is quiet today.  Quiet and still and peaceful, and not at all the way it usually is with three lively little bodies playing here and there.  The kids are all recovering from this bug, weakened and slow from a couple of days of not really eating.  My "big kids," who haven't napped in ages are falling asleep all over the place like little kittens.  Our house project of the year, finishing our basement and putting in a new bathroom (wow, two bathrooms for our family of five feels pretty revolutionary), has come to a close, and we no longer have the traffic in our home that comes with that sort of endeavor.  We are tired, but thank heavens returning to health, and have all sorts of excitement on the horizon (vising family, a special surprise for Christmas eve, and of course the excitement of Christmas morning right around the corner).  It is a good day.