Decorating the days

Through the window I can see icicles suspended beneath branches, silver droplets casting rainbows and carving bowls in the snow. There are cardinals and blue jays, bunnies and tom cats. Ribbons billow from the birdhouse, hangers-on from a summer party. The sheer curtain, with its lacy border, flutters as the furnace blows, Cheerios skitter on the floor and the pages curl. Sparkle paint and colored construction paper upstaging the winter scene beyond. My life inside, my girls and the exquisite mess that comes from playing and loving, dazzle, pressing on my heart and stoking my soul— I am alive. Here, in the midst of what I can only describe as heaven on earth.