Lifting, leaning, learning, loving

This morning I learned that, despite my cranky joints and declining upper-body strength, I can carry a squirming two-and-a-half-year-old up a flight of steps. Score one for lifelong learning! However, I'm definitely hitting the Aleve bottle more than usual this week, thanks to the heavy lifting three grandkids require.

Lifting and leaning: helping kids dress and put on coats and wash their hands and wipe their bums requires leaning my back at a certain angle that, over time, causes severe pain. I don't recall having this problem when my kids were little, but then my joints and I were a whole lot younger too. 

So having the grandkids here is a pain in a whole lot of ways but I wouldn't trade the experience for anything. They bring so much joy and energy and color into our quiet lives, and I'm not just talking about all the candy sparkles that ended up on the floor when we decorated cookies. We baked cookies! They took turns with the rolling pin and the cookie cutters without a single bit of fuss! They spent close to an hour standing outside watching Grampa chop wood! They had foot-races on the beach at a local lake! And I love to hear the oldest granddaughter giggle as she reads Shel Silverstein poems out loud!

After such a painful year it feels right to have some pain at Christmas, but it's also great to have a good supply of joy and laughter, the greatest analgesics of all. Merry Christmas to all! And to me, an Aleve.

A little Christmas crafting.

Putting some muscle into it.

More sprinkles!

Getting some sunshine before the storm.

Sometimes you just need to run around in circles.