Frank Gehry, architect
Adding to our family has made us ponder our current living situation. We have just over 1,300 square feet in our home. With two dogs, a cat and two- going on three, children, it's getting a bit cozy. Some days I feel like all I can see are kids' toys and clutter surrounding me.
This year we are celebrating ten years of home ownership. We have friends who have upgraded in size and substance, but also have presumably added years of house payments.
There is so much I would love to upgrade in our current home that it makes me wonder if we too should scrap those ideas for the future and head for the bigger and better now and join the ranks of people with fabulous homes and long years of big mortgages.
Lately I've been thinking a lot about these choices. I want to share with our children the love and beauty of simplicity. I want them to be content, but striving to improve. Learning to balance these values is difficult in our culture. It seems that so many equate bigger with being better. We are surrounded by big homes, big cars, big stores - but so often they are lacking in character and filled with unhappy people who bought into the idea that buying more would make them happy.
Our home is humble, but will hopefully be full of love and good memories. It's going to take some creativity to make our current space work to the full potenial. That involves scaling back in what comes in to our home in the first place.
So, for now, we are staying put. Choosing to bring in things we not only love - but are of quality and high function, and attempting to banish the clutter and live more consciously. In some ways it sounds like a new, great adventure and I think we're going to have a good time and hopefully set a positive example for our children along the way.
Although we mananged to bake and frost sugar cookies, and get some holiday shopping completed, we neglected to pick out a Christmas tree with all the excitment of the impending holidays. My dad had provided some freshly cut cedar trees from a ditch in the country that we planned on setting up by our front door so at the last minute on Christmas eve, my husband grabbed one and set it up in our house. It was a simple tree with no ornaments or garland, but I think it might have been the best tree ever. The boys were thrilled to not only find presents had been delievered by Santa, but a Christmas tree as well!
