“There is nothing like staying at home for real comfort.” – Jane Austen

My family just wants to be home. I understand. I get it and I’ve decided to join them. I’m the one that usually wants to plan family outings and shared experiences. The kids have told me we have enough togetherness and don’t really need any more special outings every weekend. I understand, really I do. At first, I felt a bit sad and disappointed. But I listen to them and know that you can’t force things and cling on to things as they are changing, and they are growing up. I don’t always want to push my agenda and so I adapt. And guess what? Life is really good that way, for all of us.

Soccer season just ended and we didn’t have any plans to go anywhere. I decided to embrace home life and just being home. I love to cook and try new things and so that’s what I decided to do today. I opened my Julia Child’s cookbook and spent the day cooking Beef Bourguignon. It takes several hours to prepare and cook this dish and the entire house has smelled delicious all day. It brought back wonderful memories of Marco and Kathy back at business school, when Marco would cook this dish and spoil us. I loved being in the kitchen and having my family come in to see what I was doing and to tell me how good it smelled.

While I was cooking, Charlie and Juliana were outside playing in the front yard with the fallen leaves and creating huge piles on the grass with our neighbor friends. They were so cute working for hours together, creating their stock pile and jumping on their mountain. They played hide the turkey and threw leaves in the air, laughing and diving in the piles. I enjoyed hearing them play and had to go outside to take pictures and share their joy.

Juliana and J came in to make carmel brownies for dessert and April and Steve came over to join us for a laid-back, casual/fancy slow-cooked meal.

And so today I’m thankful for my family for teaching me to relax and to just enjoy being home without having to go anywhere. And learning that sometimes what you’re trying to create can just come naturally and be so simple. Everyone was happy and relaxed and got to do what they wanted to do. And in the end, togetherness just happened. I am happy, at home. Life is good.

How did you spend your day? What do you love most about your home?