Silly Things I Think

First off, Happy 2014 everyone!  Hope your holidays were great!

When I was little, I would get birthday and Christmas cards from my grandmother, which always depicted a cozy little scene of some woodland creature family staying warm in their hollow tree home.  Usually there was a fireplace, a quilt and a pot of tea.  So, now that we have a bit of snow, we always joke about how all the trees are filled with these little woodland creature families by the fire with their tea and quilts.  Never mind that having a fireplace in a tree is a serious fire hazard.  But it's still a cute, silly image.

I love the Yarn Harlot's story where she passes people's homes and imagines what they're doing inside.  Because I do exactly that.  Every morning, as we drive down 202 to the train station, we pass a string of homes.  Some are dark, some have their lights on. On a cold, dreary winter morning, these homes look so warm and cozy.  The people in there must be waking up at their leisure,  having a nice cup of coffee and some breakfast, maybe even reading the paper.  They wouldn't possibly be racing around, putting their shoe on with one hand while brushing their teeth with the other, finally running out of the house with wet hair because there's no time to use a hair dryer. They certainly aren't performing these antics as their penance for those two extra minutes of sleep while still getting to the train on time.  These people are relaxed, without a care.

And as if these images in my head weren't ridiculous enough, add in the chimney.  If the house has a chimney billowing smoke, I imagine the same family sitting by the fireplace next to a crackling fire, sipping tea, reading or knitting, or doing one of many enjoyable, stress-free activities. It's not like that billowing smoke is from their heating system, or that they actually have to go to work to earn money and pay bills.  They must own their homes outright - lovely fireplaces and all.

These Disney-esque images seem so ridiculous.  Why wouldn't these people be racing about to get ready for work like I had just done?  Why do they get to stay home while I have to go to work?  It just doesn't seem right.  That's because it's just silly.  Silly as trees filled with tea-sipping, pyromaniac squirrels, mice and bunnies.

But it was this morning that the silliness became crystal clear, when Scott pointed to a chimney billowing smoke and said "Imagine how nice it would be to be those people!"  And then he laughed at me.  Because it was our chimney.  That picture above is of our house.  The smoke was from our heating system, not a fireplace.  We were outside shoveling snow, not inside sipping tea and reading or knitting under quilts.  It's amazing how far imagination can be from reality sometimes.  Or is it?