Our family loves the song “Ho Hey” by the Lumineers.
We sing it at the top of our lungs in our old gold minivan, and even Baby Betsie shouts out the “ho!” and “hey!” parts like a champ.
But watching the Lumineers perform live at the Grammy’s, I grew slightly suspicious and devastated as the camera cut to Taylor Swift singing along in the audience.
Why?
Because…
During my favorite part of the song – the chorus – where the band sings “I belong with you, you belong with me, in my sweet home…”, Taylor, who I am confident is very proficient in memorizing popular song lyrics, was clearly singing “I belong with you, you belong with me, you’re my sweetheart” as she made a heart shape around her heart.
And I knew…
I had the lyrics wrong.
A quick internet search proved this to be true, and I now know that this song is talking about young, unrequited love, and not me and my husband and our kids and our little white farmhouse on the hill.
Bummer.
But then I decided that, since I will never be on the stage or in the audience of the Grammy’s, I can sing the song however I darn well please.
And so I have made it our banner song once more, and I sing it at the top of my lungs and with all the love in my heart…
I belong with you,
You belong with me,
In my sweet home…
There is nothing sweeter than the comforts of home, is there? I grew up in an extremely home-y home. My Mom is gifted at making others feel loved and comfortable, and when I still walk into her house today, my heart relaxes with me, and I feel like I can take on the world.
Though much younger and less experienced than she, this is what I strive to do in my own house today.
Make it a home.
Make it a place where my kids feel brave and content and whole.
But that’s just it…
These things don’t happen naturally or of their own accord, and you can’t be a home-maker without the making; neither can you produce a place of warmth and love by sitting on your bum all day, blogging and eating onion rings. (Sorry, that’s just my guilt talking. I ate one too many…).
I will admit, it took me a few years to get over the fact that I am no longer the recipient of all the home-making and am now the home-maker, but I have found that, though the work is nonstop and very taxing, the entire family benefits from the hard work of my hands and my mind, including…me!
When the house is tidy, and when there are tokens of beauty and love surrounding us, I feel serene and content and happy to be here. On the other hand, when things are a mess and I have been lax in my duties and nothing is organized, well, I feel crummy and uninspired and my attitude pretty much matches my house.
All that to say, homemaking might be work, and it might be nonstop work, and it might be really taxing work, but…it is good work.
Tomorrow, I’ll begin periodically sharing with you some of my favorite components of our home, and some tips I’ve picked up in my 8 years as a homemaker. Some are tiny and obvious, some are sizable and profound, and some would never be noticed if I didn’t take a picture and blog about it.
But together, they are beginning to make a seamless and fitting backdrop to the place where we live, move, breathe, eat, play, work and sleep.
Our sweet home.
