"In the Shade of the Old Apple Tree"

The melody of this song is very predictable, but the text is actually quite sweet. It makes me think of summer, the comfort of familiar things, the security of family. My parents have an apple grove on their property, planted long before they lived in that house. We've never eaten the apples, for what are probably weird reasons, but it's mostly just laziness, I always thought.

I spoke to my family today, on the phone, to almost everyone, and I missed the comfort of being there with them for this holiday. I haven't been home for Christmas in years, though everyone else is always there. It's certainly not that I didn't have a really nice day with my family here, either. It was close to perfect, even: relatively relaxed, good company, great gifts, tasty food, great time with each other. I did have trouble relaxing for very long at a go, the pressure of visiting in-laws kept me on my feet straightening up this and that, but that was all me, and I could've stopped the mad rush at any point. But there was also something very satisfying in getting those little things all accomplished.

So now is the time to really wind down, to find stillness. To rest up, in order that I may spend much quality time with my iPod later tomorrow, perhaps. Eat some of the multitudinous kinds of chocolate now in the house. The world is indeed wide, and good.