WHY WILL EVERYTHING BE THIS WAY?<\/p>\n
When I first loudly voiced the idea that \u201chappened\u201d after a storm of thoughts during a short, sleepless night\u2026 I got a lot of raised eyebrows.<\/p>\n
\u201cA garage? For Christmas?\u201d \u2014 reactions poured in from those not terribly impressed with my \u201cgrand\u201d idea.<\/p>\n
Jumping out of bed after just a few hours of sleep, but\u2026 with the \u201cperfect idea\u201d in my pocket, and after a shrug from the team, I landed on the ground.
\nAnd soon I stepped into the ground floor of the house \u2014 my husband\u2019s \u201coasis.\u201d<\/p>\n
I looked around.
\nMaybe not much\u2026 I caught myself thinking.<\/p>\n
His \u201cgym cycles,\u201d family bicycles, tires, lots of helmets, pads, tools, a crazy number of colorful oil bottles, dog leashes, lawnmower, spade, broom\u2026
\nAnd jars of jams and pickled cucumbers\u2026
\n\u201cNot Instagrammable,\u201d I shook off.<\/p>\n
But at night\u2026 everything there looked beautiful and Christmasy to me.<\/p>\n
Lowering my nose below the ground floor level\u2026 I sneaked back into the house.
\nI brewed coffee.
\nAnd decided that, until my idea was finally deemed a \u201cfailure,\u201d I would still call Erika.<\/p>\n
The photographer with whom I\u2019ve worked for years\u2026 we speak the exact same language of beauty and coziness.
\nAfter hearing my vision in one breath, after a short pause, I heard through the phone:
\n\u201cOkay\u2026 I see it.\u201d<\/p>\n
In our home, the garage is exclusively my husband\u2019s \u201coasis.\u201d
\nWhen we were setting up our new family \u201cnest,\u201d we agreed he wouldn\u2019t interfere with my wardrobe issues and I would never encroach on his space.
\nI promised: don\u2019t touch the garage, never,
\ndon\u2019t tidy, don\u2019t decorate, don\u2019t freshen it up, don\u2019t rearrange where things go,
\nand introduce no feminine logic \u2014 because there\u2019s none to be had there.<\/p>\n
And then morning came \u2014 \u201chappened\u201d after deep reflection \u2014 when I got the second YES: my vision for this year\u2019s photoshoot was good.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019ll shoot Christmas in your garage,\u201d I messaged my husband.<\/p>\n
The reply took a pause \u2014 probably a search for the right words, reminding him of his promise that I would \u201cnever\u201d invade the Men\u2019s Cave.<\/p>\n
But God gave me a calm husband.
\nSo after the pause, my eyes received only a subtle, carefully phrased reply:
\n\u201cNothing beautiful in there\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cMaybe not yet,\u201d I thought, \u201cbut my dear, you have no idea how to turn \u2018nothing\u2019 into \u2018something.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n
And so I rolled up my sleeves.<\/p>\n
That very day, I called an uncle who was selling an old wooden cabinet online.
\nSoon, I was in the garage, arranging traffic to make space for the new furniture.
\nThen came the rug, shelves, and garage-appropriate garlands.
\nAdd Christmas wreaths and small trees\u2026 the scene began to resemble the image in my mind\u2026 but it still lacked coziness.<\/p>\n
\u201cAfter a hundred tweaks,\u201d I stood scrunching my nose, \u201cdo I have to admit that the imagined coziness still needs SOMETHING? And the worst part \u2014 I don\u2019t even know what.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cBeautiful,\u201d I murmured, \u201cbut that narrow window\u2026 it ruins the view\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n
Then came my husband\u2019s sigh.
\nDeep.
\nAnd saving.
\nAnd a suggestion I immediately agreed to:<\/p>\n
Next came finding firewood.
\nThen bringing it into the garage.
\nThen stacking it.
\nThen realizing that stacking logs of the same thickness left ugly gaps, showing the covered window.
\nThen unloading the wood again.
\nThen matching thinner logs with thicker ones.
\nThen stepping back for a critical review:
\n\u201cThe logs are beautiful, but these freshly cut ones are yellow, and the older ones are brown.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWe can age them,\u201d my husband suggested.
\nSoon, each log was being \u201caged\u201d in his hands.
\nAnd then stacked again, in their perfect place.<\/p>\n
The work was finished late Sunday evening.
\nThe log wall was complete.<\/p>\n
When everything was finally in place\u2026 and the garlands plugged in with ceremonial \u201cthree, two, one\u201d\u2026
\nThe Men\u2019s Cave\u2026 became unrecognizable:<\/p>\n
Freshly baked gingerbread, a tray of sweets, still-warm homemade cranberry jelly\u2026 overpowered the smell of gasoline and oil.
\nAnd cozily \u201csettled\u201d on the newly made and painted \u201cChristmas kiosk\u201d counter, crafted by Santa\u2019s hands (aka my husband).
\nIn the corners of the garage settled Lithuanian green trees with their indescribable scent.
\nAnd in the \u201ccenter of events,\u201d like a medal, hung a thick, cozy Christmas wreath adorned with pine cones.<\/p>\n
\u201cI still have Mom\u2019s big knitted blanket,\u201d I remembered aloud.
\nAnd soon I was arranging it over the newly arrived vintage cabinet.<\/p>\n
Everything. Nothing was missing from the sleepless-night mental image.
\nIt was cozy and insanely warm.<\/p>\n
Well\u2026 maybe just a wink at my husband and a quiet apology for the \u201cChristmas nativity scene\u201d set up in the place\u2026 I had promised I would never enter.
\nNever.<\/p>\n
Looking around at the objects lovingly crafted by my favorite people\u2026
\nI thought:
\n\u201cAnd again, Christmas happened. From the heart.\u201d<\/p>\n
Breaking my own promises,
\nand setting up a \u201cChristmas nativity scene,\u201d
\nin the very place it should never have been.<\/p>\n
V.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"template":"","class_list":["post-15200","kolekcija","type-kolekcija","status-publish","hentry"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/viktorijos.devbrothers.lt\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/kolekcija\/15200","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/viktorijos.devbrothers.lt\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/kolekcija"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/viktorijos.devbrothers.lt\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/kolekcija"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/viktorijos.devbrothers.lt\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=15200"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}