{"id":287,"date":"2018-01-02T22:11:53","date_gmt":"2018-01-03T03:11:53","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/homesteadinginthecity.kleinmartin.com\/?p=287"},"modified":"2018-01-03T11:29:41","modified_gmt":"2018-01-03T16:29:41","slug":"the-seventh-day-of-christmas-seven-swans-a-swimming","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/homesteadinginthecity.kleinmartin.com\/?p=287","title":{"rendered":"The Seventh Day of Christmas: Seven Swans a-Swimming"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The other day, I was driving our son through a nice Christmas snow so he could volunteer at the museum, and he said, \u2018you know, mom, everything is pretty with snow on it.\u2019<\/p>\n

I agreed. The world is so beautiful when covered with snow. And I have to think that the last bird mentioned in the twelve days of Christmas is the most beautiful of them all. And I want to be reminded to look for the beauty that surrounds us, like in the snow.<\/p>\n

It could be easy to look at the snow and only see needing to shovel it or how hard it is to drive in it. But it also makes everything look so pretty, and it makes the world glow. It\u2019s such a common thing, and it\u2019s everywhere, but it is beautiful.<\/p>\n

We have a pair of cardinals that like to sit in the tree outside our window. The male is such a vivid color, especially against the snow and the bark of the bare tree. The female is the same shape and just as graceful, just s beautiful. Together they will make another generation of cardinals that will flit in the tree in years to come. I don\u2019t know how many generations I have already watched.<\/p>\n

We have old windows, and on nights when it is cold and damp enough, we can wake up to feathers of frost blooming on them. I dread ever getting new windows because they don\u2019t have that little bit of beauty anymore.<\/p>\n

When my mother was living with us before she died, she had a teddy bear she loved dearly. She was so beautiful when cuddling it.<\/p>\n

Every where we turn, our lives are surrounded by beauty. If we define beauty too narrowly, however, we will miss it. Defining it broadly— sun glinting off ice, a brown bird with the promise of more, an old woman\u2019s smile— and our lives are full of beauty.<\/p>\n

And the world certainly needs more of it.<\/p>\n

So when I remember the swans-a-swimming, I will think of beauty and try to remember to look for it everywhere, even where I don\u2019t expect to find it.<\/p>\n

Back<\/a>\u00a0to introduction.
\nForward\u00a0<\/a>to Eight.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

  The other day, I was driving our son through a nice Christmas snow so he could volunteer at the museum, and he said, \u2018you know, mom, everything is pretty with snow on it.\u2019 I agreed. The world is so beautiful when covered with snow. And I have to think that the last bird mentioned … Continue reading The Seventh Day of Christmas: Seven Swans a-Swimming<\/span> →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"amazonpipp_noncename":"","amazon-product-isactive":"","amazon-product-single-asin":"","amazon-product-content-location":"1","amazon-product-content-hook-override":"2","amazon-product-excerpt-hook-override":"2","amazon-product-singular-only":"","amazon-product-amazon-desc":"","amazon-product-show-gallery":"","amazon-product-show-features":"","amazon-product-newwindow":"2","amazon-product-show-list-price":"","amazon-product-show-used-price":"","amazon-product-show-saved-amt":"","amazon-product-timestamp":"","amazon-product-new-title":"","amazon-product-use-cartURL":"","amazon_featured_post_meta_key":"","_amazon_featured_alt":"","amazon-product-template":"","_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[45,44],"tags":[51,48],"class_list":["post-287","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-health","category-meditation","tag-christmas-meditation","tag-twelve-days"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p5HEA6-4D","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":276,"url":"https:\/\/homesteadinginthecity.kleinmartin.com\/?p=276","url_meta":{"origin":287,"position":0},"title":"The Fourth Day of Christmas: Four Calling Birds\/Colly birds","author":"Gina Kleinmartin","date":"January 1, 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"\u00a0 Depending on where you are from, you know the fourth gift is either four calling birds or four colly birds. \u2018Colly\u2019 is British for \u2018coal dark\u2019 (or grimy, but let\u2019s stick with the coal dark) and would have meant black birds. Black birds have been revered in many cultures\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "health"","block_context":{"text":"health","link":"https:\/\/homesteadinginthecity.kleinmartin.com\/?cat=45"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/homesteadinginthecity.kleinmartin.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/calling-birds-300x287.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":247,"url":"https:\/\/homesteadinginthecity.kleinmartin.com\/?p=247","url_meta":{"origin":287,"position":1},"title":"Meditations on the 12 days of Christmas","author":"Gina Kleinmartin","date":"December 26, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"For most people who celebrate any part of the Christmas season, it\u2019s a mad rush of house cleaning, cookie baking, present purchasing and wrapping, decorating and being around family. By the end of the day on the 25th, people are worn out, tired and ready to forget the holidays. And\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "health"","block_context":{"text":"health","link":"https:\/\/homesteadinginthecity.kleinmartin.com\/?cat=45"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":297,"url":"https:\/\/homesteadinginthecity.kleinmartin.com\/?p=297","url_meta":{"origin":287,"position":2},"title":"The Ninth Day of Christmas: Nine Ladies Dancing","author":"Gina Kleinmartin","date":"January 3, 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"\u00a0 When I was little, my mind always pictured the last four gifts being more of a party than individual gifts. The maids-a-milking were the only humans who weren\u2019t acceptable at a ball. I did, however, always wonder why there were more musicians than there were dancers. Anyway, it\u2019s not\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "health"","block_context":{"text":"health","link":"https:\/\/homesteadinginthecity.kleinmartin.com\/?cat=45"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/homesteadinginthecity.kleinmartin.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/ladies-dance-233x300.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":311,"url":"https:\/\/homesteadinginthecity.kleinmartin.com\/?p=311","url_meta":{"origin":287,"position":3},"title":"The Twelfth Day of Christmas: Twelve Drummers Drumming","author":"Gina Kleinmartin","date":"January 6, 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"This last day of Christmas has me thinking about the drummers, and how important it is to follow a rhythm. For many of us, we spend our time chasing emergencies and urgent things that have to be done right now, leaving us little time to breathe let alone get the\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "health"","block_context":{"text":"health","link":"https:\/\/homesteadinginthecity.kleinmartin.com\/?cat=45"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/homesteadinginthecity.kleinmartin.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/drum-drum-300x300.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":314,"url":"https:\/\/homesteadinginthecity.kleinmartin.com\/?p=314","url_meta":{"origin":287,"position":4},"title":"Epiphany","author":"Gina Kleinmartin","date":"January 6, 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"Today is not one of the days in the carol, but it is the final day of the holiday season. Last night was Twelfth Night (which yes, Shakespeare named a play after, and was supposed to be performed on the last night of Christmas) \u00a0and we spent it with friends,\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "health"","block_context":{"text":"health","link":"https:\/\/homesteadinginthecity.kleinmartin.com\/?cat=45"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":307,"url":"https:\/\/homesteadinginthecity.kleinmartin.com\/?p=307","url_meta":{"origin":287,"position":5},"title":"The Eleventh Day of Christmas: Eleven Pipers Piping","author":"Gina Kleinmartin","date":"January 6, 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"\u00a0 Finally the musicians have arrived at the party! And it ought to be a great party, with twice as many musicians as dancers. While thinking about writing these meditations, I found this article and video about seals in a hospital in Cornwall being \u2018treated\u2019 with music to calm them.\u2026","rel":"","context":"In \"12 days of Christmas\"","block_context":{"text":"12 days of Christmas","link":"https:\/\/homesteadinginthecity.kleinmartin.com\/?tag=12-days-of-christmas"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/homesteadinginthecity.kleinmartin.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/pipe-pipe-207x300.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/homesteadinginthecity.kleinmartin.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/287","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/homesteadinginthecity.kleinmartin.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/homesteadinginthecity.kleinmartin.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/homesteadinginthecity.kleinmartin.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/homesteadinginthecity.kleinmartin.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=287"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/homesteadinginthecity.kleinmartin.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/287\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":292,"href":"https:\/\/homesteadinginthecity.kleinmartin.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/287\/revisions\/292"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/homesteadinginthecity.kleinmartin.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=287"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/homesteadinginthecity.kleinmartin.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=287"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/homesteadinginthecity.kleinmartin.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=287"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}