Ugh. When I tried to upload pictures, my post disappeared. Here's the gist of it.

I'm super crazy thrilled that it is snowing! In my 37 years, I've never once experienced a White Christmas or anything close to it. Here we are, fewer than 7 days away from Christmas (I'd actually prefer a white Christmas Eve than a white Christmas), and it's white, very white, out there. I am a snow junkie. I'm an adult who never grew up when it comes to snow. I love how life grinds to a halt, how stillness blankets everything at night, how you get to wear way too many clothes, freeze your toes off, and slide around outside as if nothing in the world matters except having fun.



Today was an all-around perfect Christmas week day. We went to see A Christmas Carol at the Empire Theatre this morning, and the Scrooge in this performance was perfection; I swear he was the real Scrooge, right from the pages of the book. I was very pleased that the play adhered so closely to the original text, since I feel that you can't really appreciate all of the various adaptations until you know to what they are alluding (I had a cute conversation with someone today about how her children saw Shakespeare's As You Like It alluding to Monty Python, rather than the other way around). Then we had a nice, if a bit too pricey lunch together before heading to the South of the James Homeschoolers annual holiday party, which was held this year at a local swim and recreation club. The highlight was a holiday talent show where more than a dozen kids played instruments or sang Christmas songs--what a nice way for a growing group to evolve as folks are getting older. We made some cute ornaments with starlight mints and put together our traditional reindeer chow, and I got a neat idea for a gluten-free chicken salad with curry. All in all, a rousing success. After that, we hopped quickly over to Brookstone to pick up a gift for my Dad, then made it home just in time to greet the first falling snowflakes. From there, life just got whiter and whiter until we looked like a Christmas card. I am still positively giddy when I look outside. The beauty of seeing all of the Christmas lights against the perfect snow, the houses looking so cozy and warm--it's something I've never experienced before, and it is enchanting. Tomorrow we are supposed to get several more inches, and I am so excited.


My dream is to be more like Frances. To be willing to just lie on the ground with no coat, just a sweatshirt, and make a snow angel while I'm not wearing a hat and to just think that this is the greatest day of my life.