Winter Begins

Well, winter begins today. It's the winter solstice, the shortest day of the year. We've had quite a bit of snow, ice and other forms of solid and semi-solid precipitation over the past couple of weeks. I don't mind ordinary rain, or ordinary snow, but the freezing rain and other variations really get to be a pain. This is mostly so because it's more difficult to clean up and driving in it safely is a challenge.

During the afternoon the weather was quite mild and I took a break to walk around the neighborhood a bit and snap some pictures. I'll post the better ones later. Christmas is coming, and we've been busy preparing for the celebrations. Two weeks ago we got a beautiful tree. We got it at the same place we've gotten it for some dozen or so years now. It's become a habit, or more generously a tradition. This year I figured Tommy was old enough to cut the tree part way with a real saw. At first he was apprehensive about using a sharp saw, but he overcame that with a bit of encouragement from me and Misce. It also was the quickest that we had ever gotten a tree. We went to the tree farm and back home in about an hour. Karl and Tommy, the two younger boys, decorated the tree. They did a good job, and Misce helped a bit to even out the placement of the ornaments. I hung the lights.

As far as other preparations go, Misce's been busy with cookie baking and planning for Christmas Eve and Christmas dinners. The food, gifts, conversations and a chance to relax are my favorite parts of this holiday. I'm pretty sure Misce, Andy, Karl and Tommy like that too by the sound of their voices and the smiles on their faces. Somewhat sadly, this year might be the last where our little family celebrates together as an intact family. Andy is a senior in High School and next year he'll be off to college. I hope that he will be home for Christmas next year to celebrate it with us, but it will be different since he will be out on his own. Twenty three years ago my parents went through pretty much the same thing. It doesn't seem that long ago.