Yipes. Our winter wonderland is awesome. Just like the pictures in all the pretty books. The snow that fell a couple days ago is still fresh appearing by the light dusting of snow that has kept it white and the subnormal temps that preserves it from getting that yellow melty look.
We had been warned that last night would be the coldest yet. My Mom and I forewent a tradition of driving around on Christmas eve to "look at the lights" due to the low temps. Around 9pm Mom called to remind me to leave the cabinet doors open in front of my kitchen sink. The pipes have a habit of freezing since the connecting one travels right in front of the window in the basement. I thanked her for the reminder and grinned as I walked back to my recliner past the doors which I had left open after finishing up the supper dishes.
We were popping in A Christmas Story to watch and would be watching It's A Beautiful Life after dinner at Mom's tomorrow. That's a perfect time to see it. If you happen to doze off due to the slight discomforts of too much food consumed, you wake up in familiar territory and don't really feel like you've missed anything.
I woke up this beautiful Christmas day. A quick check of the kitchen sink, let me know that the pipes hadn't frozen, so Mom's advice still works. Good, I need that hot coffee. Checked my email and gasped at the temperature displayed on my "home page". "Low: -11F." Yipes! It would reach that low at about 7am. I had an hour to go before it got as cold as it was going to get. I shivered just thinking about it and went and grabbed a fleece topper and pulled it on over my flannel jammies. Burrrrr! This is just too cold. With the windchill outside it should be about 20 below zero out there.
Of course, once it gets to a certain "cold" it is just cold and you don't know much besides bundling up really good when you go outside. Since my childgood I have been told that Michigan remains warmer than the states just west of us because the Great Lakes warm the atmosphere overhead. This is usually true. Minnesota and Wisconsin is always quite a bit colder than it is here.
But for here, it is just cold. I'm going to turn on the oven to get ready for the baked goods I'm making for dinner later today, keep snuggly warm in my flannel and fleece, wrap my hands around my coffee mug to warm them from time to time, celebrate Christmas without my teeth chattering, thankful for a good gas fired furnace. To all of you, wishes for a Happy Holiday and a very warm and merry Christmas.
Saturday, December 25, 2004
Friday, December 24, 2004
A Basketful of Christmas
Every year UPS delivers a delightful hand filled basket of goodies to our house. It is the gift my brother ships us from just west of Chicago land. The first year the basket arrived we thought it would be best to save it until Christmas morning; didn’t seem right to open it earlier. We had no idea what was inside. When we did open it, we found it packed with beautiful fruit, some of which had not endured the time sitting under our tree close to the heat vent. We learned from that experience to always open the present as soon as Mr Brown dropped it at our door.
The baskets are always beautiful and the goodies are always unique. Sometimes it will have a theme of breakfast goodies and come stuffed with interesting pancake mixes, syrups, sausages and jellies. Whatever the theme, whatever the goodies inside, we always feel like Santa just dropped a whole bag of cheer right into our living room via UPS.
This year with all the fuss over the big storm aggressively heading our way we rather lost sight of anything much, except checking to see if the storm had hit yet. The mailman had come and night had fallen and we decided we weren’t going to do anything so we curled up in our jammies and comforters and watched videos. The next morning I rushed to the door to have a peek and see how much fluffy white goodness had come to bless us. From the window it didn’t look too bad.
My first surprise came when I opened the door (the inner door swings in, the storm door swings out) and found I had to really push to get the storm door open. That meant there was more than 4” of snow on my front porch. I stared at the white stuff when I finally realized that snow wasn’t the only thing that had dropped out of the sky. In the early dawn I could see a large box now nearly covered with snow. I couldn’t guess when it was parked there. This was going to be fun. It would take a broom, hopefully not a shovel, to get that box inside. I figured I’d better get dressed since I was definitely going to need boots and I was soon brushing the powdery fluff off the porch. I dragged the box inside with a loud, “wheh!" full well knowing, any fruit inside that box is surely frozen by now, since record lows had been predicted for the night.
We waited until the sun came up, breakfast had been cooked and eaten and decided it was time to open our box. The theme this year seemed to be goodies of the best kinds. Yummy cookies, candy with caramel, nuts, peppermint, a package of pancake mix, a package of cookies which my daughter tore into and said “hey, this tastes just like key lime pie”. She was right, they did. A special card from my brother was the last thing we opened and read the Christmas greetings. Then we both exclaimed over the basket itself. It was woven of dark woods and interwoven into the warp and woof was a vine of holly berries and leaves. It is one of the most beautiful baskets I have ever seen. It will deserve a special place here at home to be appreciated by everyone, all year round.
One thing for sure, when the basket arrives it is always a fun time of expectancy and laughter. For sure, nothing says lovin like a basket from my brother. It just sings jingle bells in my heart and keeps me smiling all day.
The baskets are always beautiful and the goodies are always unique. Sometimes it will have a theme of breakfast goodies and come stuffed with interesting pancake mixes, syrups, sausages and jellies. Whatever the theme, whatever the goodies inside, we always feel like Santa just dropped a whole bag of cheer right into our living room via UPS.
This year with all the fuss over the big storm aggressively heading our way we rather lost sight of anything much, except checking to see if the storm had hit yet. The mailman had come and night had fallen and we decided we weren’t going to do anything so we curled up in our jammies and comforters and watched videos. The next morning I rushed to the door to have a peek and see how much fluffy white goodness had come to bless us. From the window it didn’t look too bad.
My first surprise came when I opened the door (the inner door swings in, the storm door swings out) and found I had to really push to get the storm door open. That meant there was more than 4” of snow on my front porch. I stared at the white stuff when I finally realized that snow wasn’t the only thing that had dropped out of the sky. In the early dawn I could see a large box now nearly covered with snow. I couldn’t guess when it was parked there. This was going to be fun. It would take a broom, hopefully not a shovel, to get that box inside. I figured I’d better get dressed since I was definitely going to need boots and I was soon brushing the powdery fluff off the porch. I dragged the box inside with a loud, “wheh!" full well knowing, any fruit inside that box is surely frozen by now, since record lows had been predicted for the night.
We waited until the sun came up, breakfast had been cooked and eaten and decided it was time to open our box. The theme this year seemed to be goodies of the best kinds. Yummy cookies, candy with caramel, nuts, peppermint, a package of pancake mix, a package of cookies which my daughter tore into and said “hey, this tastes just like key lime pie”. She was right, they did. A special card from my brother was the last thing we opened and read the Christmas greetings. Then we both exclaimed over the basket itself. It was woven of dark woods and interwoven into the warp and woof was a vine of holly berries and leaves. It is one of the most beautiful baskets I have ever seen. It will deserve a special place here at home to be appreciated by everyone, all year round.
One thing for sure, when the basket arrives it is always a fun time of expectancy and laughter. For sure, nothing says lovin like a basket from my brother. It just sings jingle bells in my heart and keeps me smiling all day.
Tuesday, December 14, 2004
I'm Freezing
Honestly, I am freezing. Of course it is cold up here in Michigan, but why do I have to freeze. Why? I've never really noticed being this cold when winter blasted in with cold north winds and began the task of chilling me to the bones. I have a good furnace, warm clothing, gloves, a hat; no problem.
But this year, for some reason. I'm freezing! I get cold and find it impossible to get warm. My nose is constantly cold, just like a poor sick puppy. I'm not sick mind you, I don't even have a cold... cold is what I am, not what I have.
I am bundled up in a heavy sweater, still I am cold. I wake up in the middle of the night with my teeth chattering and bundle up in extra blankets which never get me warm enough to fall back asleep until right before the alarm goes bellering off.
I wonder when I shall be warm again. I wonder when my lips will no longer be blue, I wonder when my toes will stop screaming when I take off my shoes. I wonder when...
Wait! I know. Right about July 4. I don't know if I can wait. I should move to Australia.
But this year, for some reason. I'm freezing! I get cold and find it impossible to get warm. My nose is constantly cold, just like a poor sick puppy. I'm not sick mind you, I don't even have a cold... cold is what I am, not what I have.
I am bundled up in a heavy sweater, still I am cold. I wake up in the middle of the night with my teeth chattering and bundle up in extra blankets which never get me warm enough to fall back asleep until right before the alarm goes bellering off.
I wonder when I shall be warm again. I wonder when my lips will no longer be blue, I wonder when my toes will stop screaming when I take off my shoes. I wonder when...
Wait! I know. Right about July 4. I don't know if I can wait. I should move to Australia.
Friday, December 10, 2004
Greetings from here
to you ... Merry Christmas!
It's hard to believe that the month of December has arrived. It is harder still to believe that it is rapidly vanishing into a long line of yesterdays and Christmases Past.
We had decided last year to just skip Christmas before John Grisham came up with the idea in his book which turned into a Christmas movie for this year. We put out no decorations. We forewarned relatives and friends that we pretty much were going to not be doing all the mad shopping and to not look for something from Santa from our direction. We were cutting back on the insanity. No Christmas shopping. Can you even conceive that? It was like this huge blanket of frustration was stripped from me and I slowly began to grin and then to quietly enjoy the season.
Now this year is here and after last year's vacation I am determined to not buy into the madness again. However we are reinstating some of our Christmas traditions. We have always put up our tree the first Saturday in December. So with great humor, Christmas carols blaring we joyfully went to work. Now every year some horrible disaster happens when we put up our tree. I have some stories to tell... but that's not for today. This year we were excited because everything was going well. Commenting on the fact that we would get this tree up without a disaster was probably not a good idea. We pulled out the lights and began checking them. The first string tested and I handed it over to my daughter to begin placing it on the tree as I checked the next string. Wouldn't light. Not one single bulb. I checked the next string. Not one single twinkle. Well, this isn't a big deal, it's either a bulb gone bad or needs fuses. I started with the easy part and changed the fuses. No go! I stared at the 100 lights that refused to light. Grinned, stuffed them into a bag and out to the trash, then headed to the Hardware store for new lights. I'm NOT checking all those bulbs. I'm no Griswold and I don't need a traditional Griswold family Christmas Leave that to the neighbors. Soon I was back and we were in business. Up went the lights, then the ornaments. The tree was gorgeous and we were totally proud. So not such a disaster, just a minor setback. Hopefully, the entire season will go by as smoothly.
This Saturday we do the Christmas bake like a crazy person thing. Cookies to die for, fudge that melts in your mouth, made by my daughter. Then we box it up and mail to family in friends. We are happily packing up a heart attack/stroke in a box and mailing them off to people we love. Isn't that crazy?
We still have got to tackle Its A Wonderful Life because if you ignore Christmas or celebrate it full throttle you should watch this movie. Heck you should watch this movie even if you don't buy into the whole Christmas saga. It is a great film.
Our Christmas season is coming along quite nicely so far. The weatherman has been generous and with only one real snowstorm this year we aren't yet buried alive.
So cheers to you! May this be a very special time filled with joy, friends and family no matter what you acknowledge or what you find to celebrate.
It's hard to believe that the month of December has arrived. It is harder still to believe that it is rapidly vanishing into a long line of yesterdays and Christmases Past.
We had decided last year to just skip Christmas before John Grisham came up with the idea in his book which turned into a Christmas movie for this year. We put out no decorations. We forewarned relatives and friends that we pretty much were going to not be doing all the mad shopping and to not look for something from Santa from our direction. We were cutting back on the insanity. No Christmas shopping. Can you even conceive that? It was like this huge blanket of frustration was stripped from me and I slowly began to grin and then to quietly enjoy the season.
Now this year is here and after last year's vacation I am determined to not buy into the madness again. However we are reinstating some of our Christmas traditions. We have always put up our tree the first Saturday in December. So with great humor, Christmas carols blaring we joyfully went to work. Now every year some horrible disaster happens when we put up our tree. I have some stories to tell... but that's not for today. This year we were excited because everything was going well. Commenting on the fact that we would get this tree up without a disaster was probably not a good idea. We pulled out the lights and began checking them. The first string tested and I handed it over to my daughter to begin placing it on the tree as I checked the next string. Wouldn't light. Not one single bulb. I checked the next string. Not one single twinkle. Well, this isn't a big deal, it's either a bulb gone bad or needs fuses. I started with the easy part and changed the fuses. No go! I stared at the 100 lights that refused to light. Grinned, stuffed them into a bag and out to the trash, then headed to the Hardware store for new lights. I'm NOT checking all those bulbs. I'm no Griswold and I don't need a traditional Griswold family Christmas Leave that to the neighbors. Soon I was back and we were in business. Up went the lights, then the ornaments. The tree was gorgeous and we were totally proud. So not such a disaster, just a minor setback. Hopefully, the entire season will go by as smoothly.
This Saturday we do the Christmas bake like a crazy person thing. Cookies to die for, fudge that melts in your mouth, made by my daughter. Then we box it up and mail to family in friends. We are happily packing up a heart attack/stroke in a box and mailing them off to people we love. Isn't that crazy?
We still have got to tackle Its A Wonderful Life because if you ignore Christmas or celebrate it full throttle you should watch this movie. Heck you should watch this movie even if you don't buy into the whole Christmas saga. It is a great film.
Our Christmas season is coming along quite nicely so far. The weatherman has been generous and with only one real snowstorm this year we aren't yet buried alive.
So cheers to you! May this be a very special time filled with joy, friends and family no matter what you acknowledge or what you find to celebrate.
Friday, December 03, 2004
Morning Snow
We had a light dusting of snow yesterday which left the ground barely covered but softly white. I had paid no attention to the weather forecast for the night and when I faced my kitchen sink this morning I noted a nice sheen of ice in the corner of the window. Good sign. I'll have a windshield to scrape this morning.
I headed out the door a few minutes before time to leave for work to rev up the motor on my car and let the defroster do most of the scraping dirty work. I stood on my back steps and stared with my mouth hanging open. This was not about frost on the windshield this was about 3 inches of snow covering the entire car. How'd that happen, anyway? Well that was that. I grabbed a broom and began the process of removing the snow from the car. It was beautiful and I got a tad bit carried away and also cleaned off my daughter's car for good measure. Yeah, that probably won't happen again.
I came back in while the motor ran a few more minutes and tried to figure out why I was surprised by the snow covered vehicles. After all we do live in Michigan and this is December. It's not like that's not what it does up here this time of year.
Yeah, it bloody well snows up here in the winter. I should have moved to a warmer place years ago. But, truth is, I rather like the winters even as I dread them, complain and even step it up a notch to just plain bitchin'.
Our lady winter usually creeps up in with early warnings so we get a chance to prepare ourselves for the harshness she holds in her hands. Days start getting shorter and colder all at the same time. By the time the first snow drops a bit of blanketing on the earth you have begun wearing heavier clothing and had to scrape your windshield every morning for a couple weeks.
There was none of that this year. Thanksgiving eve we got hit by severe storm warnings and those warnings turned out not to be unfounded. Things were shutting down with tons of snow falling everywhere. Luckily I found someone on Thanksgiving morning to shovel us out. I had been running around with only a sweater and now I needed to head for the "other" closet and grab my winter coat. Then there was finding the gloves I hadn't worn since last year. I hate the entire bundling up process, so it was no wonder that as soon as the snow melted I returned to my light warmer weather attire.
The heavy Thanksgiving snow departed in 40 degree temps and things were feeling rather nice to me again, but now we're getting the "better watch out, winter's here" weather. So, yeah, I shouldn't have been surprised about the snow covered cars. Afterall, it is December, this is Michigan, and snow is what happens here. I guess I'll just have to adjust quickly to the cold. Better get that heavy coat into the cleaners and quit acting like it's going to be a mild winter. I don't think it is going to be one.
I headed out the door a few minutes before time to leave for work to rev up the motor on my car and let the defroster do most of the scraping dirty work. I stood on my back steps and stared with my mouth hanging open. This was not about frost on the windshield this was about 3 inches of snow covering the entire car. How'd that happen, anyway? Well that was that. I grabbed a broom and began the process of removing the snow from the car. It was beautiful and I got a tad bit carried away and also cleaned off my daughter's car for good measure. Yeah, that probably won't happen again.
I came back in while the motor ran a few more minutes and tried to figure out why I was surprised by the snow covered vehicles. After all we do live in Michigan and this is December. It's not like that's not what it does up here this time of year.
Yeah, it bloody well snows up here in the winter. I should have moved to a warmer place years ago. But, truth is, I rather like the winters even as I dread them, complain and even step it up a notch to just plain bitchin'.
Our lady winter usually creeps up in with early warnings so we get a chance to prepare ourselves for the harshness she holds in her hands. Days start getting shorter and colder all at the same time. By the time the first snow drops a bit of blanketing on the earth you have begun wearing heavier clothing and had to scrape your windshield every morning for a couple weeks.
There was none of that this year. Thanksgiving eve we got hit by severe storm warnings and those warnings turned out not to be unfounded. Things were shutting down with tons of snow falling everywhere. Luckily I found someone on Thanksgiving morning to shovel us out. I had been running around with only a sweater and now I needed to head for the "other" closet and grab my winter coat. Then there was finding the gloves I hadn't worn since last year. I hate the entire bundling up process, so it was no wonder that as soon as the snow melted I returned to my light warmer weather attire.
The heavy Thanksgiving snow departed in 40 degree temps and things were feeling rather nice to me again, but now we're getting the "better watch out, winter's here" weather. So, yeah, I shouldn't have been surprised about the snow covered cars. Afterall, it is December, this is Michigan, and snow is what happens here. I guess I'll just have to adjust quickly to the cold. Better get that heavy coat into the cleaners and quit acting like it's going to be a mild winter. I don't think it is going to be one.
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