Lesson 108: Winter Snow

Don't worry about the message in the video screen above, Readers.  You can still watch my suggested video this week by clicking on the Watch on You Tube.  It will take you right to the video.  Blogger restricts some content that YouTube allows.  No problem.  The link will take you out, and you can always come back in.

If the song sounds familiar, I did post the same one last year, but a different video.  It is one of my very favorite Christmas songs.  Don't be fooled into thinking that the song is about winter snowflakes, despite what you see on the screen.  Listen carefully and watch how cleverly scenes from Bethlehem unfold before your eyes.  It is simply beautiful.  This is a song about God sending his love to the earth:
it came like a winter snow, 
quiet, 
soft, 
and slow, 
falling from the sky,
in the night, 
to the earth below


Watch and listen and see if you get the same reaction I do; it gives me goosebumps.
***************************************************************************

Yeah!  You came back!  Just like the winter in Erie, you have returned.  Winter comes round every year, but the amount of snow it brings is unpredictable.  I watched Miss Perky Weather Girl as I was sweating out the holiday stress on the treadmill earlier this week.  She reported that Erieites are fourteen inches in snowfall BELOW last year.  We had an early start to last winter and the snow seemed to last forever.  Because there is always a balance in nature, this December I've found myself traveling to the mall to Christmas shop on dry roads.  We had a bit to cover the ground last weekend, just enough to get everyone in the Christmas spirit.  We had a warm up to a balmy 51 degrees this week, so the winter white quickly turned to a muddy brown. To remind you of what a winter snow looks like, especially to my friend Tracy Southern, here are some snapshots from last week's touch of winter white.
This was the sunrise from my front porch.

The sun hitting the horse corral across the street.

I love how the glow came out on this one.  I did not boost or enhance any of these shots.

This one is my favorite, which is why I made it big.  Too bad I sent my cards out already.  This would have been a good one.
















These are grape vines, Slovenians.  Actually, my college roommate from Pittsburgh on her first trip to Erie asked, "What's growing on those sticks?  Cranberries?"  Glad to inform you all she went on to become a science teacher.

 I love holly.  You can do something really cool with it that I do every year.  Take one bowl with kind of a flat bottom and put another smaller bowl inside of it leaving a circular gap between the two.  Fill the gap with boughs of holly clipped from your holly bush.  Then fill the gap with water to the top.  Set the bowls in the freezer for a couple of hours.  Remove and you will have a ring of ice with holly and berries frozen inside.  I put my holiday dips inside the ice ring.  Humor me and try it.  It's the only Martha Stewartish thing I do.


 This is the AWESOME poinsettia plant I bought from the Harbor Creek girls basketball team for their fundraiser.  I splurged on the big one because it was for the school.  I also never bought a white one before, but thought I'd be adventurous this year.  Wow, was I surprised!  It is absolutely beautiful and I am looking forward to that gracing my home all winter long.

 Those big petals remind me of snowflakes.  Exactly one year ago today, snowflakes fell just like this--almost this size.  They were as big as tea cup saucers.  I remember the day well because I never saw a snowfall like that day.  It was beautiful.

Sunday my family is scheduled for a sleigh ride in the middle of nowhere.  I hope I can find the place again.  Last year we rode on a sleigh pulled by a team of horses through the woods to Santa's workshop where we were served cookies and hot cocoa.  The sleigh slid easily over all of that piled up snow.  This year I don't know if it will have the same feel.  I guess the place has a backup farm wagon in case there is no snow.  I don't know if bumping through the rutted mud will have quite the same effect---plus Sam is a bit nervous this year about meeting Santa.  He keeps asking me what really happens to kids who are on the Naughty List.

We had a windy night the other night and lo and behold, when I arose in the morning, look which of my deer fell over---the doe. She too, was probably exhausted, overworked, and under appreciated, so she just fell over dead.  If I don't get a nap in this weekend, I just might do the same. My kids need me, so I am signing off now.

Don't let all of the work involved with this holiday ruin the anticipation of what's to come.  Sometimes the waiting and wondering is the very best part.
Merry Christmas, Readers.
Eloise