Mmmmmm…. Day 7 of the snow. I took photos with new angles to give you guys something else to look at.
Our temperature has been wavering from 27 to 37, so every time we get some good coverage, it melts into mush, then freezes. Downtown has been a little warmer – nearly clears the streets each time the temp goes up. But out here in the Montavilla neighborhood, the snow has stayed on the ground the whole time… just sometimes it’s wet and sloppy. Or like now, it’s frozen solid slush with two inches on top of that.
The fire has been keeping us warm.
The kiddo only had two days of school this week. Funny!
Our Cookie kitty does NOT like this stuff. She was born in Scappoose and keeps poking her nose through the doorway to check and see if things have improved yet. Our Pumpkin kitty was born in New England, and he is like a kitten again. “Yay! Yay!” he says, and bounces around in the flakes and pounces the drifts and then curls up on the porch in his orange-and-white fluff that’s long and thick because he’s related to a Maine Coon. He gets a smug look on his fuzzy face and says, “No thanks, I’m good.” each time we open the door and ask if he’d like to come in.
I’ve sent out 60 of my Christmas letters and I am SO TIRED of sending out Christmas letters. Sorry if anyone’s still waiting for theirs. You WILL get one, I’m just not finding the time. They are all addressed, but I need to write a little personal “hello” on each one. Oh, I guess I could just show you. Here, have a look.
The letter is my most loved Christmas tradition. I have so many friends and family. My family spreads so far, I laughingly refer to them as the family “vine” rather than the family tree (also a tongue-in-cheek reference to the multiple couplings and nearly complete absence of stereotypical nuclear family groups). For many of them, this is the one time each year when I reach out and say, “Hello! I still think of you!” so it’s an important tradition to hang onto.
It got up to four pages the year I went to Greece and Turkey. I simply couldn’t cram everything into the one- or two-pagers I had been doing. Ever since then, it’s been four full pages and is basically a journal of our lives for the preceding year. I tend to lose sight of what the letters do to keep me in touch with others, until someone inadvertently gets off the list… or when I’m behind schedule and someone thinks they’ve been forgotten. They let me know right away: “WHERE is my letter?! Don’t I get a letter this year?” ha ha. I’ve had girlfriends tell me they set aside an afternoon with a glass of wine each year, just to savor it. Ha ha.
How simple it is to share the love I hold for all of you. If this small gesture keeps our relationships alive, I am glad to do it.
Conscious Engagement 