A little, light, powdered-sugar dusting would be okay, but fourteen inches is a record breaker.  I still haven't seen my mom for Christmas (hope to see her tomorrow).  My husband is still grading the streets (at our church parking lot right now), and I have three, bored, housebound kids (except the youngest who escaped the house with me to explore).  Hope you like our little slide show below. It really is pretty.

In Oklahoma, the weather outside is truly frightful.  As I wrote before, we rarely have a white Christmas, but the blizzard of 2009 sure makes up for it.  This video was just the beginning early this afternoon.  It's still snowing, and the snow is drifting so much that people are stranded everywhere in the state. Due to inclement weather, our family Christmas Eve party is canceled for this evening, and HH is in Oklahoma City preparing to fulfill his snow contract.  He and the rest of our company will work all night clearing the roads in downtown Oklahoma City.  So, if you're out and about (LOL), honk and wave as you drive by him. I'm going to try to get to mass tomorrow.  I live out in the country where the roads aren't plowed or sanded, so that's a definite maybe.  We haven't missed Christmas mass ever. If HH were...

For those of us with colder temperatures, or even snow, winter seems like it arrived a few weeks ago, but according to the U.S Naval Observatory Eqinoxes and Solstices list, winter officially makes its appearance today at 12:47 p.m. Around here, temperatures are moderate with a high today of 62F.  However, Wednesday and Thursday are another matter. I will be taking a walk outdoors today.  Want to come along? We may even get snow the morning of Christmas Eve.  I shiver just thinking about it, but it would be lovely to have a white Christmas.  I can only remember three white Christmases in my life, so it's doubtful, but, still, like children, we can dream. My friend, Tim, of From the Far Away Nearby posted on Facebook today wishing all a Happy Solstice and then wrote that it was probably the oldest celebrated holiday of the season.  I'm sure that's...

Our tree As a member of the Society, and at our president, Carol's, informal request at the last virtual meeting, I'm pleased to share my garden-themed Christmas ornaments.  I also took the liberty of showing my poinsettia-themed wrapping paper (from Hallmark) and gift tags with flowers.  Picture how thrilled your fourteen-year-old son would be to have a camellia tag on his latest XP 360 game.  The things my children bear having me as their mother. I've written about our tree before, and why I'm sorry it isn't real.  Just can't do it with the allergies. I also included some of my birds.  I found twelve, new red ones this year at Horn's Seed and Nursery, along with the decorations on our front door which I used in an Examiner post.  If you're looking for that special something for your gardener, I also wrote about finding more garden-themed ornaments at Examiner...