Snow

It came in the night. I knew it would happen, but some how I had hoped it wouldn’t. Yet there it is outside my window, mocking me with it deceptively beautiful looks. Soft and fluffy, carpeting the dead browns and grays of fall with a blanket of white it has come. As a child it filled me with joy. It meant sliding and skiing, snowmen and snow forts, winter with all the fun of playing out in it. The snow at last is here and it no longer makes me want to go out and play.

The only playing I’m doing these days is with a shovel and the snow blower. Keeping the drive clean so we can get the car out is now my goal on a winter’s day. Still I can’t help enjoying the soft beauty of a blanket of new fallen snow in the moonlight smoothing out the ruff edges of the yard and covering it in a clean white landscape of moonlit shadows and drifts.

It is here, it is not going away, enjoy it.

Christmas

Tomorrow is the first of December; we made it through Thanksgiving and Black Friday shopping and now its four weeks till Christmas. It does not matter if you treat it as a celebration of the birth of the Christ Child, or just a time to share in the love of your family and friends. What is important is that it is going to be here before we know it.

It’s time to get out the lights, put up the tree, and start shopping for gifts. The kids have long since made up their minds and are hinting (no begging) for that special toy. Their world filled with dreams of wonders to come they have visited Santa at the mall, or written their letter to him at the North Pole. Either way they have made sure that he knows what their hart desires under the tree.

As we get caught up in the madness of the next few weeks let us not forget the reason Christmas is even here. At this time of year we celebrate the birth of the Christ Child, the Son Of God who came to save us from sin and grant us life eternal if we believe in him. It is the time when we should think of those less fortunate then we are. Time to give of our bounty to those who are in need of shelter, food, and the reassurance that some one loves them.

In closing, merry Christmas and may your life be filled with the blessings of the season.