A little snow

It snowed during the night.

I inhaled its fragrance when I let Lilly out this morning. She was surprised to see her yard covered up again and spent a little extra time nosing around by the fence hoping to find a cold chipmunk or weasel to terrorize before she came in for breakfast.

We don’t have a Christmas tree yet. Yesterday I texted both kids to ask if they’d be disappointed with a small Norfolk pine instead a big tree and since neither of them seemed to care one way or the other, it’s now up to me to decide. One of them said I should “get what I want” and not worry about what they want.

So what DO I want this Christmas?

I want to shop small and put a little extra in more red kettles than I usually do. I want to avoid the big box stores at all costs. I want to bake and decorate some cookies and make a couple of batches of fudge and then hide some so that it isn’t all gone before the kids get home. I want to make a batch of Russian Tea and invite some good friends over for a cup.  I want to hug the ones who are missing family members they lost this year and hope with the ones whose loved ones are struggling with illness, addiction, or hopelessness. I want to light a candle and remember the people I know who didn’t live to see another Christmas.

A little snow would also be nice. Not so much that I have to worry about the kids driving home from the Cities the day before Christmas. I want a few large, fluffy, flakes on Christmas Eve when my daughter and I leave both men at home and go to Midnight Mass to sing “Silent Night” on the one night every year that I still feel a little bit Catholic. I want Christmas morning to dawn bright and full of sunshine and my dear ones to wake up and check their stockings just as they always do. I want ham instead of a messy turkey to deal with on Christmas Day and then an afternoon of doing nothing much with the humans who are most important to me.

I want them healthy and happy and whole. Peace on earth would be nice, too.

But do I want a big Christmas tree?

We shall see.