December 25 and 26

I had been going to join my father for brunch on Christmas Day but our weather was very uncertain...icy rain, freezing drizzle, fog, and rain, quite heavy at times. So we decided to wait 'til Sunday to get together.

I finally had a chance to sit down and start writing Christmas cards after spending the day making them. Of course as soon as i sat down at the computer desk Louie needed a snuggle.

Today i opened the lovely gifts my friend Betsy sent for the cats and me. Here's Sylvie playing with a twist of fabric jam-packed with very high quality catnip.

Fuzzy is giving me some of his patented kitty kisses with his sandpaper tongue. I'm wearing the gorgeous purple Pashmina shawl Betsy gave me.

Gingy standing up on her hind legs and begging for the yummy new treats that my sister brought...new Friskies "Natural Sensations" cat treats. (Believe it or not, when Gingy came to live with us 5 years ago she only ate one kind of treat, and didn't actually care for them much...)

Fuzzy and Louie sharing a day-after-Christmas snuggle.

Peace and happiness to everyone!

Digging Out (Last Sunday and Monday)

I thought Gingy might like to try going out in the snow...after all, she's got a luxurious fur coat and fluffy feet. She got as far as coming out on the back steps and looking under the railing. That was enough!

This is the view from the foot of my driveway across the steet.

Very tired from shovelling, i paused...and saw this bird's nest revealed by the late angle of the sun and a cap of snow.

Monday morning...finally finished shovelling my driveway! I shovelled 3 1/2 hours on Sunday until i ran out of daylight and energy and finished up with another hour of work on Monday. Thank goodness for telecommuting...i was able to work from home instead of worrying about getting out of my driveway.

Monday afternoon, everything is covered in snow, except the aucuba has tossed off the snow on its leaves and heated up the snow around its stem. These plants are often misused in commercial landscaping around here, but this one is performing beautifully as a speciman in my shade garden.

Snowy Saturday (Last Week)

Sometimes the weatherman gets it right...this was a big snowstorm! With between 15 and 20 inches of snow, possibly the most snow in December for this area ever (we tend to get our bigger storms in January and February).

It was so wonderful to be forced to not run around doing errands. I spent a fair amount of time cuddling the cats and catching up on friends' blogs. I also started the shoveling process...got the back steps and path, front steps and sidewalk shovelled. The snow was so deep, it reached the top of my snowmobiling boots. I put my snowshoes on and clumped around the yard, knocking snow off the yew on the side of the house and the boxwoods in the front, to keep the heavy snow from breaking them.

The cedar tree in front decked out in snow.

The garden bench disappearing under the snow.

I had filled the bird feeder on Friday in anticipation of the storm. The birds fed throughout most of the snow, while the squirrels stayed tucked in their nests until it stopped snowing. Here's a cardinal adding a nice bit of color.

My little house buried in snow (on the right is the same cedar tree seen from the front steps in the first picture).

Sylvie staying cozy indoors.

Christmas cactus all ready for the holiday, blooming its head off oblivious to the snow outside.

Finally, i just had to share this with you...a magnificent sleigh ride behind a 26-year old Welsh pony! No, unfortunately i wasn't there, but a friend of Flora's posted this on a local email list. Doesn't this just resonate with your dreams of Christmas in the "olden days"?!

White Christmas in the Making!

This is the big cedar tree in my frontyard, 12:30 a.m. Saturday...at least 3 inches of snow have fallen already and it's still coming down heavily.

O.k., everybody north and east of here (northern Virginia), don't mess around...make sure you've got plenty of the essentials on hand: milk, t.p., soup fixin's, cat food, kitty litter, candles, matches (books, quilting projects, gasoline for the snow blower, window scraper, snow shovel by the back door, full tank of gas in the car, plenty of seed to refill the bird feeder...)...this snowstorm is going to be the real thing!

It sounds like we here in the "sunny South" might actually end up with more snow than those of you further North. From "light snow" as forecast a few days ago they are now saying this may very well be one of the 10 biggest snow storms on record for December, with as much as 20 inches of snow before it stops on Sunday.

I had dinner with my father this evening (and with my sister, who flew in yesterday from Tennessee to visit him). When i left there at 8 p.m. it had just started snowing. By the time i got home, at least an inch and a half had fallen and roads were starting to get very messy.

Fuzzy and Louie know how to deal with this kind of weather...stay inside on the couch, cuddled up with one of your best friends.

Hope everyone will stay safe and warm!