flakes & flurries

The first snow accumulation of the winter is today. The flakes began falling at 8:00. Just a few. Now it's more snow-globe-ish outside our windows.

Our patio table at 9:00.

A big tree dominates our living room and for the first year in Christmas history, I had FIVE boxes of brand new matching lights for Mr. D to hang. Last year our tree had huge gaps of black shadows where the lights didn't work. This year every square inch is illuminated by the magic of electricity. Mr. D had the tree strung in a record 20 minutes and didn't utter a single curse word. No children were screamed at or harmed during the annual stringing of this year's lights, either.

We decorated in slap-dash fashion, which is what happens when Team Testosterone helps. It's a race to protect the breakable ornaments, direct their "creative" sense of interior design, and keep up with three boys laying out holiday decor at breakneck pace. Seventy-eight minutes later our halls were decked.

I'm pleased with this year's greens. We had an abundance. This was simple, using only pine cones (of which I had plenty), boughs, old clothes hangers and ribbon.

I now realize this is not the most flattering angle for a shot of my front porch.

And today I'm a little sad to hear Jim Fleming's final broadcast of Morning Classics on Wisconsin Public Radio. He's got such a quiet voice and sometimes says such dorky things--he's been a presence for over ten years. I can't imagine who will talk me through Mozart and Bach and Strauss and Schubert and Britten and Vivaldi and Schumann and Shostakovich and Faure. I've learned much from him over the years and will miss his calm, precise way of speaking. Endings always make me a little despondant.

Posted in: my favorite things