Winter Has Arrived

Christmas morning we woke to thunder and lightening, but by late afternoon the north wind began to howl and the temperatures dropped.  By late afternoon when Emery and I went for a little Christmas hike, it was in the low 20's F with a wind chill of 10 F ( -12 C )   We received a sprinkling of snow but just north of us they had a few inches.  There has been snow around Christmas day several times for this area but Christmas day, that is more rare.   The only record I saw for Christmas day snow was in 1841, when it was written that some soldiers were tracking a bear in 6 inches of snow in the area that is now Dallas.   The children were all thrilled to see so much snow when they went to see their grandmother and aunts and uncles in the city.
I settled for what little dusting we had.   Doing chores this morning reminded me of my childhood, cold that gets right down to the bone.   It was 19 this morning with a bitter north wind that made me very grateful for my down jacket and warm hat and mittens.  Its laundry day, and that will remind me of what hardy stock I come from.  That is cold work. 
Christmas was such a blessing, loved ones around me, children's joy radiating from every inch of there little bodies.  Ohs and ahhs as gifts were opened.  Life is good and I cannot wait to get busy knitting with my new knitting needles that Emery gave me as one of my gifts and we are all looking forward to my new knit tally gadget so I will not be saying..."don't talk to me I am counting" quite as often.