Tuesday, December 30, 2008

My! Didn't it snow!


I hope your holidays were wonderful and fulfilling! Ours certainly has been a white one! Nearly three feet of snow has fallen on our other-wise temperate community, and all socialization and business has been at a standstill since the 23rd of December. Despite the inconvenience, it was absolutely dleightful to view from our livingroom window! Bing Crosby and Rosemary Clooney would have loved it!

We received so much fluffy precipitation that I feared we would have to postpone Christmas. However, (God bless them!) my dinner guests drudged through the blizzard (via bus, if you can imagine it!)and made it to our little holiday oasis just in time to help with the final preparations for the feast. We hosted a lovely young family originally from Holland; Evart-Jan and Francike and their two small children, Anna (aged 5 and 1/2) and Job (aged 3). Also in rapt attendance was our dear friend Dorothy ( aged 29 and some months!), a kindred spirit of the first water! The visit was a whilrwind of excitement, as one would and SHOULD expect with children of that age. In fact it was that very whilrwind we dearly hoped for and will fondly remember! As a childless couple it was an experience that Eric and I had never been privy to, and my, wasn't it magical!

Job, was immediately drawn to the Polar Express train set that circled the bottom of our Christmas Tree. How could it be otherwise? Charlie, our llaso-shiitsu-husky dog was beside himself with delight. As I have told anyone who will listen, poor Charlie asks for a little boy every year for Christmas, and is always disappointed. This year, I am sure he thought that Santy Claus had granted his wish, because there was Job more than willing to be his boy at least for the day.

Anna fell madly in love with Charlie. With a little instruction from me, it wasn't long before she learned how to make him sit, lay down, give a paw and retrieve his stuffed toys. ( "Retrieve" is a bit of a euphemism. He will run after a toy, but we have not yet discovered how to make him bring it back) After an hour of play, poor Charlie was in need of a rest, as he is not as young as he used to be. (he turned 7 in November which is 49 in people years, so by now he is well over 50!)

After a spirited time of opening presents, and eating our turkey dinner (a veritable banquet with all the fixings including a dessert of several kinds of baked gooods, traditional English Trifle, and a delectable white chocolate cheesecake!) it seemed that in no time at all our Christmas day was at an end. Uncle Eric gingerly backed his car out of the driveway so that he could offer our holiday visiters a swift ride home in the comfort of a heated vehicle. The children were sleeping soundly by the time they were tucked into their cozy liitle beds. Auntie Dorothy was our houseguest for Boxing Day and the day after that.

Looking back on it now, I suspect that Christmas 2008 will be remembered as one of our most-memorable. The hot mulled cider served with beaiming looks and plenty of love, the jovial exchange of gifts, the amiable company, the children's eyes a-twinle with the magic of this most beautiful season; it was an enchanted foray into the heart of the Holidays.