Like this morning, for example, I woke up to the first snow of the season in Fort Collins. I could hear the crunch of car tires before I opened the curtains (it was 7:00 am...I'd been up late working on a report). And there were sounds and smells from the kitchen wafting up the stairs. The ornaments on the tree were shining in the morning sun. The geraniums which had nearly been tossed out at the end of summer were summering in the window. Outside the aspens 
were still white against the snow.
But things were really happening in the kitchen. Charlotte was working her magic on gingerbread cookies... After breakfast, I looked up images of "lion" and "owl" on the google so she could get the colors right and began to clean the 
house for the annual cookie party on Saturday night.
.
