Let It Snow....

I daresay there is nothing quite so lovely as the first snow. I absolutely love Christmas time, especially the first snow! I love the Christmas music, especially from Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin, The Rat Pack, Louis Armstrong, Nat King Cole, Michael Buble, and Bing Cosby. Thank you Pandora.

Have you ever noticed how quiet it becomes when it snows? It's amazing! Just the other night I went into my room to go to bed and was confused by how bright it seemed. When I looked outside the sky was a yellow-pinkish color and it was snowing thick, heavy flakes and it was so quiet. I could have stared out the window for quite a while. So beautiful! I wanted to go outside and just lie in the snow but...I had to get to bed.

I walked home rather late a few evenings ago from campus and it was so cool because it was so quiet and peaceful. The only sound I could hear was the crunching of the snow under my feet. Despite my fear of falling, it was quite fun. Almost as satisfying as crunching fall leaves, almost.

I also love decorating for Christmas. The white twinkle lights are my absolute favorite. I put up a tiny Christmas tree in my apartment complete with ornaments, candy canes, twinkle lights, and a star. My apartment is cozy and smells like Christmas. I love it!

I've decided when I get home I'm going to watch How the Grinch Stole Christmas (with Jim Carey), Home Alone 1 and 3 (those are my favorites, although 1 takes the cake), and While You Were Sleeping. Those are probably some of my favorite traditional Christmas movies to watch. I'm going to drink hot chocolate in front of our wood stove, cuddle up with my precious dog Scotty, eat cookies, and watch movies. I'm VERY excited. Also I'm going to build a snowman with my brother. He doesn't know it yet, but we're going to! And I want to go ice skating, well, maybe. I'm not very good but something about ice skating just makes me so happy. Most of all I'm excited to be with my family. I love my family and I am so excited to see them. Before Thanksgiving I went to AZ (my first time!) and we stayed with one of my friends and his family. It was so fun to be in a house and to visit with his parents. Then when we got back, one of my other friend's mom came into town. I was starting to get little homesick. I wanted my mom too!!! Well, for Thanksgiving I flew to San Diego to be with my mom's side of the family and little did my grandmother know that all of her children were flying in to surprise her. Can I just tell you how many times I almost slipped and told my grandmother my mom and brother were coming?!?! Perhaps you can only imagine just how thrilled I was when my mom and brother walked in the door. I really can't describe it expect for a swelling of happiness and a desire to cry. For you see, it's the first time in 5 years I've spent Thanksgiving with my family and I really wanted to see my mom and brother. It was so perfect. We made my grandmother cry (which isn't hard to do, but it was so sweet). I just wanted to hug my mom and cuddle with my family. It was splendid. I love my family. And I'm SO excited to go to my cheery, cozy, yellow house in New England. I'm so excited.

I love Christmas!