DECEMBER 12TH: CHRISTMAS IN THE VILLAGE

Hello dear friends!  I must apologize, I had intended to write a post for today on a Christmas how-to, but then my grandson called and wanted to Skype and after that the snow was beckoning me.  Snowfall at twilight is perhaps the most enchanting sight on Earth;  that  pale lavender light that creeps along the pure and untrodden snow, the soft amber glow inside from candles and fairy lights.  If ever I could capture  a moment and preserve it, it would be these moments, for surely this is what Heaven must be.

Today I went out and  photographed our little village in it's wintry glory.  If you cannot visit me in person, perhaps you can be with in me in spirit. 

The lanes have not been plowed.  Sometimes it feels as if we have stepped into another era, everything is so peaceful and quiet here.

Our village is fortunate to have two lovely old-fashioned churches,  steepled,  white and serene.  Wednesday Advent services, Sunday church, bazaars, and choir concerts make them the two busiest buildings in the entire village this time of year. The bells ringing out the hours into the quietude is one of the things I love most about village life. 

And of course there is always the lake, which is more like a sea.  We take great pride in our hardiness, for to live so close to nature, one must be hardy. The wind that streaks down the miles of icy expanse is not for the faint of heart or the feeble of body.

The Garfield Inn just around the corner is painted in Christmas colors of red and green.  Snow suits it.

To get to this grandmother's house you must go over the river and through the woods.  This is the creek behind our house, already starting to freeze over.

Here we have one of our handful of businesses, closed for the season, as are most of the businesses.  In the winter you can literally shoot a  cannonball down main street and not hit a car.  Sometimes it feels as though we are the last people on Earth.  Our population shrinks from seven-hundred in the Summer to around two-hundred in the Winter.

We have lots of pretty Victorian and colonial-style homes in the village.  This one always reminds me of the Bing Cosby's inn from the movie  Holiday Inn. 

My garden is asleep until May.  Many people have inquired if we intend to move South for the Winter.  How could I ever give up so much serenity and beauty for the sake of keeping warm? I should hope that I never grow that old and cynical.  To me, Christmas  in the village is pure bliss.