Snow Days in Mississippi?!!

I know that some of you will look at our "snowfall" and think "HA!! They don't know what snow really is!" but back in the desert it did snow once in awhile (blue moons and all that)...and apparently the same is true in Mississippi. Everyone sure gets excited about it, so that means it's an EVENT! Schools close, some businesses close, and the Weather Forecasters become megastars (and they're forgiven, for the moment, all the errors of the past).

As a result of this snowfall, the big Bloomin' Pear Tree in the backyard quietly turns white:

It does this by having grown, years past, in the way of the snow reaching the ground (clever tree):

But, What do you do when it's a Snow Day from school?
Dad and Daughter dress for a trek to the backwoods of Hilltop:

They struggle through the snowdrifts, inching their way towards the dense woodland (oh gosh, was that a wolf howling??):

Boot by ice-laden boot they trudge on into the thicket, vanishing from sight.

And return later with stories of huge deer prints along a broken trail, and dead, mangled Kudzu lying all over the ground. **shiver**

Happily there's another thing to do with all that white stuff:

Work with your dad to assemble a Midget Snowman!!

Now ain't he a cute, cuddly looking little thing, but they don't like to be hugged since it messes, poorly, with their exoskeletral structure...
OK, they melt...(Hey, in case you think I was not involved in this adventure, I supplied the itty-bitty carrot.)



So long for now from snow covered Hilltop!!

P.S. Mom and Gil are doing fine and compare this to West Virginia Winter as a bad day in a refridgerator.

xoxo

P.P.S. And what else can you do with snow??? (The action happens a bit far away because, well, I am recording from inside the house...but you can get the idea!)

Did ya notice the snow falling down the page? How cool is that!! I played techno-blogger and found a way to show it. Not hard to do, but the effect is fun, fun!

Before I Put Christmas Away

Here is our fireplace and mantle. It is unusual. Do you see the place where the wood (or gas logs)would be? Well it was changed by the previous owners to hold a gas wall heater, which works very well, I must say. It simply looks a little odd. It's meant to be practical, to work if the electricity goes out during a storm, not to win design awards. But there is a mantle and before it returns to be much more bare, I want to show what's on top...

On the left is my ever growing group of Skinny Santas!! Some look a little like Father Christmas, one is a toymaker, one has goggles to keep the snow from flying up in his eyes from those reindeer hooves when they skid the sleigh to a stop on a snowy roof!! And one insists he belongs here because his legs are long and thin and dangle over the mantle. Oh well, he's a jolly old soul and that's what counts.

In the center is a fantastic ceramic sleigh, santa and reindeer from a very dear friend. This is the first time they've been out in many a year, because there wasn't a good, safe place for them. The mantle is where they need to be...



Here are two jolly snowman, both rather large bottomed...and a Dr. Suess Christmas tree (not officially, but that's what it looks like to me), crooked but happy to be part of a winter wonderland...


This is Gome-type Santa with Rudolph. He does NOT sit in the garden during the rest of the year!


Now not on the mantle but deserving important mention are:

Christmas Romance blooms!! That is Tabby on the right, born at the Build-a-Bear-Workshop in Disneyland, and wearing his trendy outfit, topped with the Santa hat. Close on his right is Dimples Deer. She was found in a Salvation Army and simply had to come home with me. I had no idea the two of them would hit if off so well!

Here is a tall beloved handmade snowman by my mom, knitted some years ago (and made shapely with a L'egg white egg... remember they used to be sold with nylon stockings?!) and a snowman made from a small knitted glove from a Christmas Bazaar. Then there is the white wagon carrying a red poinsettia which belonged to my grandma and which I remember from my early childhood:



Now it's time for them to hibernate for the rest of the year, stored carefully away so they can bring Christmas cheer once again next year!

Thanks for visiting!!