Yes, That is Frost

On the inside of the window.

Isn't it kinda pretty? Living in an old house, you get to enjoy this kind winter art display on a sub zero morning.  No biggie, though.  We're used to it, having lived in thermal-window-challenged homes most of our family life.  The kids just get up, throw another log on the fire, slip on another sweater, and snuggle under a fuzzy throw blanket -- before turning on Monsters Inc. on New Year's Eve eve.  All part of the ambiance, it's a connection with our pioneer forefathers and mothers that none of us really minds all that much.  The grandparents think we're a little nuts I'm pretty sure, but it's all good. (I guess we are a little nuts.)

We hear Vegas is expecting snow tonight.  How 'bout that?  We're glad we'll miss it!  Though snow would have been a more than welcome change of pace for us when we lived there, I'm not sure we would have enjoyed it as much in the conventional, air-forced-heat house we lived in --  with the cactus in the front yard and all of Vegas behaving like the world is coming to an end because of a few snowflakes.  We'd rather live where a December snow storm is a matter of course, where no one thinks twice about throwing the truck into 4th gear to run into town during a snow storm to get marshmallows for hot cocoa.

Our cozy little old house is resplendent in the snow, windows made up in ice crystals, icicles dangling like earrings, snow drifting down on the roof like a sequined veil. Lovely, but nothing new or unusual about it. The Nebraska cold and snow has christened this house every new year for over a century, blowing through the cracks in the windows on every new tenant...  Let's test this new bunch of tenderfeet!  But, ha! No winter wimps here. This is all old stuff to us.  We turn our heavily-sweatered backs to the drafts, we trace patterns in the ice crystals, we keep a pot of hot chocolate going on the stove -- and see who we can talk into going down the road for marshmallows... and we type long blog posts to keep our fingers warm.  (And intermittently cradle a cup of warm mocha in my fingers..)

Happy New Year's Eve eve to all.  Hope everyone is warm and contented.  Or at least contented not being too warm.  (And hang in there, Las Vegas friends! It'll be over soon!)