A powdered-sugar Saturday

I'm gazing out the upstairs window on one side of this bedroom at the fields leading to the all-purpose utility shed. There's a sense of extreme peace and quiet as the earth sits perfectly still, accepting its brand-new coat of powdered-sugar snow. Besides the shed, a stately larch stands at rigid attention, as if guarding the whole white scene.

As I switch to the window on the right, I see various tones of gray----the dark limbs of the cedar-tree border dusted with soft white blobs, beyond that the cottonwood snag and its living mate at the edge of Gary Finney's woods, softly outlined against a solid gray, seemingly endless backdrop. There's also that lovely lone tree in Taylor's field ---it looks almost like an oak from here but it's probably just an artistic wide-limbed cottonwood.

This is one of those pre-Christmas December mornings, free of cares from an outside world but filled with nostalgic thoughts of Christmases past. I'm feeling the spirit---finally.

There are times every year before the holidays where a sense of emptiness drowns out all positive aspects of the Christmas season because I feel smothered with too many "to-do's" and too little time to do them all. There's the shopping, which seems like too much money but never seems like enough, there's the Christmas card list, which takes a week to complete, there's the baking which always tests my discipline to avoid too much tasting, and there are always outside responsibilities which clutter up my mind, rendering it useless in thinking good thoughts about the season.

Then, miraculously, comes a time, a day like today when mental clutter starts to dissipate because I have remained disciplined and have attended to the bulk of all those cares, rendering them somewhat under control and freeing my mind to welcome in the magical aspects of yet another Christmas season.

And, a morning like this, with its silent, falling, powdered sugar snow, provides the frosting on the cake for a day of simple enjoyment---preparing our home for the Christmas tree, gathering Christmas CD's with the Irish tenors, thinking about treasured family and friends while whipping up a batch of Christmas brownies, and, yes, even taking some time to think about the powerful influence on this earth of the Prince of Peace for whom all this hullabaloo is about anyway.

When I reach this point each year, I know there is something more powerful that even the smartest of humans directing the whole operation----and that is good.

Happy Powdered Sugar Saturday.