Do we have to make our own?

First of all, it is so dark today that our exterior Christmas lights turned on at 9:30 a.m. this morning!  They are on a timer with a light sensor and usually go on at about 4:00 p.m. when the afternoon light starts to fade.

And, then, to top it off it is raining. No, not raining. Pouring. All day long. Remember when I posted about loving the rain a couple of months ago?  Well, I don't when it's December 15th and dark and cold and Christmas is only a week away.

So what do you do when the snowflakes are lacking?  I guess you make your own.  I found the paper snowflakes by the computer upstairs. Emma was making them in between homework assignments. If she didn't have so much to do still at school, I would commission her to make me a whole backyard of paper snowflakes! I found some snow in my kitchen cupboard--coarse salt. (Thanks for the idea Sonia!)

Next, I gathered all of the winter paintings I could find.  Some of the paintings I did a long time ago.  The tiny blue one was done earlier this year.  It was one of those magical winter mornings when the trees, shrubs and perennials were all covered by snow.  The dried queen anne's lace stems looked like they were each tenderly holding their own snowball.  Wouldn't it be lovely to wake up to one of those mornings sometime soon?

Dear Santa, 

I don't want a lot for Christmas.

Just a little bit of sunshine and a few snowflakes please.

Love, Kathleen xx