Christmas snow. Yesterday it came. We’ve already had snow this season: deep, heavy, wind-chilling, drifting, impassable, frightening snow. Blizzards. But this was Christmas snow. Beautiful Christmas snow. Christmas snow comes with no wind. Christmas snow comes with giggles and smiles. Christmas snow comes in big puffy flakes entwined with childhood memories and dreams and thoughts of joy. Christmas snow falls gently, creating a soft, serene blanket to cleanse the world and create a wonderland of splendor. Christmas snow. Some years it does not come, making the coming all the more precious. The experience happens but once at most, and only in December. Yesterday was our day. Christmas snow is not just the physical presence, but the sense of a bigger world, a larger experience, a joining with others in a common sharing of love in being a part of the falling flakes—and more. Christmas snow is a visual reminder that we all share unspoken emotions and beliefs in our life passage. Normally reticent neighbors, I have found, are wont to speak of spiritual oversight in the presence of Christmas snow. To share such thoughts reinforces my belief in the positive communal effect of Christmas snow. Life is good.

Today the quiescent view continues. As I enjoy morning coffee, I spy rabbit tracks across the lawn and the passage of a tiny chipmunk across the front steps. Our dog Shadow and I share a morning walk, enjoying how quiet is our world today; the world seems at peace when covered in Christmas snow. By Christmas this snow may be gone, but the experience it creates is real. That Christmas, itself, would touch our hearts as much.