The children are outside playing merrily in the snow. A real, ground-covering, snowfall. It's even a decently cold -6C to make it a legitimate snowy winter morning. They're happy.

And reminded of the cold wetness of snow melted on wrists. But happy overall.

Everything is so much brighter too with the light reflecting off the white snow. I do love the beauty of a new snowfall.

The Christmas tree is up, lighted and not yet decorated. That'll be the project for this evening with hot apple cider and perhaps some cookies. They've eaten most of them already. Yesterday evening I read The Best Christmas Pageant Ever in front of the glowing woodstove with the tree in the background. If you don't know this story, read it. It's a quick read and has been a family tradition since I was a little girl. Pieman was sure I read really quietly for a little while as he lay stretched out on the couch after a long day's work but nobody else seemed to notice.

Every now and then I spend some time reading food blogs. These are the two I read this morning. And this I read last night while looking for dinner inspiration.