here comes the sun

the sun is setting on our shortest day. and the sun is coming. glory!

it's been so snowy and white here where we live that it's hard to imagine that today is Winter's first day. three more months of this? no, this is something special. this doesn't happen all that often. and so we've been celebrating.

first thing this morning we braved the layer of ice that had settled on 10 inches of snow and walked to a local breakfast place. on the way over, Mabel said, "it looks like Mountain Hood!" the restaurant wasn't packed, but we weren't the only ones out. everyone was full of smiles and stories of how they're making it. Mabel tried apple butter for the first time, a fitting end to Fall.

then we came back home and made a pineapple upside down cake. warm caramel sauce, moist cake, and fruit in the shape of the sun we're calling back into being. we had a tiny lunch and a big slice of cake before stoking the fire and settling in for a few pages (Richard Scarry's Big, Big World for M, Sibyl by Par Lagerkvist for Andy, and Acedia and Me by Kathleen Norris for me)before falling asleep.

now it's a bowl of chili and some cornbread--the same round, golden sun shape. we feel ready for the change of season, ready to see what is coming, ready for the cold and quiet. and looking forward to the Spring, the new baby coming in April.

arise! shine! for thy light is come.

glory!