The Farmer’s Almanac has predicted a “cold and snowy” winter for the Midwest, and so far, the predictions are spot on. This weekend the expected overnight temperatures are 4 degrees Fahrenheit. Brrr!
From the basement (or is cellar a better word for a room you can’t fully stand up in, that sports a dirt floor, and several trees are support beams holding up the house? No kidding.) I hear the busy chatter of a local crew installing a new furnace…I’m so grateful that it will be in place to keep this 161-year-old farmhouse toasty before the winds howl and the snow piles up around the doors. And while the new furnace and a cozy fire are perfect for these shivery December days, they’re not all that will take the chill out of a month that can be bitterly cold. Both homes and hearts can be warmed by the glow of the holiday season.
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Merry Christmas Sweet Mary…. Another beautiful post – you never disappoint. What a comforting (albeit budget-stretching) thought to be having a new furnace installed ahead of the for-sure-and-for-certain cold this winter will (and already has!) brought. After my nightmare last year with the non-working furnace issues, I’ll vow I will never take for granted again being able to wake up to – or come home to – heat. Great ideas for keeping Christmas in our hearts. As I just commented on Jacky’s (“Dicky Bird’s”) post, though, I won’t be doing much baking/cooking this year even though that has always been a large part of Christmas for me. The whole GF thing makes it difficult and the kids really don’t eat much of that stuff anyway (sometimes I question whether they’re proper relation to me LOL). Gifts, too, are simpler (why buy things they don’t want/need?) but I’ve probably decorated even more than I have in the last several years. No one other than me to enjoy them but enjoy them I do…a little light in the dark of winter (and a great way of procrastinating less enjoyable tasks). Again I find myself wishing we were closer neighbors.