We may not have any snow right now, but it’s sure been cold this week. Yesterday didn’t get above 16 degrees F. Add to that the cold wind and we had wind chills of well below zero. BRRRRRRRR! If the moisture ever lines up with the cold fronts we will be in trouble. This time of year, especially without any snow on the ground, it’s a pretty boring world photography-wise. I did find something of interest though. Ice on the small stream that runs behind our house!

First: the ice paintings.

Now for the sculptures:

Here is Alex in his reindeer finery. I know you all wanted to see all the dogs so dressed, but that was impossible. Every time we put them on Bella, she promptly removed them. Every time we put them on Hailey, Bella promptly removed them. sigh. That girl! The dogs and cats all had a great Christmas and had fun opening their presents. Rick made a wonderful video of them which you can watch here. Just so you know, Bella is the one that’s “naughty” while I dig some paper out of her mouth, and also the dog that runs off into the other room with presents two times. Alex is the main package opener, while Hailey is the hot dog eater. I hope you like it!

We enjoyed my sister and brother-in-law’s visit very much. Time flew by too quickly, and given that nearly one entire day was taken up with getting our hot water heater replaced (the electrician had to come too), it made it seem even shorter. We took them to the train on Saturday afternoon and they spent their remaining two days of vacation in NYC.

We didn’t have snow on Christmas day and it rained the next day, melting all the previous snow and leaving us with a green scene again. This morning we are having a few fitful flakes (try saying that ten times!) but it’s not going to amount to anything. Still, it’s pretty to watch and after all, it is my birthday today. Happy Birthday to me! This week is supposed to be bone-chillingly cold with some snow forecast for New Year’s Day. I’m not going to hold my breath ...

I hope your Christmas was merry and bright!

P.S. Don’t forget to watch the link to the video of the kids opening their presents!

I’d like a new hot water heater for Christmas. I know that’s a strange request, but ours just up and died.  Will it fit in your sleigh?

Seriously though, we picked my sister and her husband up last night from the train station after they had been delayed by Amtrak for over four hours in the big train snafu at Penn Station. There was a strange odor in the house but only just. I happened to go downstairs to get the festive Christmas headgear for the dogs (silly antlers and such) and the minute I opened the door to the basement I could smell something electrical burning. When I turned on the light there was a pall of smoke hanging around the ceiling! Yikes! I yelled for Rick and we turned on all the lights to find the problem. He immediately checked out the furnace which was okay, then the hot water heater. Blackened marks around its panel told the grim story of a hot water heater that had fried itself. Too scary! As I type at 7:52 a.m. this morning, the plumber is installing a new one.

My poor sister and brother-in-law couldn’t even take a shower! Things happen at the most inconvenient times. Well, at least it happened last night and not tonight, Christmas Eve. Imagine the plumber coming on Christmas Day because you don’t have any hot water!

I hope all of you out there reading this have a very Merry Christmas! I hope Santa brings you what you asked for, even if it’s as banal as a new hot water heater!

P.S. Yes, that is me in the photo with Santa!

Tonight I was taken away as a captive. To Pandora. A magical place where people live in harmony with animals and the indigenous forest on their planet. My skin was blue with striping and I had cool dots on my body that illuminated at night. I had a long tail. I also had a long braid of hair that swung from the top of my head that melded with animals and vegetation. My mind, via my hair braid,  melded with my horse, my dragon, and quite possibly my mate, although the last one I don’t exactly know for sure. My legs were very long (finally!) and so was my neck.

I was a great warrior. I stood up for my people. I was also only an Avatar.

For about two hours and forty minutes I lived this life. Then I took these off and I was just a “new” Jersey Girl again. Can I go back?

If you don’t know what I am talking about and you love science fiction, run—don’t walk— to your nearest cinema and see this movie. But, please, see it in 3-D.

Today I mailed off the last of my Christmas gifts. I am thankful to live in such a small town where the lines at the Post Office this time of year are only five people deep, even though a few of those people had tons of stuff to mail. The older-than-me lady in front of me was chatty and didn’t have an envelope or box for what she was mailing yet. We discussed her options, box vs envelope, and she told me what she mailing off to her daughter and granddaughter. Surprise! We were both mailing the same kind of gift! Something done by hand ... can’t tell you what because the recipient of the gift reads the blog. So, we chatted a bit about the gifts we had both made.

The woman behind me was pregnant—very—with a little girl in tow. The woman in front of me turned around and asked her if she knew if she was having a boy or girl. “Boy,” she replied. “Oh how nice!” the woman in front of me said. “We’ll see ...” said the expectant mother. I jumped into the conversation (what the heck) and asked her when she was due. “Any day now,” was her reply. “I hope he waits until after Christmas as I don’t want her (pointing to her little girl) to miss Christmas.” I told her I was a Christmas week baby myself and it wasn’t such a bad time of year to be born.

My turn at the counter finally arrived. I took my box up and sat it down, pointing at the corners where Alex (left in the car) had chewed on the box while I was taking Hailey inside to the groomers. Damn dog. I asked the postal clerk if she could please put some large tape on the two damaged corners where there were now gaping holes since my dog had decided to chew on it. She laughed and looked up at me. “My dog peed on my Christmas tree this weekend and it’s not even real. He has never done anything like that! Not even when he was a puppy which was a long time ago. I had to wash everything down and it still stinks,” she told me. “Oh, dear, how awful!” I murmured. The postal clerk at the next station asked me what kind of dog it was. I told her a Bernese Mountain Dog. The woman who had been in front of me in line was still taking care of her package at the clerk next to me. “OH!” she exclaimed, “I just love those dogs but they are too big for me!” Too bad. I was going to offer her Alex for real cheap.

As that woman was leaving she turned to wish the young mother-to-be good luck and then wished me a Merry Christmas. I wished her one back, finished up my transaction and left, wishing them all a Merry Christmas.

Did I say why I love living in a small town? None of us knew each other, but that didn’t matter one bit!