The storms of life. We're living in a winter wonderland. Those of you blessed not to live in the northeast may have heard we had a significant ice storm this week. It coated trees and power lines with ice, which was very pretty when the moon came out on Friday night. But it also meant some of those trees and lines came down, and lots of people are without power. We never lost power, though we did lose our cable connection, which meant no phone or internet. But that's a minor annoyance compared to having no power for heating. The local high schools and colleges have become temporary shelters for people without heat. And there doesn't seem to be much rhyme or reason to the power losses. As I said, we never lost power, but a mile down the road from us is a traffic signal at a major intersection that hasn't worked since Thursday. Do you remember learning in driver's ed that if you come to a signal that is out, you should treat it like a four-way stop? Yeah, that isn't happening down there. I don't know how many accidents have occurred because of it. But the good news is the roads are well plowed and salted to taste, so as long as wherever we're going has power, we're fine. I had a dentist appointment on Friday, but when I got there, there was a hand written note on the door about their power loss, and they couldn't call some people (like me) because of the phone lines being out. It's been quite an adventure for some.

The storm hasn't dampened the spirit of the season. We got Secret Santa-ed last night. Just as we were finishing dinner, the doorbell rang. On our doorstep, we found a gift with a note about its being the first day of Christmas. We got a Pepperidge Farm tree, made of several packages of Goldfish and Milanos. Dorian and Faith were very excited. So if you're reading this, thank you very much, and I really hope you didn't biff it on our unsalted front walk. That's a bad habit we get into when we only go in and out of the garage.

We're doing well other than the storm adventures. I'm knocking on wood as I say that I think all illness has been squashed in our house. And may it last. No one wants to be sick for Christmas, which is just over a week away. How did that happen?