We arrived in Tahoe to a snow storm that closed roads due to avalanches. After two days of storming while we sat by the fire and savored the glory of it all, we woke to brilliant sunshine. I took some photos of the glistening snow still hanging to the trees and was reminded of this poem by my favorite poet above all others.
Merry Christmas to you and yours. May your holidays be filled with sunshine and glistening hope.
First Snow
by Mary Oliver
The snow
began here
this morning and all day
continued, its white
rhetoric everywhere
calling us back to why, how,
whence such beauty and what
the meaning; such
an oracular fever! flowing
past windows, an energy it seemed
would never ebb, never settle
less than lovely! and only now,
deep into night,
it has finally ended.
The silence
is immense,
and the heavens still hold
a million candles; nowhere
the familiar things:
stars, the moon,
the darkness we expect
and nightly turn from. Trees
glitter like castles
of ribbons, the broad fields
smolder with light, a passing
creekbed lies
heaped with shining hills;
and though the questions
that have assailed us all day
remain – not a single
answer has been found -
walking out now
into the silence and the light
under the trees,
and through the fields,
feels like one.

















Merry Christmas Susan and what a beautiful scene, for once I would love a white Christmas but in NYC it rarely occurs. Best wishes to you and your family have a wonderful holiday.
apuginthekitchen recently posted..Sweet Potato Pie
Lovely – have a wonderful white Christmas, Susan.
TasteFood recently posted..Advent at Dusk and Danish Aebleskivers
Looks to me like you all had a wonderful Christmas and what a gorgeous place to spend it! While you were sitting by a cozy fire, we were in an air conditioned house trying to stay cool enough.
At least the company was grand! Hope you are having a wonderful beginning to 2013!
mjskit recently posted..Skippin’ Jenny (aka Hoppin’ John, Black-eyed peas)