SNOW GLOBE 12/30/00

Subj: snow globe
Date: Sat Dec 30 17:42:15 EST 2000

Sitting safe and snug in the big chair in the living room feels like being in the beautiful snow globe that Clara gives Heidi, the one with the cabin that looks like The Grandfather's house. It has been snowing since before dawn, big beautiful flakes in the morning and smaller "means business" flakes in the afternoon. It is now just past dusk and it is still snowing.

There is something about snow that can bring out a sense of community, at least in these parts. Elsa fires up the oven and makes "Blizzard Brownies" for the Staubs, Millmans and Gallaghers, all neighbors with children. She has been making the rich, dark fudgy brownies for as long as I can remember - the neighbors know that they can count on having her trudge through the snow to deliver a full batch to each house. Concerned for the wild life, she turned the three big green trash bins on their sides out on the back porch and pointed them toward the house, away from the snow, and loaded them up with bird seed and sunflower seeds.

John slept until almost 3:00 p.m. This has been the first day in weeks that he could get a long slumber - it is a blessing that it is such a sleepy-time day.

As for myself, I slept until 10:00 a.m. this morning and then, throughout the day, I kept falling asleep in the big chair in the living room. I headed up for an early nap and slept until 5:00 p.m. As I said, the snow made it a great day for hibernating.

We do not live in a community in the sense that Bryn Athyn is a community, but we do live in one, all the same. One of our neighbors dug out from his path to beyond our driveway, another shoveled the entire length of our path, and a third shoveled our driveway. That is community with a capital C.

Many wonderful sights have been seen from our big living room window over the past week. Last Saturday, I was sitting in the living room when the sound of sirens came closer and closer and closer until it sounded like they were going up Mallard, which is the next street over. They sounded familiar and strange, at the same time. I realized it was because they kept going and going and going, even though Mallard is not a long stretch of road. Even stranger was the fact that the neighborhood children came streaming out of their houses onto the road.

It turned out that Santa was making his annual visit to the neighborhood, which apparently he does every year - thanks to the Feasterville Fire Department - on the Saturday before Christmas, but we have never been at home on that Saturday before. It was quite a sight - the fire trucks stopped smack dab in front of Squirrel Haven and Santa, who was riding on the top, got down to talk to all the excited children and hand out candy canes. The children looked so happy and their parents looked like little kids themselves. It is a moment those children will never forget. It is a memory this Gramster will never forget.

Last Sunday, the blessed sight was seeing Whitney and Chad and Peter, then later Shannon, then still later Reynolds, walking through the front door.

On Christmas Day, it was fun to watch the comings and goings to the various houses, as families headed out or headed in for holiday celebrations.

Today, it was the snow and watching the children - bundled from top to toe - having snow ball fights and hauling sleds around and one of the older children even was heading up and down the street on a snow mobile.

I am grateful that it was a Saturday, so Elsa did not have to go to work, that is it not New Year's Eve, and it is not New Year's Day, so I can just sit back and savor the experience of a soft hush of a day in utter peace and quiet.

Take care, stay safe, and God bless - Jessie's Adopted Grandma