It is officially cold in the Berkshires when the thermometer hit the teens as it has been this week and is this evening. As the east coast was battered with snow last weekend, we have the remnants of a few inches received a few days before, and a dusting today but nothing more. The wind has been blowing the past few days and, as I have written many times before, I love the sounds of the wind. But it does make it colder and the slightest space seems to be an entry for a draft.

The stove has been busy and going fairly constantly except for a short shutdown to clean out the ashes and clean the glass.

Its a few days before Christmas and something just doesn't feel right, isn't there. I find myself thinking of Christmases past; some with fondness and melancholy: the last Christmas with my mom and dad, Christmases when the kids were small and the warmth of our tight family, Christmas when I was a kid. Time smooths and softens the rough edges of memories and if we knew then what we do now......