No apologies, I LOVE the snow!

I got up this morning at my usual 5 AM, trudged sleepily out of the bedroom in search of the bathroom and coffee, (which I thankfully could smell already brewing. Thank you Mr. Coffee... I love you and our morning affair!)

As I passed the window, I realized it was snowing again. And it made me smile, inside at out. We already have about a foot on the ground from our first big snowstorm of the season, the day after Christmas, but more is welcomed, always welcomed by me. 
As contradictory as it may sound, snow on the outside, makes me feel all warm and fuzzy on the  inside.

 Most folks find it odd that I am so in love with the white stuff, given that I don't ski, snowmobile, or any of the Winter activities normally associated anxious anticipation of new fallen snow. Odder still, is the fact that I have Raynaud's Disease, which makes exposure to even the slightest amount of cold or chill intolerable for my hands and feet! Turns my appendages odd shades of blue, purplish red, and an odd shade of white. (None of which are in my red headed color palette, incidentally.)

In spite of it all though... I adore snow!  There is just something so cleansing and transforming about a crystalline, fresh fallen blanket of snow.  It takes the bleakness of the gray/brown landscape left behind by late fall and transfigures it into something absolutely magical.  Something splendidly, often breathtakingly beautiful.

Its as though the earth has been washed and made pure and innocent once again.  Even when Mother Nature unleashes her full fury in the form of heavy snow, wind, sleet and ice...the aftermath, is altogether lovely.

And there is something about all that snow on the outside that makes time spent in the warmth and coziness of the inside, all that much more enjoyable to me.  A crackling wood stove, delicious, hearty, comfort foods simmering away on the stove or baking in the oven, and my ever present pot of coffee. Life perfected in my mind.  

The separation of the two worlds, the one I just described and the icy realm outside, kept distanced by a few walls and mere panes of glass, leaves me in awe of Nature and  man's ingenuity.

Now that I make my home once again in my beloved Vermont, I wait with eager anticipation of snow... plenty of snow...lots of snow, as often as possible.  And I think perhaps this year, I will try to buy, barter or borrow a pair of  sturdy snow shoes and pile on as much Raynaud's proof gear as I can find, and head out, to trek through Winter's Wonderland! 

 Let it Snow! Let it snow! Let it snow!