They said we'd have snow

I woke up this morning hoping we had gotten dumped on but its barely a dusting. We were at the edge of a storm coming through. It was supposed to start at midnight and snow all night and day but we only have a dusting and it seems to have stopped. I could go for a big storm where I am stuck here.'

Last night we tried out a new local Pizza joint. Franco's Italian Pizzeria had been open only 6 days so they had a lot of kinks to work out but the Pizza was fabulous so it was well worth the weight. I really do like supporting local people trying to make business go.

I saw cut out Christmas cookies on someones blog yesterday and now I have a desire to make some. My recipe for sugar cookies has sour cream in it so I picked some up on the way home from dinner last night. I'll drag everything out sometime this weekend and start that long process.

Usually making these kind of cookies is a real chore but I think I will do it mindfully this year. I have done that with my Christmas decorations and it has made it into a very pleasant activity. As I unwrapped each ornament or decoration I thought about where it came from. I have these porcelain Santa's that my sister gave me years ago so I thought of her and her life and said a little blessing for her. Then there is the Angel music box that my sister - in- law gave me thirty years ago. It is laced with memory. Then there were the many decorations I have that a former neighbor made me. I don't see her anymore so I thought back on the time she lived nearby and felt the love and time she had put into making me such wonderful gifts. This went on to the things I made myself or purchased. It really made decorating take on a different meaning. It was no longer a chore but a gift in some ways. I hope to do the same thing with the cookies. Cutting out all the shapes I will pull in memories when my sister Peggy and I did this as children or when I did it with my own daughter. I am thinking that we really don't need all the cookies in the house so maybe I will package up some plates of cookies and take them to people who won't expect it. Perhaps the Post Office or the greeters at Walmart or the customer service department at Target or one of the many other stores where people seem so harried and overworked. It so much fun bringing a surprise to people.