Folks who like a white Christmas certainly couldn’t complain this year. We got over six inches of snow on Christmas Eve, covering the earth with a fluffy white blanket and drifting higher in places. It was a beautiful sight even though it made travel a bit hazardous and some had to abandon plans for holiday get-togethers. Opal Rogers Lynn once described a snowfall at her home as “fluffy clumps of white eiderdown” drifting lazily earthward. Beyond her picture window the snowflakes made patterns “like old-fashioned lace curtains softly billowing in a breeze” but steadily the pattern tightened and the tempo accelerated as ours did Thursday evening.

Of all crystals known, experts tell us snow crystals are the most symmetrical, the most exquisite, the most perfect. W. A. Bentley spent nearly half a century studying these fragile jewels, painstakingly photographing more than six thousand distinct designs, each of wondrous beauty and complexity. The branches of these tiny six-rayed stars may be highly ornamented, all six decorated exactly alike, while the central portion displays a special wealth of elaborate detail. Entirely colorless themselves, these individual crystals reflect light from their surfaces, giving the snow its white color.

Sister Nancy and her daughter Laura came in Monday morning to stay with Mama when I went to work. They wrapped a few gifts and put under the tree and filled bags of candy for each of our holiday guests. They returned on Tuesday morning and when I came home for lunch I gave Nancy instructions for doing some last-minute shopping for me. Jim and I enjoyed watching the Hogs basketball game that evening.

I went to the shop and got a sweet potato pie out of the freezer Wednesday morning. I baked it so that it was still warm from theoven when Dodie came and picked me up at noon. We drove to Siloam for a holiday dinner with our newspaper colleagues there. We enjoyed a tasty catered meal and I sampled the cheesecake topped with apricot sauce, a frothy chocolate creation and a variety of candies including the traditional fudge.

I assembled boxes of cereal and a can of mixed nuts and made two batches of Chex party mix on Thursday. The mail carrier brought a lovely card and letter from my aunt and uncle in Kansas City and our neighbor walked across the street to bring some freshly-made candy. I put the party mix into holiday tins and delivered one to friends that evening. I dropped by the office to do some work and as I did I could hear icy crystals hitting the awning next door. By the time I headed home my car door was frozen shut and I had to enter by the passenger side door.

We went up to visit the kids and grandkids after breakfast Friday. The living room was littered with new toys and the two cats were having a ball playing in the boxes. We returned in time for me to vacuum the living room, hall and dining room before our guests arrived. All my siblings, several nieces and nephews and their youngsters, a total of 13, joined us for dinner. After stuffing ourselves at the table we opened the gifts under the tree. Sister Nancy lingered to help me wash dishes. Richard and his stepson Mike were among the last to leave after cutting slices of pie and preparing plates of food to take home.

We spent the day at home Saturday, did a load of laundry and Jim made a big pot of turkey soup. We enjoyed breakfast with friends at Southwest City Sunday morning but my car wouldn’t make it up the hill to the meeting place so we had to take a short walk in the snow. We spent the evening reading and watching Sunday Night Football.

-Susan Holland

Opinion, Pages 4 on 12/30/2009