It has begun.

This is the inevitable "Oh my gosh we have a ton of snow" post.

I promise I won't do this every week. I mean, duh, I live in Antarctica, of course there's a lot of snow. But seriously, I didn't know that snow like this existed. I knew that the average snowfall is 220 inches a year, but until you experience it you just don't get it. This is not like Colorado snow.

And it pretty much snows everyday, just like it rains the rest of the year. Amazing.

I'm actually really loving it for several reasons:

-It's beautiful and feels all festive and Christmasy.

-It's only December, so the novelty hasn't worn off yet.

-My cars are in the garage and I don't have to worry about clearing one off several times a day to drive.

-I hired a snow removal service that takes care of all the hard work, so there is no stress involved for me whatsoever. (No calories burned either....)

Since the temperature tops out in the 20's and it's rarely sunny, the snow doesn't melt and I can't even fathom what things will look like come February. People say it just continues to accumulate. Will there be tunnels connecting the houses?

The top of our lantern blew off and now it looks like this. As curious as I am to turn it on and see how it looks, I'm thinking that a light bulb underwater is probably a bad idea.

I'm not doing a lot by way of outdoor Christmas decorations this year. I stuck two 3 ft pre-lit trees in two big pots on the front porch, and bought a wreath from the neighborhood private school fundraiser. (I swear, they have a fundraiser every week. Not that I mind buying their chocolate bars...)

An electric candle in each window, and that's as good as it's going to get this year. My plans to put a wreath in every window fell by the wayside. I was also going to line the walkway with lights like I usually do, but they would just be buried under snow. (Please excuse the blurry picture--I just ran outside and took it in my pajamas and it's 16 degrees. Obviously I'm not dragging a tripod out there for a steady shot).

It's interesting that people around here don't put up many lights for Christmas. At first I thought they were all Scrooges on my street, then it occurred to me they might know something I don't know about the upcoming electric bill. Heating these old houses is no joke. But ignorance is bliss until next month. (I swear I just heard Micah groan from 7,000 miles away).