OMG Snow!

I love winter.
I especially love winter here, where there is snow and ice and dark nights and northern lights.
In Portland it seemed like winter largely consisted of colder rain.
And maybe the hope of snow.
Here there is more than hope...

I present to you (again): our back deck.  The prediction is for 3-8 inches more accumulation today.

Look!  Bear tracks on the deck!

Of course, there is a thick layer of ice underneath most of the snow, and tomorrow's weather is predicted to warm up a little, rain, and then freeze again.
But I still love it!  It is so nice to have seasons!

In other news, we had a very good thanksgiving.  We went to a friend's house, and it was a large, traditional, family affair.  I made a delicious spanakopita that even the carnivores enjoyed (come to think of it, most of what I ate was spinach-based--I love spinach dip!), and we were sent home with two more meals worth of food.
On Friday we went to the public market.  We mostly browsed, and hopefully will go back today to pick up a couple of things.  While we were there before we bought only, um, cheese.  And bread.  But it was a delicious french blue cheese (Vieux berger), and the sample guy let us try everything, so we were obligated.   And the bread was a rustic rye similar to the type of loaf that I hope to make soon, so we had to try it.
Now it is time to start decorating our house for christmas.  The few decorations that we kept are squirreled away at my parent's house, so we are starting from scratch.  This will be our first christmas on our own, so we have the chance to start up some new traditions.
So far all I have done is make some snowflakes to hang around the house (I'm pretty sure that is why it snowed so much last night, and I only made two or three.  Imagine what will happen when I make an army of snowflakes!  I can't wait!)

This was my practice snowflake.  I plan to find some shiny paper (maybe blue and silver?) and make some more.

So I will make more snowflakes and other things to decorate, and maybe we will get a tree soon.  And some lights.  In the meantime, our life is quietly busy, and nearly perfect.