We woke up yesterday morning to the ground covered with snow, and more coming down. It wasn’t a surprise since the weather folks have been telling us that it was coming for a few days.

What I really woke up to was the sound of snowplows cleaning the snow from our parking lots and sidewalks. It was 4 o’clock in the morning. My first inclination was to be annoyed. But even at 4 a.m., a couple of hours before the sun came up, I stopped myself from being annoyed and instead, was grateful for the hard work of those diligent workers. I think I must add that not only was it snowing, but the temperature was well below freezing. God bless those poor souls who were braving the bitter cold to keep the area safe for me and the other residents. In hindsight, I wish I had taken them a cup of hot cocoa.

As for me, I was not ABOUT to brave the cold and snow. I put a heavy sweater over my nightgown and a heavy blanket over my lap and waited for the sun to rise as I checked my email and read my novel and drank my big cup of hot coffee. When the sun finally came up, I opened our shades and looked out at the snow that was still falling. I was so grateful that I didn’t have a single reason to step outside.

The snow fell most of the morning. I finally convinced myself to get dressed somewhere in the neighborhood of 11 o’clock. Bill had already gone to play pool. He could get there without going outside. I’m not sure even the cold would have stopped him from meeting his friends to shoot pool because he has really grown to love the game.

Over the course of the day, I watched something like five Christmas movies, ranging from the amazing A Christmas Carol featuring George C. Scott to Christmas Kiss II, featuring actors I had never seen before. My favorite one was The Last Holiday, a Christmas movie starring Queen Latifa that will always score among my top five Christmas movies.

I took a break to make Bill and me some lunch, and then moved to the bedroom, where I nestled under the covers to watch the remaining movies. At 4:30, I came out of my bedroom with my eyes bleary and unfocused and told Bill I couldn’t watch another single Christmas movie.

Until the next snowstorm.