Well almost.  Mr. Winter decides some years to not be taken so lightly.   Even now the camelia is finding frostbite in the mornings.  The deck and yard and bushes are filled with birds of all varieties, shapes, sizes and colors, the butterflies in their cocoons.    Just as the bluebirds are the most glamorous in the spring the Cardinals take the winter stage in celebration of the colors of the holidays.  Burt's light show is still the most spectacular in the south but it is a must to take warm blankets for the 4 mile ride in the  high mountains.  Even hardy souls are all snugged up.  When what to our wondering eyes should appear?

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And in no time at all afternoon tea is transformed.

 
 

HOW SWEET IT IS!

Our sisters in the north may have some difficulty understanding the jubilation and frenetic activity that a quarter of an inch of snow around here brings.  School is let out  and cancelled for the next day and the shopping center parking lots suddenly are filled.  Y2K preparations were a snap for any self-respecting southern mom.  First one must buy up twenty gallons of milk and as many loaves of bread.  Then to the hardware store for flashlights, batteries and canned heat.  Then find the children, most of whom with all varieties of "sliding" materials are denuding the hillsides of the scant snow.  Then it is time to settle inside  with cocoa  and marshmallows before the continuous television coverage of the "winter storm."  When snow occurs just after Christmas as it did some two years ago the children are convinced that Santa has decided to linger awhile in the  softness of the South.  An  enchanting development.