One Great Big Sigh

A great big sigh comes from Alaska. Christmas was beautiful. Is beautiful, as it keeps going until January 6th. The food was wonderful, the family glorious, and today life returned to normal. The sigh encompasses the fact that the last week and a half were so gorgeous and also that there is now normal and vegetables in my life again. 

::Cold, cold, cold. Before my parents arrived we had almost 3 weeks of 30 plus degree days and the world was ugly and brown. Just one day after they arrived it started snowing and it has not stopped. We got 3 inches almost every night they were here. The temps are in the single digits. As you can see, cold but happy.

 ::I love knowing that I made those gifts and that they are loved. To see the joy that someone has when they open a handmade gift is extremely heart-warming.

 ::A Christmas Eve walk. This is before all the snow. We walked and laughed and got cold.

 ::Quintessential picture. These must be taken, obviously. This was the only crystal clear day while my parents were here and we. drove. everywhere. to enjoy it.

 ::Realizing the beauty of a single snowflake on my beloved's warm coat. It blows my mind to consider just how amazing it is that every one is different. 

 ::Poot Peak to the right and mountains in their glory. 

 ::My mom, on the beach. If you look closely there is a sea otter to the left in the water. Her coat was bright green, while my dad's coat and mine were more beachy-colored. The otter kept poking its head way out of the water and staring at her, following her progress along the beach. It was comical.

 ::Lots of wind, lots of waves.

 ::So this is sea otters. There were over 50 of them, taking harbor from the wind in the cove. I have never seen so many in one place.

 ::The joys of Amazon gift wrap. If you can't read it the top one says "To: Kennan. Merry Christmas and Happy Hiking! From: Dad and Tonya" The next one says "Same message as above." We almost peed our pants laughing at this. Who packed this box? Did they laugh? Who printed that label? So, so funny.

 ::Snow waves.

 ::I went to the beach on Christmas. You can see the snow falling. It was freezing cold, but I was determined to visit the beach at Christmas.

So life goes on, like I knew it would. We set some goals for the new year and some are scary, while others are just reality. I like a fresh and clean slate. We'll see what happens.