Snowflakes, and no football, please

I'm sitting in front of the blazing woodstove, all alone in my house (except for the softly snoring and intermittently farting dog). Having the house to myself is rare, and I am relishing this time. The rest of my family is watching football, which, I'm sorry to say, I don't give a hoot about. I didn't grow up with this sport in Germany, and I don't understand it.

So here I am listening to calm, meditative music, my back warmed by the fire, while the temperatures outside hover around 7 degrees F. I should be doing the dishes, but I'd rather procrastinate and talk with you.

My mouth hurts because I had a tooth pulled. The dentist wanted me to have a root canal, but after extensive research, I decided not to do that and saw a holistic dentist instead. So now I will sport a hillbilly look for a while until I get a retainer.

Am I self-conscious about the gap in my mouth? Sure I am. I haven't been able to assess the visual impact too much, since my mouth is too sore to pull into a smile.

For now, let me show you my still-unblemished smile from the day before I got the tooth pulled, when Steve and I did a little photo shoot for my most recent knitting project, called "Foliage Cowl". I love this beautiful cowl, and since I know you'll ask, it's a pattern you can buy on Ravelry right here.

As you can see in these pictures, there's still snow.  It's been unbelievably pretty with all the white stuff around.  Beautiful, but also creating more work, when we have to carry water from the house to the barn and pasture to keep our animals well hydrated.  

Also, if you look closely, you can see paper snowflakes in the background.  We've been addicted to cutting different snowflake patterns ever since our librarian demonstrated how to do this.  All our windows are decorated with them (the snowflakes, not the librarians), and we are having competitions who can outdo the other in the paper-cutting department.

I took my camera with me when I did chores the other morning, and everywhere I looked was beauty.  Icicles, snow-covered trees and berries, my kids and their friends playing outside, the goat barn and greenhouses covered with a white blanket, the girls finding hiding places under bamboo bent with snow...

We've been sledding, of course.  There's a hill a couple of minutes from our house, joyfully used by our kids.  It's a magical world, hushed and lined by huge trees.

When we've had enough, or just before our noses freeze off, we come inside.  Sometimes, the kids talk me into baking cookies.  Although I don't eat any refined sugar, I feel it's my duty to make Christmas cookies for my family and our friends.  One afternoon, when my daughter's friend came over, we made Russian Teaballs, one of their favorites.

You can see that the dog likes to help.

What is your holiday season looking like?