the New Year storms in

Clearing the way

an elegant masquerade

black & white and ready to go

people in the living room

armchair travelers

lunch

We greeted the New Year with a favorite bunch: the Smith family. No fancy-schmancy hullabaloo; just the last five minutes of Times Square on TV, a few wooden spoons hitting tin pans, a swig of bubbly ginger ale, and an informal prayer session. The little boys thought it was something special.
While the girls masqueraded at the mad New Year's Eve party in Madrid, we unrolled sleeping bags and got some shut-eye. While we dozed, a festival of snow crept over the landscape, draping mailboxes and branches with furry mantles, knitting its frosty yarn around tree trunks and light poles, and sequestering us in our 19th century brick farmhouse with a refrigerator full of food. I couldn't have asked for a sweeter and more hilarious family to hole up with us.
Happy New Year to all my family and friends.