Today is cold, 35°, not so unexpected. It is also mostly cloudy and a bit windy. Even the dogs didn’t stay outside. They are into comfort. Dismal fits today so far but but I’m hoping for a little sun.

When I was a kid, Christmas started early. Uptown was decorated with lights on garlands which stretched from one side of the street to the other. The store windows had greenery and a few wrapped presents, as sort of inspirations I guess. The fire station and the police station, in the same building, were always decorated with lights. A Santa was climbing up a ladder to the chimney. That was my favorite decoration. A nativity was on the lawn of the town hall. The figures were big, and there was real straw. As we got closer to Christmas, a platform was set up in the square in front of The Children’s Corner. Every night, kids sang carols from the platform. Each night it was a different class from a different school. I remember my debut on the platform. I was in the fifth grade. We had the John Hancock book of Christmas carols. I remember how proud I was standing there singing in the middle of the square.

I loved to ice skate. I had choices as to where to skate. Sometimes my mother gave me money for the bus and for the MDC rink. I remember the rink was warm inside and had benches to sit on when putting on and taking off my skates. The rink was round and had sides, all the better to keep me from falling. The town put up a rink on Recreation Park. It too was round with sides. I hung on to those as well. A temporary shack was built with a wood stove and wooden benches. Under the benches is where we all put our shoes. Sometimes you had to hunt for one shoe or the other. I remember walking home on unsteady feet after an afternoon of skating. My favorite place to skate was the swamp. It was across the field, over the dead tree trunk in a clearing in the woods. The swamp’s open space was in the front. I’d sit on the cold ground to put on my skates. I fell sometimes on the ice, no sides, just trees.

I have a decorating project today. I have all red ornaments of different shapes and sizes and a long, thin branch from a pine tree. I’m going to hang the ornaments in different lengths from the branch then hang it in the house.

My dance card has the usual, a uke practice and lesson, and the start of our Christmas concerts, three this week.

Winter is here. The high today will be 38°. It’s a pretty day but one best seen through the window from the warm and cozy house. I’m in my comfy clothes. The dogs are upstairs napping on my bed. Jack is sleeping in his kitty teepee. He curls up in a ball and falls deeply asleep.

I have a mouse. The dog biscuit bag has a small chewed hole. I found my have-a heart trap which I’ll set with peanut butter. It has been a long time since a mouse has taken residence. My brother used to say no house has only one mouse. I’m hoping to be the exception.

When I was a kid, I never minded the cold. I liked walking to school on crisp mornings when I could see my breath. What I did mind was being bundled in layers because when I’d get to school it took a while to unbundle. I used to stick my scarf and mittens up the sleeves of my coat. If I wore boots, I’d take them off with my shoes inside then pull out my shoes. I hated boots. You needed the strength of the Hulk to get them back on. I’d pull and pull. My shoes always got stuck at the angle. For the fun of it, I’d sometimes walk around with the boots flopping.

My favorite memories of the house in winter are of the radiators. They hissed and gurgled. I’d watch the steam rise from the nozzle like part on the left side. The water gurgled through the metal loop looking parts of the radiator. I had a radiator under the window on the wall across from the end of my bed. I’d sometimes sit between the bed and the radiator to get warm. I’d put my shoes to dry under it. My mittens went on the top.