It is snowing.  (Picture a snowy happy face here)  Can you hear my children rejoicing!  They woke up today to a white world and this is the first time my 5 y.o. could really enjoy it.  I got out all the snow gear to find out what fit whom and bundled them up for a good time.  Over the years, we have accumulated various ski wear from my sister-in-law and it gets used so rarely, I never know what will fit!  My daughter commented on how her snow pants were tight at the ankles and I told her playing in snow is not about being comfortable, it's about being warm.  I knew she understood when she repeated what I said a few minutes later as I put her mittens on!  They had a wonderful time and my husband even went out for a rowdy snowball fight.  I got some photos but retreated to the warmth of our home, after ducking away from various snowballs headed my way.  I hate to be cold!  It snowed on and off all day and as night fell, it got colder and the snow was really starting to stick.  Wonder what tomorrow will look like here?  It's supposed to be 26 degrees Tuesday night - I hope belly dancing is cancelled because I really don't want to drive in this weather.  Can't dance fast enough to keep warm, anyway!  School got completely ignored today.  Ooops - I guess today was all about physical education and meterology and, umm, Christmas tree shopping!  O.k., that would be botany.  So, we're cool!  It was sunny when we headed out to get our tree and after paying for it, the sky opened up into a blizzard.  Of course, it stopped just after we got home.  Love this Oregon weather where every 5 minutes is a new adventure.  Tomorrow, we'll work on home decorating for the holidays.  My kids are getting a well-rounded education this week. 

Thanks for your comments on my last few posts.  I thought I'd elaborate on the drive-in church I mentioned.  Back in the 1950's, the Reverend Robert Schuller began preaching from the top of the snack bar at the Orange Drive-In Theatre in So. California.  His wife played organ, I believe.   Sometime before I was born in 1963, he built a church not too far from the Orange Drive-in, on property that was just a few blocks from the home I grew up in.  It was called The Garden Grove Community Church.  The sanctuary was a beautiful building with giant glass double doors up on a balcony that opened out overlooking the parking lot, where people could park and, like at a drive-in movie, could attach a speaker to the car window and listen to the sermon.  Dr. Schuller would preach from the balcony, moving back and forth from the balcony to the pulpit inside, so as to address the indoor and outdoor congregation equally.  He was really quite good at it and I can still remember how exciting it was when those huge glass doors would open.  He would appear, saying, "This is the day that God has made, let us rejoice, and be glad in it!"  When we were in the car, I would watch for him on the balcony.  When we did attend church in the sanctuary, which was full of sunlight from the windows on either side, I would listen for birds that could be heard out that balcony window.  Of course, now the church has built a larger sanctuary, The Crystal Cathedral, which took up property that used to be our youth group playing field (something that bummed me out at the time) but I have never attended a service in the Cathedral.  I went to a wedding there once and I didn't like how it echoed.  I don't think you are able to drive up and listen anymore from your car.  I miss the old sanctuary.  Always thought I'd be married in it but that was not God's path for me.  Another building on that property was a 12-story building with an enormous cross on top, a cross you can see for miles around.  And, lucky me, every morning when I got up to head for the kitchen, I would always look out the front door window and see that cross.  I had a perfect view of it, between the apartment buildings across the street from our home.  The sun would sometimes be rising from behind it and I thought it was the most beautiful thing!  A great way to start the day!  Even now, when we go to So. Cal. to visit, I look for the cross in the distance.  I have attended several churches over the years, my husband and I met at a baptist church in Long Beach, CA, and that was where we were married.  But the church I grew up in will always be the one I have the most memories of.  The view I now see when I get up in the morning and look out my window is quite different and more beautiful nature-wise, but I'll never forget that cross shining in front of the rising sun.  Yes, indeed, the day God has made - rejoice and be glad in it!