We had the joy of having two wonderful friends visit us for the weekend. Carol and Dean traveled from the North and the far Northwest in Canada to come for their annual Christmas visit. We love having them here and miss them when they leave. Last night we had our annual gift swap, giving a bit of fun and love to one another. These are always funny times, as Carol and I have been great friends for over 20 years. Dean suffers through our antics and Carrie just tries to avoid all of it!!! :-)
As we sat around the tree, Carol was the first to open her gifts. She really LOVED the one from 'her best pal'...me. Carol and I have called each other "DORK" since grad school. It is an endearing name and it has always made us feel that at least someone understood that we both are true dorks at times. So, I found her the perfect present...a DORK shirt. It will let her know she is!!!
Dean has become Carrie's pal. I think he needs someone to help him manage how Carol and I interact when we are together! Seriously, he loves Carrie and UMASS. He WAS an MSU and UCONN fan for a while, BUT... Clearly, his loyalty has changed and he is now decked out in more Minutemen gear for the year!!
They got a bit spooked by the weather and headed out last night to beat the storm back to Toronto. We are waiting to hear on their trip. It was a rather brief, but wonderful time. They brought me fantastic gifts to help me ride my bike indoors during my sabbatical. Some really scary shorts -- that won't be SEEN in PUBLIC. And other fun things for my bike to encourage my working out. The best part of all was their company. It is always a wonderful time of the year to have them visit. Having loving friends is truly a gift from God at the holidays and throughout the year. I wish each of you wonderful times with friends this season. Now, it is quickly approaching the time to visit my FAMILY. My greatest gift!!
We are in the middle of another big snowstorm. The first was on Thursday, now we are in number two today. This one began with snow, then it started to sleet, now it is freezing rain. We had 12 inches on Thursday and 8 inches today. So, you can see the piles are HUGE.
The dogs have loved playing in the snow. They DO NOT like the sleet or the freezing rain. I think the freezing rain ends up freezing on their backs and heads. Guess that they should wear those hats I gave them earlier!!! The only smart one is Cheyenne who curled up on the futon and took a long winter's nap! 
The tree trimming was a wonderful event. Although it happened a week ago, the tree still smells of pine.
