Not a nice day today.  We started the day with some very wet snow (see photo), but only got an inch or so; then by noon the snow had turned to rain and we watched our pretty white snow wash away.  We're being promised more snow this weekend, but in the meantime, things are soggy wet, slushy, sometimes slippery, and bleak.  

We had a brief message the other day from Ray and Cyndi Rouleau wishing us Merry Christmas and letting us know they are here for the holidays with family.  We've had some lovely cards and messages - more e-messages than paper cards this year, which is fine with me.  I like the idea of conserving paper; however, that said, I enjoy the beautiful cards we get in the mail and have them hung across the fireplace this year since we aren't burning wood.  If we were hosting our family Christmas, we would probably have had a wood fire for ambiance, but while I miss being able to stand in front of the stove to get warmed up, I really like that I have heat in my corner office when we're using the boiler.  The heat didn't get to my little room from the wood stove very well.

We've both had dental appointments today.  Fred went early this morning and I went right after lunch.  I meant to ask them to please schedule us together for our regular checkups, but forgot when I was there.  It would have been much more convenient, especially since the roads were not great, especially this morning.  Then this afternoon when I was coming home, West Shore Road was about eight inches of heavy slush.  Not pretty at all.

Here's a surprise - Diane Rossi told me there was an ice fisherman out on the pond near the fishing access on Sunday.  This seems to happen every year - somebody is out there before the pond has been frozen over more than a few days.  One year we saw some fishing on the ice up near Flint's Point where there was still open water down past Smith's.  But so far, fortunately, we've had no accident, so I guess these guys know what they're doing.  Maybe they go by the number of days temperatures have been below freezing or something.   Our weather has been so off and on lately, I would think any old "rules" would not be trustworthy.

While I was in St. Johnsbury, I scoured the stores for a gingerbread man cookie cutter.  I was embarrassed to be asking for one - you'd think all grandmothers would certainly have one, and this one did, but I have hunted high and low and can't find it.  I ended up getting a set with two pretty small gingerbread men cutters and one Christmas stocking shape.  Not the nice big one I know I have somewhere, but it'll do if I don't turn up my big one that was my mother's and I used when my kids were growing up.  That's the real McCoy, if I can just find the darned thing.