This is how a Sunday afternoon should be - snug, peaceful and laid back. I sit here at this computer now, peering out of a second-story window that overlooks a riding ring and a pasture that is covered with a thick and quieting blanket of snow.
My Palomino, Mariah, and Mary Ellen's Quarterhorse, Hoo, are playing together at the far end of the pasture by the tree line on the ridge, throwing their heads and chasing each other, while the pony and our Appaloosa look on from a short distance away.
Snow has been falling on and off for three days now. We've got a little over a foot of the white stuff. Somehow, it's comforting and Christmasy to me. I'm relaxed now.

- I finally made peace again this year with the fact that my Dad isn't around. For some reason, it was tougher this year than in the five Christmases since his death. But I'm fine now.
I have a picture of him on top of this computer monitor. He's laughing in the picture. Makes me feel good to see it. People say that I'm the spitting image of him...He was a DAMNED good looking guy!

- Plenty of food in the freezer. Plenty of wood in the basement and in the pile out back. All of my kids are in their respective homes. All of my friends are safe and happy. All the animals are content. Hell, I say "Let it snow!"

- Christmas presents are all wrapped.
I don't care how corny this sounds - while wrapping presents today, I put on a Bing Crosby record. There's just something about that voice singing "White Christmas" and "Silent Night" that makes me feel SO GOOD!
I remember happy times as a kid when the family would gather around the TV to watch Bing's Christmas Specials. He always ended every one of them with "White Christmas."

- As we do every Saturday and Sunday morning when we're home, Mary Ellen and I had our coffee in the hot tub. There's something wonderful about it being 21 degrees outside, snow falling on your head, and sitting in the hot tub with your Honey drinking coffee and talking about the day to come.

- My friends mean a lot to me, and I've got a lot of them. Most of them keep in touch via the telephone. Some do it with emails. Others with text messages. Still others via facebook.
No matter what the medium that's being used, the messages all have the same effect on me. They make me feel good and loved. I sure hope my friends feel the same thing coming back at them from me!
I usually see a bunch of them every week, particularly on Sunday evenings. (Stein night at The Main Street Pub.) Not this week though. The roads are covered with snow.

- Mary Ellen and I are HUGE UConn Husky basketball fans. (We live about five minutes from the UConn campus.) The Men UConn Huskies basketball team played Gonzaga last night in Seattle and won in a real nail-biter! GREAT game!
The Women Huskies play this afternoon at four-thirty. Can't wait.

- This morning, Mary Ellen told me that she believes that we are all put here for a purpose. She said that she believes that we are all here to either teach or to learn lessons.
She asked me if I believed that. (She and I have had many similar discussions in the past, and she knows that I struggle with the concept of a Universal Plan and a Higher Power.)
I looked out the window at our German Shepherd sitting in the snow and watching the horses frollick in the pasture. I smiled and said, "What possible things could Dixie be learning here?"
My wife didn't miss a beat. "Maybe she's a teacher," Mary Ellen replied. "Look at how happy she is! Dixie teaches me to just love life to the fullest all day and every day."
I love this woman SO MUCH!