EPIPHANY CONTINUES

Up early to shovel the snow.  Thank goodness it is light and fluffy, so the clean-up goes quickly and easily.  It's cold out, maybe 7 degrees, but there is no wind.  I find that boots, gloves, snow pants, fleece jacket, down vest, and a hat are all I need to protect me from the elements this morning.

My son has missed shoveling for the past five years --  four of them because he was away at college and one year because we had just about no snow last winter.  He missed the year of 102" of snow, so I need to retrain him on how to successfully shovel with the minimum effort for maximum efficiency.

After all, we are both in a hurry this morning.  He needs to get west of Boston, and I need to get to a concert in Maine. 

It's a sloppy, crappy, shitty mess out on the roads; even the highways spit up salt and slush all over my car.  By the time I get to my sister's house outside of Kennebunk, my once-white car is encrusted with brown.  I don't care, though.  The trip is totally worth it.  My sister's concerts are always worth the trip, not only for the music but for the venues.  Everything is breathtaking.

But, I cannot lie.  The most breathtaking thing I see today in Maine is my sister's Christmas tree.  It is perched on her porch, waiting for its turn in the woods to be mulched.  It stands perfectly tall and  sparkles with newly fallen snow on its branches.  Remarkably, the tree seems like it is part of the porch, as if it belongs there.

I know in my heart and my brain that the twelve days of Christmas are officially over.  Epiphany has just passed.  Coincidentally, today's concert is the group's Epiphany concert.  Truly, the only epiphany that I have today is how wonderful the Christmas tree looks all undecked on the deck, decorated only in the crystals nature intended for it all along.

This will have to hold me over for ten months until the holidays roll around again.  Well, that memory and the fact that my tree is still up and decorated and lit.  That's what happens when Epiphany comes on a busy and stormy weekend.  My sister's tree gets more time on the porch, and my tree gets to stay up a few extra days.

Happy Holidays, all.  It's not quite over yet, even though it is, but I'll enjoy the scenery until the bitter winter's end.