A week before Christmas we had a highly unusual snowfall, almost 2′.  To get that amount all at once is fairly rare out here; to get it before Christmas is almost unheard of.  Not that it wasn’t pretty, it’s just not that much fun to deal with.

Wellfleet's December blizzard

Ok, that doesn’t look so bad does it?  Nah.  But you can’t really tell from the photo just how much of the white stuff is on the ground.

This might give you a better idea:

The courtyard behind the house after the blizzard

Are ya gettin’ the idea?  The cold weather stuck around for almost a week, and so did the snow.  Temperatures did finally start to creep back up above freezing on Thursday and we had highs in the low 40’s & 50’s for three days, so it’s pretty much gone now.  It did make for a white Christmas, the first one in the ten years I’ve lived here, so that’s good.

Speaking of Christmas, I hope everyone had a good one.  A good friend invited me over to her house for Christmas dinner with family & friends, which was lovely.  I made a chocolate-orange poundcake to bring, a recipe that could use a little more tweaking but was still pretty darned good.  I also made sparkling cranberries.  Those were just on a whim, a friend had sent a link to the recipe, they looked gorgeous & easy plus I had fresh cranberries in my refrigerator.  I’ve gotta tell you, they were really good.  Here’s a picture:

Sparkling Cranberries

Can you imagine a more perfect addition to a holiday table?  The best part is they can accompany food or just be eaten as a snack.  They are kind of addictive, though, so watch out!

Guest-wise, things have been fairly quiet around here.  Thanksgiving was busy followed by a totally dead weekend, then I had a stretch of about 8 days where there were guests every night and then nothing the following weekend.  That’s not so unusual, though.  The period between the holidays is often one of the slowest of the year and I’m fine with that.  I have a few guests this week and then we’ll see what the final holiday weekend of the year brings.

Here’s wishing everyone a happy, healthy and safe New Year.  See you in 2010!