For a smile as wide as a country sunrise

Hello everyone on this Christmas Eve day! Time certainly flies doesn’t it? And so soon we will be starting a new year. I guess you are all getting your last minute preparations done for Christmas. Perhaps traveling a little. Having family over. Cooking and preparing everything for a delicious meal. Kids…of all ages, are probably getting excited. Some people are wishing for snow to arrive on time for a brilliantly white Christmas. Why, I have no idea. But it seems a lot of people want snow for Christmas. Personally I would rather have no snow for Christmas. But that never happens around here. This year is probably as close as we would ever get, with only about 6 inches (15cm) of snow on the ground. And it is going to be very mild, close to melting actually. Such a nice thought.
And with those warm thoughts, let’s see some warm pics…

Some different white orchids, plus a couple other colors joining in the fun.
I think these were my favorite orchids of the bunch, just beautiful. All of these orchids, and more, were at the Parc Phoenix in Nice, France. It was amazingly humid in that building where these were located, but definitely worthwhile to walk through and see them all, plus other things as well.
I hope you all have a great day and a very Merry Christmas!
Steve and Muffin.
© 2019 Steve McLeod.

I thought of this poem while watching my squirrel digging through the snow. With so little snow it’s easy to see where he goes as he digs his tunnels, since they are not quite hidden from view. And this took place on one of our coldest days.
Running, playing in the snow,
How he does it I don’t know.
There he digs his tunnel now,
Moving fast, just like a plow.
Soon up pops his little head,
Should be brown, he’s white instead.
Little squirrel having fun,
Every day he likes to run.
With little snow I can see
Him digging fast, wild and free.
There he goes, now turns around,
The fun he has does abound.
It’s hard to know why he would
Come play outside, when he could
Stay nice and warm in his home,
Yet, in cold, he likes to roam.
Down again, he digs through snow,
Having fun, look at him go!
© 2019 Steve McLeod.