Winter Wonderland

"Snow, snow, snow, snow. It won't be long till we be there with snow."

--Bing Crosby, "White Christmas"

The above lyrics are sung while the main characters from the movie "White Christmas" are on a train heading for Vermont. Living close to Vermont as we do, and with the season's first big snowfall coming this past week, we thought it would be nice to go see Vermont with snow. It turns out that it is very charming.

First, we stopped at Quechee Gorge (right)

A nearby Vermont town, Woodstock, had its annual holiday festival, known as Wassail Weekend. We made the drive on Sunday afternoon to attend an event known as the Messiah Sing. It was a performance of Handel's Messiah, with the audience serving as the Chorus. Obviously folks have been attending this event for years, since many were very familiar with the choral parts. Kate and I mostly listened,

but enjoyed being a part of an area holiday tradition. Before the Messiah sing, we had some playtime on the Woodstock "green," which is of course made up of snow and ice this time of year (left)

It was not a great weekend for many in New Hampshire. The storm that brought the snow also brought ice and many downed trees. Over 200,000 people in New Hampshire were without power even through Sunday. Kate helped out a Red Cross shelter on Friday evening and remained "on call" for the rest of the weekend. Our prayers are definitely with those struggling to stay warm.