I should take a picture of Aki, who looks pretty cute in her Christmas-red sweater. Instead, I am drawn to the new ice formed last night on the beaver pond and the frost/snow mixture that brightens the bare alder limbs. A layer of snow clouds with a table-flat top and bottom, as if being squeezed by invisible presses, pulls my camera lens away from the little dog and my daughter, whose boots crunch on snow-covered beach gravel.

         Mallard ducks search for food, apparently unaware of us or that it is Christmas Day. I should tell them, because it is Christmas, thank you for spicing up winter gray with their party-colored feathered coat. Because it is Christmas, I should thank God for His gifts of nature and Love.