I'm starting with a photo from my own yard. This icicle is 53 inches long and hangs from the corner of our house.
You have to understand that we live in a semi-arid desert and severe winter weather is very unusual for our area. Located in a banana belt, we typically don't get a lot of snow, although we do get a cold spell toward the end of December or the first of January.
This year, that cold weather hit around Thanksgiving and there were a few days when the wind chill reached almost 20 below. We also got tons of snow, about 10 to 12 inches over a two-week period.
This is a picture of our Santa Post Office that is located each December at Pioneer Park. Children drop off their letters to Santa and I volunteer my time to answer each one.
It can be quite an eye-opening experience. Last year, a family of four siblings all wrote heart-rending letters. From the youngest in elementary school to the teen-age daughter, all they asked for was some food. Their parents were having a tough time and food was very scarce. It was absolutely the saddest letters I've read in the years I've been doing this.
My husband and I also help deliver Christmas baskets to needy families, which is a program through the volunteer firefighters. When the day is done, there is always some food left over. Those items are then taken to the food bank, but we also gathered several boxes and delivered them to those children who wrote those sad letters.
That made my Christmas extra special last year.
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