Winter Wonderment

A few hours ago this afternoon, it snowed. It didn't last very long, and in the words of the meteorological station, there were "no significant accumulations". You know, the postcard-perfect fondant-looking icing over everything: the branches of trees, sloping roofs of brick houses, park benches.

The snow was more like a sprinkling of floating snowflakes. At moments, it looked like a strong fan was blowing the tiny snowflakes around. I was sitting at my study desk at home, facing the balcony, reading an article for school, trying to write a reflection piece, and getting distracted. Reading quickly yielded to snowflake-watching. Thus, the FB status update: Reading by the window and watching snowflakes float down from above. Dear reader, I wonder what image came to your mind, reading that sentence? Would it have made a difference if you had read it without the context I just provided in this paragraph?

The white specks are the snowflakes. Tim took this picture when we had that other 'snowfall' in Jan, but it looked pretty much like this today. Yes, just twice so far. 

I know snow has all these connotations of curling up cozily by the fireplace, snug and warm, and maybe with a cat nearby. But to be honest, this was very much an everyday kind of afternoon. (Furthermore, not long after, I had to leave for a practicum at a school, which involved snow-weather traffic jams.) So when E mentioned snuggling up with loved ones by a fireplace in her comment, I found myself thinking... I wish that too, but it's just not what's happening here now.

So when we found ourselves in Grandpa H and Grandma J's cozy living room later that night, at that very moment Grandma J turned the fireplace on, I thought oh wow... Jaw-dropping wonderment. We were there for pizza and movies, and rambly talk about gardening and more movies and food after. And yes, we were comfortably ensconced in large armchairs, with the fireplace on. So reader, I did end up snuggling with loved ones by a fireplace this winter's day. Presenting yet another perfectly orchestrated moment, where ordinary is transformed into extra-special, simply because of a God who cares to bring delight to human hearts.

Said fireplace, back at Christmas - after all, that was when this all started

Postscript:
.: Grandpa H & Grandma J are friends from church we met through Tim's Bible study class. They've showered us with love and treated us like family - which we are, because we are in Christ.