White Christmas 2015

A month ago we had a white Thanksgiving at my mother-in-law’s place in Mount Shasta. That was a wonderful surprise, considering it doesn’t often snow that early any more.

Fast-forward four weeks. We’re back in Mount Shasta for Christmas, and look what Mother Nature has given us:

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A white Christmas!

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In all the years I’ve been coming to Mount Shasta (including the two years we lived here in the 1990s), I don’t think we’ve ever had both a white Thanksgiving and a white Christmas.

All the photos in this post are from Christmas Eve. They were taken on my mother-in-law’s property and at her neighbor’s. The roads hadn’t been cleared yet so I didn’t want to drive anywhere.

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Santa in the barn

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LEFT: Western redcedar  RIGHT: Rhododendron

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Snow clinging to tree trunks

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I love the filigree of the tree on the right

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More redcedar

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Giant sequoia (Sequoiadendron giganteum), the last tree my father-in-law planted. It’s just a small sapling now, but it will live forever—and Dick’s memory with it.

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Phyllostachys vivax ‘Aureocaulis’

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Grandma’s house glimpsed through the trees in the backyard

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Grandma’s house, front yard

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Unplowed driveway

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Fresh snow

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Bench under the towering cedars

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The deer doesn’t seem very happy in the snow

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Miscanthus sinensis ‘Super Stripe’

The next set of photos are of the neighbor’s house.

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Manzanita covered with snow

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Mountain ash

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More manzanita

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Cabin in the woods

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This cabin was moved from somewhere in the nearby national forest

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I always feel transported back in time to the Gold Rush

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A few more photos at my mother-in-law’s house:

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Icicles near the office door

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Rain chain

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View from the living room window

While I don’t like the cold, I’m loving the picture postcard views all around us. Christmas couldn’t be more perfect. And in just a few days I’ll be in Arizona where things will look very different.

Comments

  1. Simply lovely and so "Christmasy" for those of us who don't often see snow first hand. Thank you for your always beautiful photos.

    ReplyDelete
  2. All beautiful, but that barn -- it was planned for a day just like this, wasn't it? So beautiful!

    The cabin later in the series is good too, but doesn't have the impact of the barn. I think maybe I need to build a cabin somewhere that has snowy winters just so I can enjoy the view. :)

    ReplyDelete

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