Some things you cannot wrap

Yesterday we had a beautiful snow fall. However it was not very nice for anyone that was travelling.
Our brother and sister in law took 4 hrs for a two hour trip. They arrived safely at my mom in laws but are heading back before the ice storm comes tomorrow.

In the photo above are my cross country ski tracks. I went during the heaviest part of the snowfall and 'broke' a trail across the 60 acres of cropland on top of the ridge.

The views during the snow storm was amazing. It seemed as though the sky and the ground disappeared into each other.
It was mesmerizing.

Even when I went through a section of woods to short cut, the views were amazing.
I hate driving in this stuff.
I love, love, love walking, snowshoeing, and cross country skiing in it though.

Your world is wrapped in a blanket of snow fallen silence.

I took my little pink pocket camera and dared to bring it out a few times to try and capture the essence of the silence. It was beautiful and overwhelming at the same time.

After dark I met up with my neighbor for cross country skiing.
We skied and made our way in the dark with my little headlamp shining the way with a red glow.
We laughed when we hit drifts that tripped us up.
No one was there to see us fall over in the snow.
At one point we both 'crashed' and just lay back and laughed into the night sky.

Eventually we made it around the huge field and ended back up the mailboxes where we had met.
We marveled in the night and wished we could have seen stars. We felt a light mist coming down on our faces.

We talked, we chatted, we laughed. We didn't solve the world's problems but we did enjoy each other's company.

And this simple thing was a gift that cannot be wrapped.
Friendship.
Merry Christmas to me I thought as I walked back down the driveway towards our house parting company with my neighbor.

What a magical night.