December is upon us now. In my town it is nearly 75 degrees today so it hardly seems bleak or midwintery. This poem put me in a chilly state of mind which always helps to move my Christmas spirit along. Yesterday we visited our family in Granbury. Mom, Skylar and Aunt Billie decorated Grandpa's house in Billie's over the top Victorian Christmas style while Dad and I cut cedar branches and picked bright green gourds from the woods at Blue Branch Ranch. Last night Skylar and Wolf and my parents and I played tag in the park among the twinkling lights of the Granbury square. We ate dinner at an old renovated gas station that smelled of hickory and pinon smoke from the fire pits out front. We drank hot chocolate and roasted marshmallow cappuccinos (even though the air conditioner was on in the coffee house). Then we walked back to Aunt Billie's house to have a "camp out" in her living room. A fine start to December even if it was warm enough for sandals.