With snow last weekend and more expected this weekend, we are all in snow mode.

I was a senior in high school, and I was failing calculus. I had to be. I hadn’t understood a word the teacher had said for months, and I couldn’t recall passing a single quiz.

Our younger son was afraid he wouldn’t find a book he wanted to buy. Then he spotted a book on a display and made a beeline for it.

There’s no sign that says, “Jesus,” with an arrow.

You never want to see a business close, but seeing a local, family-owned business shut its doors after many years in the community is especially sad. So I was really sorry when I saw that Greetings & Readings is set to close later this month.

We had so many cousins to enjoy over the Christmas break. There were gifts and food and football games.

That single tree—a tree I had barely noticed before—was apparently such an obstruction between our homes that our paths had barely crossed. Once it was gone, we saw each other almost every day.

We step into the New Year with faith that each of us can help make the world a little better.

I can’t remember the last time I laughed as much while baking.

Christmas is coming, and bit by bit we are getting ready.