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:

A white Christmas!

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.

Santa in the barn

 

LEFT: Western redcedar  RIGHT: Rhododendron

 

Snow clinging to tree trunks

I love the filigree of the tree on the right

More redcedar

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.

Phyllostachys vivax ‘Aureocaulis’

Grandma’s house glimpsed through the trees in the backyard

Grandma’s house, front yard

Unplowed driveway

Fresh snow

Bench under the towering cedars

The deer doesn’t seem very happy in the snow

Miscanthus sinensis ‘Super Stripe’

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

Manzanita covered with snow

Mountain ash

More manzanita

Cabin in the woods

This cabin was moved from somewhere in the nearby national forest

I always feel transported back in time to the Gold Rush

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

Icicles near the office door

Rain chain

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.