tiny flakes of snow were falling earlier today as I sat at my laptop looking out across the creek… I spent time this morning finishing up decorating the tree…  it has many more purple and silver ornaments on it now…

it also has a purple star from my Advent Calendar and a gorgeous silver dragonfly which arrived in the mail yesterday from Cyndi…  she purchased four of them and sent one to me, one to Crystal, one to Ron and kept one for herself…  she thought we could each have one so that we would remember the others and “be together” over the holidays…

I was surprised when it arrived, and she was surprised too, because she had only mailed it at 3:30 pm the day before I received it…

I think of the surprise of discovering how much I am cared for by my colleagues…  following George’s death their subsequent outpouring of thoughtfulness and kindness was a wonderful surprise for me…  you know you have good colleagues, but their great gentleness to and for me was a reminder of what caring people are out there…

after working the late shift tonight I spent some quality time with a wonderful woman and had lots of fun in the process…  the final surprise of the day was how late it was, as the time had flown by…