(Winter) Please Don't Take My Sunshine Away

Christmas is long over, and our family is [for the most part] long past the days of TOYS at Christmastime.

It's a bright, sunny, and cold morning.  As I'm sitting at the kitchen table reading some blogs, the sun streams through the sliding glass door meeting our homemade suncatcher in it's path.  It brings a smile to my face as I recall our Christmas morning, and the kitchen "toy" my hubby received.

You see, this year for Christmas, my sweet hubby wanted... a mandolin slicer.  And so, on Christmas morning, after all of the gifts were opened, and everyone began the serious business of checking out their goodies, our girl made her way to the kitchen with Daddy's new mandolin.

Slowly and carefully (man, the blades are SHARP!) she cut an orange into thin, thin slices.  She sprinkled some spices on each slice, and baked them on a cookie sheet at a low heat until they were dried out.

As I write this, the morning is snowless, with green-ish grass and leftover leaves whirling in the breeze.  Though all of the Christmas decorations are long-since stored away, I am sitting here with a smile on my face remembering our Christmas morning... and the slicing of an orange.