This holiday, we were lucky to spend a whole ten plus days with our family including, of course, Asher, our grandson. One of my favorite memories is a walk through the snow and sparkle trees one morning with Asher and his mother and our daughter-in-law, Caroline. We were in the midst of the fluffiest, lightest snow that poofs when you blow it, and it was piled on top of branches that were also covered with a quarter of an inch of ice. It was a blue sky, full sun day. Everything and everywhere was light.

We headed down to Otter View Park, near our house in Middlebury, where there is a trail that leads to Otter Creek, (which is really a river), through a wetland and bog. All was frozen, all was silent, all was winter at its most magical. Asher says, "AWOW!" and "snow" and "more." We walked, we watched for birds, we pulled the sled, we played with the snow. We went at Asher's pace.

I will remember the morning like an image in a snow globe that you turn upside down and watch as the snow inside the glass falls and swirls around a scene of children, and houses and evergreens. This day takes its place with my many snowy memories. This is a day that will always come to mind when I walk the path to the river, when poofy snow lands on my shoulders and hat, when I hear a toddler exclaim at the beauty of the moment. Fresh eyes, present moment, outside, winter, memories. Welcome to the winter of 2014.