"It's finally (looking like) Winter" faves

As many of you probably know from social media and the news, the Northeast had quite the snowstorm last weekend....in fact, it was the first snow of the Winter season for us! (we did have a little snow in late autumn)

"It's finally looking and feeling like winter" said my oldest girl.....and I do admit:  the snow when first falling down just looked gorgeous.  But then the frigid cold settled in.  And stayed for 3 days.  But there's always blessings to be found, even on cold winter days....so...here are mine that I'm sharing with the FFF Community.  You can learn more about us by visiting the host site where Susanne has the guidelines.

•  SAFE!  Our youngest (Claire) traveled back to NH early last Saturday morning in order to beat the storm that was heading our way.  Because it's a 4.5 hour trip, we wanted her to leave early. She was up until 3 a.m. packing because most of Friday was spent online taking her J term exam.  She received a 96% on the exam so that's an added blessing!  Then she was up at 7, and out the door by 9 with all of her stuff.  She and I prayed together before she drove off.  She texted us twice on the trip (once when she got to the Berkshires where thankfully it wasn't doing any freezing rain like predicted!) and once when she got to Worcester for lunch.  Around 2 pm she texted that she had made it onto campus in NH.  We were thrilled and most of her trip was sunny with hardly any traffic!  So thankful for that.

Tater Top Casserole

• COMFORT FOOD!  Saturday, after Claire left, I ran a couple of errands before the snow started and picked up a few  groceries.  I picked up the ingredients to make a Tater Top Casserole..something I had never cooked before.  It was the perfect Saturday evening dinner.  Our oldest daughter was staying home because the snow started falling at about 4:30 pm and it was coming down fast. She had been out the night before so I think she was happy to just stay put. She moved her car into the driveway behind Dave's (she usually parks in the street as is the last one out in the mornings).  We all LOVED this comfort food.  It was just so yummy and creamy. I made it with ground bison vs the ground beef that the original recipe called for.  You can find my recipe here. I was thankful for a cozy night in.

• SABBATH DAY!  Church was cancelled due to the storm...by Sunday morning we had a good 8 inches....and it was blowing and super frigid!  Our church was online as the sermon from the 5 pm service the evening before was recorded.  The 3 of us stayed in all day and this is what most of my day looked like:  Netflix shows, coffee, books, prayer time and devotions.  It was wonderful and I'm thankful we all were safe inside.

Monday morning

• SNOW!  Well, it sure looked pretty......we ended up with about 10 inches here I think in our backyard. It was a weird storm because the front only measured 8 inches...I think it was blowing and drifting alot...and in other place in Albany County they were reporting that there was 14 inches.  My two sisters who live north of me by about 40 minutes received about 20 inches and my sister who lives in the central part of NYS near the "snow belt" got about 25 inches.  So.....although it was so pretty, it was downright COLD.  I was thankful we had Monday off due to Martin Luther King Jr day and could stay in all day! Courtney had to go in and it took 3 attempts to start her car.  The temp when she drove off to work was -3.  I'm thankful she got there ok. I'm also thankful we got the white stuff now and (hopefully!) not in March.

• HELP!  During the middle of the afternoon when the storm was dying down, a man rang our doorbell and asked if we wanted him and his partner to snow-blow our driveway and shovel around our front porch. He said they'd do the entire thing, including where my Dave's and Courtney's cars were if Dave moved them out of the way and it would only cost us $30.  We hired them!  They were so thorough and such nice guys.  Then later that evening, after the town plow came through and packed the end of the driveway with snow, we were about to go out and tackle it, when our neighbor across the street was already doing it!  He did his own and then ours.  It was so nice of him so we ended up buying him a bottle of wine as a thank you.  His wife told me he loves doing it for people because he feels like being "a good neighbor".  We plan on paying it forward the next time there's a storm.  I'm so thankful for good neighbors!

That wraps up my faves....but I do want to add in that I'm also thankful this week for the power of prayer.  A couple friends of mine and I were chatting about some health issues and we promised to pray for each other.  I pray each day for these 2 friends and I know they pray for me.  There's such comfort in that and I truly am expecting to hear good reports from all of us! 

I hope everyone has a relaxing weekend and that if it's cold where you are, that you keep cozy!