1. Traveling to Lenox, Massachusetts (and taking walks in the neighborhood) has become one of my family’s more recent Christmas traditions.
2. There’s a little pond not far from the house we rent, covered with cattails. It froze somewhat unevenly, making cool patterns in the ice.
3. It’s a topography that’s still familiar to me, even now that it’s been over ten years since I lived in New England.
4. I love the way the air is crisp, even on a slightly overcast day, and the way the sun feels closer than it does in France, even when it’s ten times colder.
5. The roads are cleared pretty much immediately after snowfall, so we can walk as far and as often as we like.