Our White Christmas in Kilgore

We drove to Kilgore after spending Christmas Eve in Dallas. The candlelight service we attended with Nana was magical. This year, more than any Christmas before, we wanted to be with family.

And the magic wouldn’t end in that historic cathedral amid the candles and singing of Silent Night.

Although the weather forecast had predicted snow, we weren’t anticipating it on this Christmas Day.  Snow in East Texas is pretty rare and even more so on Christmas.

Late in the afternoon, snow flakes starting falling from the sky. We all ran outside to see for ourselves. We all stood there is disbelief.  It seemed like a dream.

The flakes would get bigger and bigger. The snow kept falling for hours into the darkness.

We woke up to see snow covering everything.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

And we soaked up the magic.

 

 

 

 

 

 

We knew it wouldn’t last very long.

 

 

 

 

 

 

It would melt as soon as the temperatures rose.

 

 

 

 

 

 

There is stillness in a snowfall.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Beauty.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Calmness.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Quiet.

 

 

 

 

 

 

We took the kids over to my mom’s house to sled down the big hill. My eight brothers and sisters would slide down the hill when it snowed when we were growing up in that same house. It didn’t snow very often, so we used cardboard boxes instead of sleds. On this day, we tried to do the same thing. It worked once. There wasn’t enough snow for sliding but there was enough for snowballs!  We didn’t last much longer because it was still below freezing. We aren’t exactly used to such frigid  weather.

We decided to head downtown for some hot chocolate.

And I am so glad that I had my camera with me.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

My hometown is beautiful but  even more so during the holidays.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We took our hot chocolate upstairs to the 2nd floor of the coffee shop.

I was able to take some pictures from a view that I wasn’t expecting.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We told stories to the kids about the various buildings that were newly dusted with snow.

I can still hear the sound of my shoes walking on that wood floor of Longhorn Drug that was housed in the bottom of this building.  You had to go to the very back to make your purchase, when “charge it” meant sending the bill to you in the mail.

They listened intently.

 

 

 

I love how great care has been taken to preserve the buildings.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Some of them are more spectacular than they ever were before.

 

 

 

 

 

 

And the street scene is just as beautiful for window shopping

 

 

 

 

 

 

Or a stroll around the square.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A white Christmas is pretty rare in my hometown.

But the sense of belonging to some place extra special is in abundance.

 

 

 

 

 

Stay Sassy Y’all.