Dearest Decemberites: As the Big Day looms, we welcome the end of a below-zero (-18°C) cold spell that called into question our residential standing as the best place on Earth to live, work, play, drive, and retire. JoAnn endured the chill with typical Swedish stoicism, until the siege’s third day, when she found Tom in …
Dearest Recipients: A heavily-adorned balsam fir shades the kitchen table. Glass shards of broken ornaments cling to the webbing between Tom’s frog-like toes. Sub-zero temperatures and deep snow drifts turn the backyard squirrels to peanut-eating frost wraiths. Thanksgiving leftovers change colors to signal the approach of holiday letter-writing season. In January, we traversed …