And while I’m at it: Fröhliche Weihnachten, Feliz Navidad, and Merry Christmas.

The future Baron is here, and he is doing the cooking, which is fortunate for both of us. I may be somewhat truant in my posting today, but there will be a news feed tonight, as usual.

The Great Christmas Storm of ’22 only touched us lightly here in the Central Virginia Piedmont. We had a lot of cold rain on Thursday, and then the temperature plummeted all day Friday, with gale-force winds that flash-froze the mud. That night it got down to about 5°F (-15°C), and it stayed bitter all day yesterday. But it’s slightly above freezing today.

There was considerable ice and snow further to the north and west, with power outages and blizzard conditions. I consider myself fortunate to be here with nothing to worry about other than frozen ground and a car that is somewhat sluggish to start.

I laid in a good cellar in advance of the future Baron’s visit, so we will have a festive time.

I wish all my readers a glorious Yule.