A small town
and quiet in the
slack winter season
one general store
a gas station
a few rows of vacatiion homes
cabins mostly
nothing fancy
but lovely in the snow
with long icicles that dripped
in the bright December sun
and in the night with stars
a half dozen carolers
singing their way
along the street
past the house we'd rented
to spend Christmas
with brothers, sisters
sons, daughters and inlaws
who love doing picture puzzles
silly presents
wine and cider
a flurry in the kitchen
leading up to dinnertime

Then in the morning
off to hike Mount Lassen
on cross-country skis
up the slope of the volcano
quiet now but only
a hundred years ago
smoke and ash that rose
over thirty thousand feet

Our hike ended at a pool
of bubbling sulfur water
a pungent reminder
of the planet's inner heat
and a chance for us to take off
our mittens, warm our fingers
before gliding back
down the slope on our skis

This year with the virus
the numbers rising steadily
we'll be holing up at home
trying to keep safe
for our own sake and for others
it makes it all the sweeter
to think back just a year ago
how the family gathered
in Mineral California
and spent the days of Christmas
delighting in the company
and treasuring the quiet
of the mountain and the snow