The First Noel

This photograph, taken in the living room of our house on Dubuque St., is now 28 years old.  It was our first Christmas in Iowa.  We had a newborn and a 2 year old, we were working crazy long hours and we barely knew anyone.  Despite how that sounds, we were happy in our new home community.
And here we are, almost three decades later, still feeling the glow we felt that very first year.  The warmth comes not from the weather, which when we first moved here was can't-start-your-car cold, causing me to learn that the flashpoint of gasoline is -40 degrees, a fact I am not the least bit happy to have reason to know.  It is considerably warmer most of the winter these days, but there is no diminution in the warmth that comes from within.  The Danish concept of Hugge is something that I associate with the friends and acquaintances I have here, and at the holiday season it seems like a good time to reflect on that.