Snowing Gently Under a Nearly Full Moon

It's been crunch time at work, and since I work from home, that means the potential for working all hours, barricading myself in my office, and barely stepping outside. Of course, it's been crazy cold this week, too, so work has provided the perfect excuse for not even venturing outside except briefly. Until just now, just before midnight. I had almost forgotten the dusting-of-snow forecast, but when I glanced outside and caught sight of the blanket of white over everything, there was no staying inside another minute. If you are reading this around midnight on Friday, don't hesitate to step outside - it's pure magic. It is snowing very lightly, and everything, every street and driveway, fence post and branch is completely painted in a thin layer of glittering, shimmering white. At 16 degrees, nothing is melting - every animal track, even my own footprints are sparkling with ice crystals. I become aware that the sky is oddly bright considering that snow is falling, and I look up and to the west and spot a few of the more prominent stars, including Sirius, piercing through the thinnest veil of cloud cover. And I realize that the moon is brilliant, too, and the entire midnight scene around me is bathed in light. I'm not sure how I can be seeing the moon and stars while it is snowing, but I am. I have to get outside more often, I think to myself. And I walk back through the night to our house under the stars.