My grandchildren arrived late last night and today dawned gray, cold and uninviting, so we spent most of our day inside, keeping the day’s weather at arm’s length and establishing a new temporary routine for this next week.

With two of the three tucked away in bed at 9:30 and needing a thousand more steps to satisfy my minimum daily Fitbit requirement, I felt restless enough to take our black Lab for a quick walk around the neighborhood, having no idea that our gray day had morphed into a foggy, golden yellow December night.

My thousand needed steps turned into four thousand as I walked streets transformed from their normal personas into mysterious landscapes.

I felt like I’d been given an early Christmas gift.

A half mile into my walk I looked down and realized I might need at least one more gift underneath my tree this year….perhaps a pair of new walking shoes….

…or maybe just enough presence of mind to change out of my slippers before I leave the house.