We woke up this morning to the kind of quiet that only happens when the world is covered in white. Our first snow of the season, and our first snow actually living here at Bel Cavallo.

Last winter, we watched the snow fall from the renovation stage. Half-finished walls. Tools stacked where furniture should’ve been. We’d drive out just to check progress, walk the property, and imagine what it would feel like to finally wake up here for real.

This year, we didn’t have to imagine anything.

We stepped outside with warm mugs in hand and felt that soft hush settle over the farm. The pastures were blanketed. The barn roof looked like something out of a postcard. The horses were snug and safe in their barn. And the cats, well, they took one look outside and decided absolutely not, and went right back to their warm spots inside.

This year, everything looks different in the snow.

Because we’re finally home. We’re living the life we spent so much time planning, dreaming, and talking about.

And maybe that’s why this first snow hit us a little deeper.

It rolled the holidays right in with it, slow and peaceful and grounding. It reminded us how grateful we are to be spending our first full holiday season here instead of saying “maybe by next Christmas.”

Now it’s real.

Lights on the barn. Horses warm and cozy. Cats settled in early. The whole place quiet except for the crunch of boots on fresh snow.

We’ll spend this holiday season exactly how we always hoped we would:

Right here. On our farm.

Building traditions, making memories, and soaking in every moment of this place we worked so hard to call home.

Our first snow at Bel Cavallo feels like a gift, and the start of something really special.