Holiday Cheer at Crossroads

Sturgeon Bay, Wis. (December 1, 2025) – “Holiday Cheer “is  the theme  for the  December Luminary-Lit Hike at Crossroads scheduled for December 12, so we are hoping for snow. These monthly walks along candlelit trails take on a special charm when gently falling snowflakes drift through the trees.

But in this dry year, water in any form would be welcome. Admittedly, the dreaded “wintry mix” can make driving and hiking a bit dicey, but as participants in our Science Saturday program will learn—it’s all water.

Water can be a solid, a liquid, or a gas, and in this week’s Saturday Science program, “States of Matter,” which is geared toward elementary-aged kids but open to learners of all ages, we will explore this absolutely essential but rather strange substance we call water.

Even in summer, precipitation usually starts out as snow. Now we are in what meteorologists call a transitional period, which means almost anything can happen. It’s cold in the clouds, so water freezes into ice or snow crystals. If snowflakes pass through a layer of warm air—meaning above freezing—they melt into raindrops. Even in summer, turbulent air is common, but it usually allows raindrops to make the trip from cloud to ground in about ten minutes or so.

But during this unstable time of year, the journey can take quite a while. There can be updrafts and downdrafts, and it’s windy up there. Snowflakes tend to fall flat side down, but as they pass through different layers of air, they twirl, tumble, drift, and sometimes break into pieces or clump together. If the air is very dry, flakes can sublimate—turn directly from solid to gas. And sometimes, flakes melt and then refreeze, turning into sleet…or, if the water freezes on contact with an object, it becomes freezing rain.

And then in December, often there’s graupel. Unlike sleet, which is icy atransparent, graupel consists of small, soft, opaque white pellets of ice.

This week at the edge of a season, any or all of those conditions are possible. But there will be holiday cheer inside the Collins Learning Center, which by then will be decked with boughs of—well, probably Norway spruce. And if you find yourself chatting with your poinsettias, you may enjoy the Master Gardener Growing Together educational webinar “Are My Plants Listening to Me?” on Monday, December 8, at 1:30.

Learners of all ages are invited to make Nature Greeting Cards using materials from the preserve on Tuesday at 3:30.

The weather outside may be frightful…or gorgeous, or just blah… but whatever the weather, there’s always something to do at Crossroads.