Alide by Emma Lazarus

As the winter approached, Goethe was obliged to pass the greater part of his time in the city, though, to say the truth, he was there as much absorbed by the image of Alide as while he remained in her presence. Thus he availed himself of every conceivable pretext to ride over to the parsonage, to pass the long, pleasant evenings in that happily-united circle, and return through the frosty red dawn to his occupations in Strasburg. The joyous Christmas festival, celebrated with so much quaint and picturesque ceremony in Germany, afforded him the opportunity for an unusually prolonged visit.

They enjoyed together all the healthy winter pastimes, no less varied than the sports of milder seasons; the long, rapid drives and rides over the frozen ground, or in sledges through the snowy fields, the merry skating adventures upon the ponds in the vicinity, and the cheerful evenings in the snug inclosure of the library, where all the family gathered around the blazing logs of the great open hearth and listened to him unweariedly while he read aloud or recounted to them many a winter's tale.