Winter Fun
Let's not mince words - winter is my least favorite of the seasons. This time last year I was experiencing a much different kind of winter. The frozen solid kind. The arctic wind kind. The breathe-in-and you-can-feel-icicles-forming-all-the-way-up-to-your-brain kind. I've had approximately 8 of these prairies winters, and trust me, they're nothing to shake a stick at. I grew somewhat used to them though, and I can remember even on some of the extremely cold days in Winnipeg (-20 or so...maybe not so much when it reached -30 or 40)), I would bundle up Hudson to the max, cover his stroller with a thick blanket, get myself in a parka and a few scarves and walk downtown for a few hours.
Now that I am back in the Valley, I have to get used to this kind of winter all over again. Grey, damp, and gloomy. I've already purchased a sun lamp to beat the constant grey skies, if that shows you how well I'm dealing with it! Even on the most miserably cold days in Saskatchewan...Alberta...Manitoba...the sun shone and the skies were clear.
Overall though, we're finding ways to enjoy this time of year. Despite the business and stress of moving into a new place, we've still been enjoying the season and getting outside when we can, even when overcast skies make me want to stay parked indoors.
At Mission's Candlelight parade. Always a FAVORITE event of ours when we were kids! My only complaints this year was a) Lack of spotlight b) Not enough gangham style dancing (I kid...one float was enough) c) The seriously idiotic people behind us who decided to light one up in the middle of the parade (seriously - there were kids everywhere!! You know you're in Mission when...)
Several minutes after we pulled up to the tree farm, who shows up but my sis and her husband! We didn't discuss getting trees together at all. And then a little while after that, who should show up but my other sis and her husband! And my triplet sense wasn't even tingling that day!
My ribbon from last year was in a giant tangle, so I cut up a few strips of burlap and wrapped it around. I love the finished effect!
Hudson loves the tree - and as an added bonus, isn't trying to rip off all the balls this year and throw them around!
Playing outside in the snow - yes, snow! We moved up a few hills, which means when the world below gets slushy rain, we get the white stuff!
Having fun making footprints.
Besides all this good stuff, we also had a visitor from out east just last weekend. Ty's auntie Martha came out from Rosenort for about a day and a half on Saturday and Sunday. She came for a difficult visit - she was in Abbotsford seeing a close friend and mentor who is in palliative care at the hospital. It was nice to have her here though - she said she was very thankful we could offer her a bed and a few car rides while she was out, but Ty and myself both agreed that we felt like we were the ones who were blessed by the visit. While we're going through this transition, it has been great to see a few friends and family (friends of ours from Winnipeg were out here visiting in the summer and we caught up with them for an afternoon) from Manitoba. It's funny though - I feel almost right away that I start using some of the phrases I did while in Manitoba, and my prairie accent gets niiiiiice and thick (if you don't believe me, ask the cashier in Wal Mart who nodded knowingly when I said I had moved from Manitoba, and said, "I knew it - just a bit of a french accent mixed with something else").
So I'm hoping the next stretch will be full of positivity, and settling in to all our many changes. Hudson in particular has been stressed out by the move. He told me yesterday, "Go home, let's go home. See grandma." Obviously he's not quite understanding that this is our new home. In time though. And right now, with Ty having secured full time work and me not getting calls for my job very often, it is very good that I am able to be around for my little boy, and be that consistency for him.
Off to go sun myself for a bit and then get going on a quick before-Christmas project (sewing some stockings...only I don't even have a chair for my sewing desk yet, so last time I had to perch on a cardboard box, which of course inevitably collapsed under me...so we'll see how this goes. Let's just say I get a GREAT squat workout out of the deal).
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