Saturday December 5, 2009

I descended the stairs in a fog, and began calculating, “How many times did Timothy wake up? What time did Samantha try to climb into our bed? Eeerrr. Urrgh. Coffee. I need coffee.”

As I reached the last step, Samantha appeared and said, “My Mummy! I love you, Mummy!”

The day just got a little more bareable. I squatted down to give her a hug. Timothy giggled and patted her on the head.

Coffee Search!!

As I prepped breakfast for the fam, Sean gives me a big kiss. This day is getting better.

Then he announces, “It has begun.”
“What?”
“The snow. It’s snowing.”

As I look out the window, a wave of excitement comes over me. “It’s snowing, Samantha! Come look. It’s snowing!” Doing the dance of joy. “It’s Mummy’s Christmas present from God.” Samantha and I danced around the room as the snow fell outside. Sean looked on and laughed. He thinks I’m a little batty.

More calculations. How many times have I seen snow? I think this was the 6th or 7th time in my life. And to see it from start to finish – 12 hours of continuous snow fall, plus watching it disappear over the next 4 days was indeed magical.

We began to discuss our plans for the day. “Do you think we can still visit Karen today?” I asked.
“Sure, it should be okay. We’re only expecting a couple of inches. It looks pretty light.”
The snow got heavier and heavier over the next hour as we prepared, and I asked 3 more times if he was comfortable driving in the snow.

No problem. Let’s go! so we loaded the kids in the car and set off.

Again, I was giddy with excitement, watching the snowfall and singing Christmas carols as we drove through a Winter Wonderland. I finally got to live the Christmas carols, if only for 2 or 3 days. Woo hoo!

The snow got heavier as we drove into the foothills of the, and the road was very icy. People drove like maniacs in the snow, with Semi-Trailers tailgaiting us and almost running us off the road. Just about everyone was speeding.

After an hour of driving, we were only half way to Karen’s house. and Sean was done. We’d passed several spinouts and accidents and we realized it would take us another hour, and they might close the roads due to icy conditions. So we stopped at McDonald’s for a coffee break and turned around.

Thankfully both the kids slept the whole trip. Not a peep from either of them.

Another magical moment for me was as we pulled into the community we were staying in. They had ornate lamp posts that I hadn’t even noticed before the snow arrived. But with the back drop of snow, I started bouncing like a little kid with excitement. There’s no logical explaination. Somehow that lamppost in the snow said, “Christmas” to me, and I loved it!! Yes, it looked like the Narnia Lamp.

When we got home, Samantha immediately ran out onto the back deck with me and we started playing in the snow. By now it was about 2 inches deep. Sean came out and we made a snow man together. Then, in the evening Sean and Samantha built another snow man in the front yard of our neighbour’s house, then they all went sledding together. I couldn’t join them, cause I didn’t have snow clothes for the Little Man, so we stayed in the warmth of the house. It was hard to keep hat, gloves and coat on Samantha, and by the time snow play was done, she was down to her thermals and Daddy’s wind cheater. Thankfully we had a nice warm fire to warm her toes and fingers by.