There is a world of white outside the window. It takes 3 times as long to get the kids dressed to leave the house. Roads are suddenly much narrower. You need to allow extra time to clean the snow off the car before you can drive anywhere. Last year's excitement about the upcoming Canadian winter is missing in action. Yep - winter is back.
It's not all bad though. There is something particularly magical about watching gentle flurries fall while setting up a Christmas tree. Even as an adult I feel excited about Christmas here, just because it feels more like Christmas. This is despite having grown up with hot, sunny Christmases. Speaking to another Aussie (who has lived here for about 13 years) she agrees that she'd pick a winter Christmas over a summer one every year.(Although we both agree we'd rather have a hot New Year's but you can't have it all!) The backyard becomes a winter landscape for the kids to play in. It's perfect weather to curl up with a hot drink, eat hot dinners, sleep in on weekends. The Christmas lights come on in the afternoon, so young kids can actually enjoy them. The local ski fields are slowly opening up their lifts and runs. What's not to love?
Last year, the twins were not mad on winter. They started walking after the snow had already fallen, so never really got the hang of being outside. This year, they are off to a slow start, but are slowly getting used to being out in the snow. Of course, trying to get their thumbs into their mittens (and then getting them to keep their mittens on!) was a challenge, but they are getting into the routine of what needs to be done to go outside and starting to be more helpful. They love being dragged around the yard on a sled, and are quite fascinated by how Miss 4 madly throws herself around in the snow. Hopefully another couple of weeks and they'll embrace it a little more.
Miss 4 has no problems with the snow and the cold. The first really big fall we had was on a school day, and was the lovely, sticky snow that clings to everything and makes the world pretty. It is also perfect for snowman making. When I dropped her off at school that day, her teachers were excited too - as soon as they were all in and role taken they headed straight out to build snowmen and play in the snow. What a fun experience - one that is pretty special for an Aussie kid to have. I had also bought some snow brick makers and hubby built an igloo for the kids to play in. We are making sure to take plenty of photos as the kids are too young to really remember and might not believe us when we tell them we had an igloo in our backyard!
Apart from the snow, things have been going along as usual. Miss 4 has had some more birthday parties; of course! One had a high tea theme, and when I arrived to collect her I found her eating mini cakes and drinking pink lemonade out of a miniature china tea cup. Another was a pizza party, where they made their own pizzas for lunch and even the cake looked like a pizza! We've also had lots of playdates with the usual friends, including one lovely friend whose mum picked Miss 4 up from school for me and took her home for the afternoon before dropping her home. It was a very quiet afternoon at home indeed!
Christmas themed events are also appearing on the calender now. Last weekend, hubby's work had a Kid's Christmas party. We decided that the twins were probably a little young (as it was a sit still and watch a magic show event) but Miss 4 had a lovely time, ate pizza and hot dogs for lunch and even got a gift from the jolly man in the red suit. It was a craft activity, which she finished with me within half an hour of getting home! And on Friday, the school had it's Christmas concert, where we were entertained by students from Kindergarten to Grade 2 as they sung various holiday and winter themed songs, including a lot in French. What they lacked in ability, they certainly made up for with enthusiasm, especially the younger years. Miss 4 is still singing "Il neige, il neige" as she plays in the house. We were also lucky that the twins could go into their classroom to play while the concert was on, as seating was pretty tight and they are very wriggly.
We've also managed some grown up socialising. We had friends over for pre-Christmas drinks (before they flew out for the holidays) which was good fun, as our kids all play pretty well together so we mostly got to sit and chat while they ran around. We also had a night out in Byward Market for a friend's birthday. Hubby and I snuck in a quick dinner first before meeting at the pub for drinks. A group of us then went out dancing which was great fun. They played a lot of cheesy 90s music (Baby Got Back, Salt 'n' Pepa, Bon Jovi, Spice Girls) so we had a blast dancing and singing at the top of our lungs. Of course, the next day my feet hurt from dancing in heels, my ears were ringing from the loud music and my voice was croaky from having to yell to be heard (and I was tired of course!) but still loads of fun and worth a little bit of pain the next day.
This weekend was been interesting, in slightly unexpected ways. Our only plans were for a dinner with hubby's work friends Saturday night, so we spent the day at home (a maximum of -20) baking, hanging out, basically having a quiet day inside. Then at about 1:30 we see smoke billowing out of a house over our back fence, as well as flames. The fire brigade turned up pretty quickly, but it took them a while to get it under control. Of course, they cut the power while fighting the fire, and we lost ours too. So it was very cold, it gets dark at 4 and we had no power so no lights and no heating; and we were supposed to be going out at 6:30 and leaving the kids with a babysitter. Hmmm, now what?? Much time was spent negotiating alternate plans that involved the kindness of friends and neighbours, and at 5 when it was really too dark to function, even with candles, and the house was getting chilly we went to the neighbours across the road to hang out with the kids. Just as we were about to call our babysitter and pick up all our supplies, our power was back. Phew!
So we made it out to a lovely dinner (I finally got to meet some of hubby's colleagues who he talks about), but of course (never a dull moment) a winter storm came through. So it was a very careful drive home on roads where you couldn't see any lines, although at least we did have the foresight to park at City Hall which has underground heated parking :) Woke this morning to about 20cms of fresh snow. It was some fun outside time for the kids, with much milder weather then yesterday (only -10). The afternoon has been spent finishing everything that we couldn't do yesterday with no power (decorating gingerbread, the washing in the dryer, this blog!)
The last few days of school are coming up and it will be nice to have a break from getting everyone out the door in the morning. (Of course, they'll probably get bored and restless and I'll be counting the days until it goes back!) It's all about Christmas from here on in, so I'll let you know how that goes. Merry Christmas!
