Winter Wonderland

It snowed allllll day last Sunday, from 9 o’clock in the morning until after we went to bed. We had already had a couple of light snow showers this winter, but this was the first substantial snowfall of the season. It coincided with us putting up our Christmas decorations, so to quote the song, it’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas! 

On Saturday morning my parents dug out the Christmas tree and ornaments from the basement, and the kids went absolutely nuts! Andy and I had been out all morning running a few errands, and when we got back both kids were running around in nothing but their undies and a Santa hat! It was a pretty funny sight. 

That afternoon Ella helped my mom unwrap all the tree ornaments and decorate the tree. She was enchanted by all the lovely decorations, and especially like inspecting all the handmade ones. There are some she made last year, and also others from when me and my brother were kids. Ella and my mom also set up a mini tree in Ella's room, and my dad went out and bought her a small strand of lights for it. She is SO pleased with it. 

That night we went on a drive to look at Christmas lights like we did last weekend. We tried looking at lots of different houses, but in the end all both kids wanted to see was the giant Santa again.

On Sunday morning once the snow started falling I decided to get into the Christmas spirit my favourite way… by adding a splash of Baileys to my coffee. Mmmmm that certainly tastes like Christmas to me! 

Once we had a good few inches of snow Ella went out in the backyard by herself and built a little snowman. It’s not the biggest snowman you’ll ever see, but I’m impressed she built it completely on her own.

After Ollie’s nap Andy and I took the kids for a ride on their sleds to a small hill behind Ella’s school. What a difference in Ollie this year compared to last year. Last winter whenever we tried to get Ollie out in the snow he just stood there in his snowsuit like a big marshmallow and kind of moaned. I think he found it super hard to walk around in the snow - to be fair he hadn’t been walking long at that point. But this year he absolutely loved it, getting involved in snowball fights and exclaiming “Again! Again!” every time he went down the hill on his sled.

Sunday night I went on a walk with my parents once the kids had gone to bed. The scene was stunning, a white blanket of snow covering all the cars, roads and trees. Normally it is too dark to walk the path around the marsh at this time of year, but the light reflected off the snow to give us a visible pathway.

Upon returning home I helped my dad shovel the driveway for the second time that day. The snow was wet and heavy so despite the cold I was sweating by the time we finished. Bit of a pain to be shoveling snow at 9pm, but the upside was not having to do it when I woke up for work the next morning!

When I left for work on Monday morning it was like driving through a winter wonderland. The soft blue morning light against the snowy trees was just gorgeous. When I got to school I had about half an hour until my first morning so I went for a walk down the path behind my school. It felt good to be out in the crisp morning air, with the snow crunching under my feet.

Andy took Ella to school on her sled and he and my dad took Ollie sledding all morning. I think we’ll get a few days out of the snow before it melts later in the week when the weather is predicted to be a bit warmer. 

Although I’m pretty happy we are moving to a place without a winter like this for six months every year, I will definitely miss having snowy weather and dark nights in the lead up to Christmas once we are in Australia.