It must be Spring...SOMEWHERE!!!

As I sit in my kitchen I can see my yard is full of light.  It is not sunlight...it's reflected sunlight.  The snow in my back yard is causing me to go blind...will it ever be spring? 

I skyped with a dear friend the other day in Oregon and she laughed as she could see all the snow out in my yard and exclaimed, "Callie!!!  It's green here!  My bulbs are in bloom!!!"  Half of me wanted to cry.  Most of me wanted to go back to bed and escape all the white.

I've often been asked..."How do you live in such a place?!?!?"  Good question.  So I've been trying to think of things we do around here to escape the cold and snow that constantly surrounds us for at least 6 months of the year.

Here is what I've come up with:
1.  We eat.--not just a little but a lot!!  We surround ourselves with the foods we love, the foods we hate, and the foods we love to hate but eat anyways because they are so delicious and tasty.
2.  We sleep.--not just a little but a lot!!  It's dark outside by 6pm anyways so sleep should come easy and you can't go out in the yard to play games with the kids until 11pm...you're face would freeze!
3.  We read.--we read books of all kinds to help us forget that there is snow outside piling up that will break our backs if we shovel it.  We read to escape the reality that there is much heavy work to be done outside in the cold.
4.  We potato.--ah, the couch.  Watching TV is a wonderful past time in winter.  It's an escape all its own and we love to find new things with which to let our mind escape the cold blustery days and nights.
5.  We exercise.--some of us a little and some of us a lot.  (some not at all, let's be real here...)  If we are doing lots of eating then lots of excercising would be a good thing to keep our minds and bodies invigorated.
6.  We play.--games, games, games!!  Everyone can be entertained with a good old fashioned game.  The ones we play here vary from Monopoly, and The Game of Life to Perudo, Greed, and Sequence.  Games are fun!
7.  We cuddle.--grab a blanket a book and one of the cute people in your home and cuddle up!  I know snuggling with my kids and reading a story is always a way to escape the cold...and it builds relationships all at the same time.
8.  We watch.--as I look out my window while the snow falls, I watch to see what is happening...is it falling hard or softly?  Is there a wicked wind blowing it all over?  Is it a blizzard?  Is it the right kind of stuff to play in and build snowmen?  Every snow fall is different.



the snow outside our front has provided much entertainment for our kids and their friends!

 9.  We do.--we do things in the snow that people who don't have snow can't.  We toboggan, build snowmen, snowshoe, ice fish, skidoo, snowboard, ski, build forts, and let it fall on our tongues.  We throw it and throw ourselves in it.  We do things that allow our creative energies to flow from our very core.



2 buses and a delivery truck all stuck at the same time on one day...ridiculous!

 10.  We help.--such a climate gives us opportunities to get to know our neighbors with shovels and with brute force.  Many of us get to know our neighbors from the act of pushing them out of the place their car is stuck...perhaps dogleds aren't so crazy after all in this climate.
11.  We remember.--it will leave.  Sometimes when we're deep in the freeze we can't remember what it was even like to have grass, trees, and flowers all around us.  We forget about the smell of the campfire with marshmallows roasting  or the sound of the lake lapping at the shoreline.  We remember though, that the snow will melt, the birds will return singing and the grass and flowers will grow and bloom again...and we are grateful.