First Snow & Decorating
Recreating that lost post from a few weeks ago...
Our first snow came the weekend following Thanksgiving. That Sunday morning we woke to a thick blanket of snow. It was just enough to get excited about! After a long holiday weekend and the promise of finally decorating the Christmas tree, we opted to stay home that Sunday morning. The kids got all bundled up in their snow pants, boots, and winter gear and headed out to play in the snow. I'm glad they did because by the lunch hour it was all but a memory.
Later that morning we got around to finally decorating the Christmas tree. I say finally because the kids had been begging all weekend long. We had planned to decorate it earlier in the weekend but when we went to set it up it didn't go as smoothly as it should have. No big surprise really, I don't think it ever goes as smoothly as it seems it should. Our pre-lit tree had large sections of lights that didn't light up! This is the 4th time we've setup this tree and the first time the lights didn't work. So Carie set out to fix it. She did awesome and got it all working from top to bottom. It just took a little time and patience from the little people.
The actual tree decorating went a little more smoothly than it has in the past. As part of the preparation for this experience, Carie and I separated all of their special ornaments so they each had their own tray to focus on. That was much nicer than having 6 grabby hands digging in the big tub of decorations. Then after all of their very special and fragile ornaments were hung they dug into the delicate (but easily replaceable) family ornaments. They all stuck with it until every last ornament was on the tree.
Most of the outdoor lights were up prior to Thanksgiving. Everything on the roof gets put up close to Thanksgiving before the weather turns really cold for us. Thanksgiving night we turned them on for the first time, an exciting time for the kids and the kids at heart. Since putting them up a section of lights decided that working was optional. Thankfully it is the strand at the end by the chimney and not in the middle. Then more recently part of another strand at the other end went out. With temps at a -20, they'll just have to stay that way!
We did get lucky with a couple more nice days of weather and we put the finishing touches on the outdoor decorations. We ended up decorating more than we ever have on any given year. If it would have been colder, we would have likely just put out the last few items and called it good.
The weather has been wild, as usual with nice comfortable days mixed in with really cold days. A couple of weekends ago we had a nice Saturday with temps in the 40's followed by Sunday with a -44 degree temperature swing accompanied by strong winds and a bitter cold wind chill. I suspect that Saturday was our last nice day that we'll experience for a good long stretch. We literally begged the kids to go outside and play. Now they are begging to go outside and they can't.
Since that first snow fall we've had a couple more light flurries. It's been disappointing, really. The kids are so excited to see the snow falling but there hadn't been any accumulation. Mid last week we woke to snow and accumulation! Unfortunately it is too cold and too dangerous to play outside. I did finally stop and get our snow blower and shovels from storage. It was the first time we needed to clear the driveway and sidewalks.
The driveway and sidewalks were all clear until Thursday night when the sleet fell upon us leaving a huge layer of ice over everything. I managed to get the snow off, but the ice wasn't going anywhere. Then again on Saturday morning we woke to more snow. Unfortunately I didn't get to the driveway before it had been driven on several times. I figure now we'll have to wait until the temps get above the freezing mark before I'll attempt to clear it. Too bad we don't have ice skates. Or maybe ice skates are optional? It was warm enough for the kids to go out on Friday and they took full advantage of it. Abby ended up with a nice bruise to the cheek bone thanks to Ellie’s boot. Something about ice on the slide and accidents happen. All is good.
Our first snow came the weekend following Thanksgiving. That Sunday morning we woke to a thick blanket of snow. It was just enough to get excited about! After a long holiday weekend and the promise of finally decorating the Christmas tree, we opted to stay home that Sunday morning. The kids got all bundled up in their snow pants, boots, and winter gear and headed out to play in the snow. I'm glad they did because by the lunch hour it was all but a memory.
Later that morning we got around to finally decorating the Christmas tree. I say finally because the kids had been begging all weekend long. We had planned to decorate it earlier in the weekend but when we went to set it up it didn't go as smoothly as it should have. No big surprise really, I don't think it ever goes as smoothly as it seems it should. Our pre-lit tree had large sections of lights that didn't light up! This is the 4th time we've setup this tree and the first time the lights didn't work. So Carie set out to fix it. She did awesome and got it all working from top to bottom. It just took a little time and patience from the little people.
The actual tree decorating went a little more smoothly than it has in the past. As part of the preparation for this experience, Carie and I separated all of their special ornaments so they each had their own tray to focus on. That was much nicer than having 6 grabby hands digging in the big tub of decorations. Then after all of their very special and fragile ornaments were hung they dug into the delicate (but easily replaceable) family ornaments. They all stuck with it until every last ornament was on the tree.
Most of the outdoor lights were up prior to Thanksgiving. Everything on the roof gets put up close to Thanksgiving before the weather turns really cold for us. Thanksgiving night we turned them on for the first time, an exciting time for the kids and the kids at heart. Since putting them up a section of lights decided that working was optional. Thankfully it is the strand at the end by the chimney and not in the middle. Then more recently part of another strand at the other end went out. With temps at a -20, they'll just have to stay that way!
We did get lucky with a couple more nice days of weather and we put the finishing touches on the outdoor decorations. We ended up decorating more than we ever have on any given year. If it would have been colder, we would have likely just put out the last few items and called it good.
The weather has been wild, as usual with nice comfortable days mixed in with really cold days. A couple of weekends ago we had a nice Saturday with temps in the 40's followed by Sunday with a -44 degree temperature swing accompanied by strong winds and a bitter cold wind chill. I suspect that Saturday was our last nice day that we'll experience for a good long stretch. We literally begged the kids to go outside and play. Now they are begging to go outside and they can't.
Since that first snow fall we've had a couple more light flurries. It's been disappointing, really. The kids are so excited to see the snow falling but there hadn't been any accumulation. Mid last week we woke to snow and accumulation! Unfortunately it is too cold and too dangerous to play outside. I did finally stop and get our snow blower and shovels from storage. It was the first time we needed to clear the driveway and sidewalks.
The driveway and sidewalks were all clear until Thursday night when the sleet fell upon us leaving a huge layer of ice over everything. I managed to get the snow off, but the ice wasn't going anywhere. Then again on Saturday morning we woke to more snow. Unfortunately I didn't get to the driveway before it had been driven on several times. I figure now we'll have to wait until the temps get above the freezing mark before I'll attempt to clear it. Too bad we don't have ice skates. Or maybe ice skates are optional? It was warm enough for the kids to go out on Friday and they took full advantage of it. Abby ended up with a nice bruise to the cheek bone thanks to Ellie’s boot. Something about ice on the slide and accidents happen. All is good.
posted by Sonya at 7:09 AM
2 Comments:
Everything is so beautiful. Now I really wish we had more space for a bigger tree and a normal house (we're on a slope) so we could put up lots of lights!
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