We had our first dusting of snow of the season this morning. It's finally cold here, and I have a feeling it's going to stay so that any precipitation we get from now on will be snowy or icy. Today reached 34º tops, and tonight through the night it's going to drop to 22ºF. The little bit of snow we did get really wasn't anything to complain about, especially considering what Canada has had dumped on them over the past couple of weeks. It was just enough to start to feel like the holiday season.
I've been listening to the radio and lots of Christmas music with the girls. It's been a long time since I've kept Christmas music on willingly unless it was Christmas Eve or Christmas day. When I worked in retail, Christmas music was all I heard daily for 12 hour shifts from July through the New Year. That's a lot of Christmas music, and much more than my fair share.
This year is different. All three of the girls are old enough to enjoy the season, and learn carols. They're old enough to get excited about seeing snow falling, even if they don't much enjoy playing in it. Anneliese is a trooper when we drop Grace off at school and pick her up, but she doesn't want to stay outside in the cold. She wants to get in the car and back in the house as soon as possible. When cold wind hits her face, she covers her face and declares "OH YUCK! MY EYES!" or she giggles and says "TOO COLD!" A daughter after my own heart, that one.
I was just thinking that it's been getting dark so early lately, and now for the past two days combined with the coldness (32º right now, for instance) and the touch of snow, that's definitely contributing to feeling like the holidays. I think it's also the fact that for the first time in something like 14 years, I'm waiting at a morning bus stop again! Hearing the elementary school children talking about Christmas coming and being excited about the snow definitely adds an extra element to the atmosphere.
Last night was a rough night, mainly because one or two of the girls were in my bed at any given time. Anneliese absolutely refused to sleep in her crib, but fell asleep in Grace's toddler bed. When she awoke from some bad dream or something, she came crying into my room. I don't think I got any sleep at all between midnight and 4 am. Somehow, at 5 am I had 2 crying girls in my bed, and I couldn't soothe them. I didn't have the patience to try very hard though, because I kept waking out of the dozing I did manage to do, from a cold sweat and a throat that felt on fire. I've had that burny-eyed feeling that accompanies feeling sick... the itchy sinuses and lanky hair... the throat that's so sore that it's finally just numb. Although that could be from pouring hot tea down the gullet for most of the day.
Even feeling like all I wanted was to go back to bed and ignore the world, I still had my two darling little princesses home with me and in silly, giggly moods today. They kept my spirits up and made me laugh , so they needed a reward. And I wanted nothing more than to create a wonderful memory with them, something they'll remember feeling, even if it's just in a dream when they're old and I'm gone, so we made chocolate chip cookies. If you want the recipe, look on the back of the Nestle Tollhouse Morsels bag ;-). I let them have a fistful of chips each, and I let them have the beaters. I sat in front of the oven with them and watched the dough melt, and then rise. We shared the first hot cookie together, even though it was almost too hot to stuff into our mouths. We put the cookies away in the cookie jar together, and washed the warm, delicious sweetness down with some some icy cold milk. When Juliana came home from school, we opened up the cookie jar and shared some still-warm baked goodies and washed them down. Milk never ever tasted so good.
No comments:
Post a Comment