Winter is Here

The New Year is here. I'm feeling good about it. I had a chill New Years Day, ate my pork and saurkraut, gathered around the fireplace, relaxed.... The New Year brought some frigid weather to us. It's been unseasonably cold. The average temp in January where we are is 59 degrees, last year on January 2nd, it was 68 degrees. We never put away our summer clothes and flip flops here.

The weather is calling for snow tomorrow. Actual snow! Every few years we might get some snow flurries or an ice storm but we haven't had visible snow here since February 2010.

I'll never forget it- the kids were young then, 4 and 6. It was a Friday night and they had foretasted snow for a few days. We waited all evening, but nothing. We put the kids the bed at 8 and put on a movie. It started to snow at 11 pm. We debated waking up the children and finally decided to. Who knew when we'd get snow again? You only live once.

We shook them awake. "Guys, get dressed, it's snowing." They rubbed their eyes and rushed to the window with excitement. We bundled them up and went outside to play in it. I watched them in the glow of the street lights, the big fat snowflakes falling from the sky, and the palm trees in the background. There was something magical about it.

My oldest loved it. We made a tiny snowman and snow angels. My youngest was confused. She did not like how cold it was. She'd come outside for a minute, deem it too cold, and go back in, then come out and go back in. "It's too cold, mama. I don't like it," she said in her tiny baby voice, her blonde curls spilling out from under her knit hat. She was so darn cute.

We made kettle corn and hot chocolate and stayed up half the night. It snowed almost 2 inches.The kids still remember that night. It's the only time that it snowed here in their entire lifetime. Needless to say, they are very excited about the prospect of it snowing tomorrow.

My oldest asked, "Can Hollister Boy come over when it snows and we can make a snow man?"
Yes, things have changed in 8 years.

Certain things are off limits to talk about here, for my kids privacy. Generally, boys, friends, anything they would find embarrassing. Too bad, there are some hilarious stories I keep to myself. So, I won't say too much about Hollister Boy.

He is a friend of my daughter's and has been spending quite a bit of time at my house over Christmas break. They mostly just sit on my couch, watch Rick and Morty and look at memes. He's respectful, a nice kid. I like him well enough, as much as a parent can like a teenage boy who has their daughter's picture as his phone screen.
                         
So, Hollister Boy will come over and I'll make hot chocolate and we'll wait for the snow to come. I have some coal and carrots. I wish I had a top hat. I'm going to make the kids build a snow man so I can get a picture of it in front of our house.

If it's another 8 years until it snows again, I will be an empty-nester. There won't be children to build a snowman. The girls will be 12 and 14 this year. I'm not even going to think about it. That's how I deal with unpleasant realities- I just pretend they don't exist. If running away from your problems were an Olympic sport, I'd have a gold medal.

                   
Thankfully, the snow and cold will be short lived. It's supposed to be 63 on Monday. Thank goodness! I am not made for cold weather. Also, I need to clean out my garage.

It's really unacceptable. I'm trying to get my shit together this year so I'm starting with the garage. If you don't hear from me for a while, send a search party.