I remember reading The Long Winter (part of The Little House on the Prairie series) when I was younger and experiencing long, cold blizzards that blew for weeks on end right along with Laura Ingalls. The trains were stopped on the tracks. The town ran out of food and coal. The wind never stopped blowing. The last two days were a little like that. We didn't run out of food or coal though. But the wind! I woke up in the middle of the night last night because I thought I heard something.... silence. No wind. Today I'm running off to the store to stock up on supplies before the snow!
Yesterday, we braved the cold and wind to visit Santa at the mall. Because we don't watch TV, and my kids miss out on a lot of commercials, they treat a visit to Santa much like a trip to the dentist. This was an opportunity to go somewhere, meet some interesting people and talk to them (meanwhile embarrassing their mother), and maybe getting a snack out of the deal. Of course with the icy wind, we had to bundle up. I think S was a little confused. He thought we were actually going to the North Pole.
Santa was good. He did his piece perfectly. Except he said, "Those cookies you left for me last year were delicious." IJ says, "Oh. I don't remember leaving you cookies." Because we didn't. I quickly asked if the reindeer would like something after their journey and Santa said they would like some carrots and maybe some apple slices. "I think apples from Washington are the best," he says. IJ returns with, "I think apples from Costco are the best."
The kids asked for seven snow leopards (IJ), five kitties (S), and a stuffed monkey (E). Again, they don't watch commercials and don't know to ask for expensive game systems or Hannah Montana or Pokemon or anything like that. But I don't think Santa carries live animals on his sleigh (and we have enough wildlife around here).
We will get the picture scanned and up sometime today.
