We trudged through the deep snow up the hill to a Hanukkah party yesterday, pulling the girls in their sled. We were invited by some new friends of ours so a lot of the folks there were unfamiliar to us. It turned out to be a very welcoming and warm group and the girls were way into the dreidels, the chocolate gelt and the challah bread. These were familiar items to them since we'd done some boning up on Hanukkah with a few books from the library. They were excited to see the manorah being lit and listening to how Hanukkah came to be. As we left the party one of the other guests light some sparklers that her kid had stuck in his pocket on their way out the door. We watched them flash and sparkle and then die out, and then we walked home through the dark of the early evening, pulling the girls in the sled right in the middle of the road because it had not yet been plowed, feeling the fat flakes fall on our cheeks and lips and hearing the quiet of a snowy night.
It was in many ways the perfect way to acknowledge the solstice. I have been kind of grumpy lately about the snow we've been having as I spend most of the time trying to find ways to navigate through it with two preschoolers and Hannah's walker. In my pre-kid days, I would be buckling into my snowboard and floating down the mountain on the fresh powder, whooping with delight. Now I wonder how we'll ever incorporate snow sports into our family routin, which can feel pretty isolating as just about everyone we know does something to commune with the powdery white stuff: snowshoe, ski, backcountry ski, snowboard...
But last night I realized we can still find ways to be out in the beauty of a fresh crisp snow. It might be different than it used to be, but there is magic to be found on a quiet snowy walk. The girls felt it, too. They were giddy and giggly and pink-cheeked and happy the whole way home.
So with the passing of this solstice I'm going to try to welcome the new ways we appreciate winter in our family (even if I still curse it occasionally!:)
3 comments:
What a beautiful post. I hope your holidays are wonderful.
nice post. our family, too, loves to ski and snowboard and be in the mountains. we have thought the same things as you... how our family will be able to still do those things. but we live near lake tahoe and a resort there has an adaptive ski program that is amazing. people w. all kids of disabilities are getting down the mountain in sleds, on harnesses, whatever! so i think there is hope to get on the slopes, as well as enjoy a quiet snowy night!
nice post. our family, too, loves to ski and snowboard and be in the mountains. we have thought the same things as you... how our family will be able to still do those things. but we live near lake tahoe and a resort there has an adaptive ski program that is amazing. people w. all kids of disabilities are getting down the mountain in sleds, on harnesses, whatever! so i think there is hope to get on the slopes, as well as enjoy a quiet snowy night!
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