Winter is here

The Christmas festivities have started, the snow is here, the cold is here too (yuck). Gavin keeps saying he wants to go to Chrismes (Christmas). I am a bit of a humbug and would probably rather go right past Christmas. But we all do things we don't like for our kids right!

We had a very busy weekend. On Saturday we went to Joan's in Airdrie for their Festival of Lights celebration. There was fireworks and a train ride for Gavin. Val, Rick and Megan joined us. It was great fun. Joan even had a gingerbread house for the kids to build. Very sweet - ha ha.

When we got home the house was really cold. Wes realized that he had accidentally turned the heat way down. So he turned it up and we went to bed. In the morning the house was actually colder. For those of you who are not in Calgary right now it was around -23c Sunday morning. He realized that the pipes that go under the addition he just added were frozen. Yeah! So we went off to church and to Mom's after for dinner. Wes went home and worked on the heat. He got it up and running but at 8 pm the temp in the house was still only 15c. So we stayed at Mom and Dad's for the night. It made for a long commute for Wes but it also allowed the house to heat up again and we are home thankful for warm houses!

You know we forget how lucky we are. My Grandmother's people settled in Southwest Saskatchewan and it would have been very very cold in their homes. You'd have to keep a fire going all the time just to make the house livable. That means collecting and chopping lots and lots and lots of wood by hand. Can you imagine?

It is funny - when we were at the graveside where Grandma was buried - I was completely awestruck by the landscape. Grandma was buried beside her people. It was neat to see the tombstones of our ancestors, but the land was truly the most barren I have ever seen. It was early August and HOT. It was dry as a bone. As you stepped little puffs of dust rose from the ground. There were hills as far as the eye could see - few or no trees - and just rugged shrubby bushes and grasses. Wow! This was where her family had come to farm? I was shaken.

It was so surprising to me because of the way Grandma spoke of her family's home. She talked of her childhood home as the most amazing place. She knew they were poor but didn't care.

I guess we all feel that way about our growing up years. They really are a magical time. I truly hope my kids feel that way - although they won't be able to talk about the prairie winds and the prairie storms. For now they are city bound - but hopefully they will love their memories too.