I think we hit single digits last night. By the time I began work on breakfast, the thermometer registered a meager 12f (-11c).
There is a dusting of snow, which is like you licking the spoon from the mixing bowl even as the frosted cake is hidden for another time or another person. Oh, how we would all love some real snow right now! I say this having just sold my cross country skis and boots on Craigslist and unpacked a new pair of both, made necessary by the fact that I outgrew my ski boots (did you know that an older person's foot gets... wider?). A new boot unfortunately needs a new binding and so the twelve year old skis became obsolete. Capitalism at play! So I am dying to try out practically the last Rossignols still available on the marketplace! People are crazily buying out Nordic skis -- I blame the pandemic. Or supply chain issues. Or both. In any case, for me, new skis happen once in a blue moon. I am so ready for the thrill of a new skiing season.
Obviously we are not there yet.
In the meantime, I am back to packing a suitcase and wrapping presents by the tree. (With my cookie break there as well.)
We all try super hard to hit it just right with the kids. (The grownups these days post wish lists: we are done with guessing the needs of big people!) Skis for Snowdrop are one big hope for me. (Sparrow gets a pair of play skis which are an iffy thing as he was not so much into the snow last winter. If Primrose comes up during the winter, she can try her hand at skiing as well, since the skis don't require a special shoe.) Snowdrop claims to really want to learn. But of course, we need the weather to cooperate. Oh, for a snowy season!
Fact is, the kids always surprise us with their chosen favorite presents or toys. As my daughter commented -- nothing, absolutely nothing we will give Snowdrop for Christmas will bring her as much joy as the stupid paper badge she wears every single day proclaiming that she is an "Official Word Detective." We don't know where it came from or what it stands for. We have all taped up the tears dozens of times. She wears it to school, she wears it at home. She'll probably wear it to her wedding -- there, over a beautiful dress, a paper badge proclaiming she is the "Official Word Detective."
Speaking of Snowdrop, here she is, leaving school. All these days she has come out bundled up to the max. Today, by far the coldest day of the year and she is without her jacket, without anything at all. Go figure.
Lately we've been playing this game we made up called "there is no Santa Claus." I challenge that claim with evidence that I produce of there being a Santa, she takes apart my challenges. She is in that delicious phase where she really doesn't buy into it anymore, but she doesn't want to let go of it either. Much like her other worlds of fairies and magic.
And in the evening -- here at the farmhouse, all is calm, all is bright. And that's such a good thing!
