Bright
sunshine – snow – cold.....we've only managed a temp of 19 today
and there's enough north breeze to keep an even lower wind chill.
I've managed so far with going on the back porch to the trash can
once, and I checked the mail about an hour ago. Sadly, the mail
hadn't come yet, so I'll have to open that north-facing door again.
Hubby
was energetic enough to get out this morning and clean our front
steps and walkway, brush the snow off the vehicle, and clean the end
of the driveway where the street crew had gone by. It's so nice to no
longer have to get out in the dark, wee hours of the morning to get
everything shoveled out in time to go to work! Hubby always left at
5:45 a.m., so we were usually shoveling in the dark. Now we can do it
when we want.
Even
though it's just January 2nd, several of the smaller
schools had planned to start classes today. With the snow, they ended
up canceling. That surprised me, because I don't ever remember
starting back from Christmas break that early. In fact, Christmas
break always seemed interminably long to me. In reality, I think we
were out for two weeks, or maybe a day or two longer than two weeks
if we started break on a Thursday.
Sometimes
I felt like that Christmas break took longer to get through than
summer. At least during summer break there was a lot to do. The first
week of Christmas break was all good. Sometimes my December 21st
birthday would fall at the beginning of the break. Mom's side of the
family often had their Christmas gathering on the Sunday before
Christmas. There would be the Christmas program and gift exchange at
church. And the grand finale, Christmas Day itself.
Once
Christmas was over, the days would get longer and longer. Because it
was winter, and cold, there wasn't a lot of activity in the
neighborhood. Other than the farmers going by to feed cattle and the
mailman (who was also a neighbor) coming by, there wasn't much
traffic. We had no phone, so I couldn't kill time by talking to
friends to compare Christmas gifts.
If
the weather cooperated, or I didn't get sick, we could enjoy going to
church the Sunday after Christmas. But there wasn't a lot of time to
compare Christmas gifts with everyone between Sunday School and
church, and Mom always seemed to frown at us from the front of the
church if she saw us whispering during church services.
By
the time we would get back to school, Christmas was almost old news.
We all still needed to talk about our Christmas gifts. When we were
in early elementary school, I seem to remember that would could get
by with bringing our new Christmas dolls to school that first day
back. Other than that, it was just talking about what gifts each of
us had received. And honestly, by then I would always end up
forgetting something. It had just been too long!
I
always had to be a little creative when sharing what gifts had been
under the tree. For reasons I never understood until I had my own
children, Santa always seemed to think my underwear and socks needed
to be replenished at Christmas. I mean, new warm knee socks were
great......but I always figured Mom and Dad could take care of that
and Santa could have brought something that was a little more fun and
definitely sounded more exciting when sharing at school!
Older
daughter teaches school now, and I'm sure she isn't ready for break
to be over. She steam cleaned her carpets......then ended up doing
the same procedure in the cold garage to her car – she and her kids
came to see us Tuesday, and evidently the 5-year-old whirlwind gets
carsick just like her Mama used to. Poor daughter spent almost an
hour after they arrived here doing laundry and cleaning everything
that had been in the back seat. She steam cleaned the upholstery that
evening after their drive home. She could probably use another break.
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