Winter

December is upon us in all it's glory. We have experienced a drastic change in weather over the last week.

My last post was about our eventful "vacation" in Arizona, and the rays of sun we soaked in over the course of 8 days. The final day of our visit, my Dad treated us all(my family, my brother, his wife and 4 kids) to a day at the Desert Museum. I was sweating in a tank top, jeans and sandals and I consumed more prickly pear cactus iced tea than any woman in her right mind should, especially a postpartum woman with a weak bladder. eek!

The next day when we de-planed in Seattle, freezing snow-tipped air whipped our hair in frenetic motion. We were suddenly very cold. Frozen white flurries continued during our entire drive North, across the border, and until we reached the front door of our welcoming home. It definitely felt like Christmas was coming. Our little girl had fallen asleep in the car, but I knew she would be excited when she saw the snow the next day. We settled the kids and then lit a fire in the wood stove and bundled up for the night.

When we awoke the next morning, the world outside our window was a blinding white. Nearly a foot of snow lay silently on the remnants of our garden, the rails of our rickety fence, the edges of our roof and gutters. It was breathtaking. The roads were silent, schools were cancelled and no one seemed on their way to work.

That first week back, my husband stayed home two days out of necessity. It simply wasn't safe to venture out without 4 wheel drive. The first two days were too cold to play in the snow and the powdery texture was too cold and dry to stick together for a snowman. By the third day, we were able to brave the chill. We dressed warmly, built snowmen and enjoyed an intense snowball fight with my husband and I, Alley and uncle Jack.

The pipes in our garage, connected to the laundry, froze solid and we were without a washing machine for a few days. I was grateful to my mother-in-law for allowing me to cart over a few buckets of smelly cloth diapers to be washed as we worked at de-thawing.

It felt bizzare to go straight from sun to snow, as though we slept through autumn. But the drama of the weather change has propelled us into the festive spirit of Christmas, of beginning to remember, of celebrating Advent.

I hope each of you in your corners have a chance to be quiet, to sit still, and to remember Bethlehem during this season of Christmas.