Snow - here! - demanded a slow and peaceful walk through our favourite forest trail. The trail was beautiful and the weather was perfect. Not so cold that we were uncomfortable, but cool and crisp enough that we arrived back home with pink cheeks, eager to warm up with a mug of hot chocolate and a bowl of butternut squash soup.
I've never liked winter, especially growing up somewhere where "winter" meant feet of snow and temperatures as low as fifty below zero (Celsius). Here, though...here, I could get used to winter, I think.
I've finally learned to love fall, with its delicious spiciness, its warm pumpkin treats, its beautiful colours. I hold hard to summer, hating to let it slip away, but letting go means I can embrace all of this autumn glory.
Winter is more of a challenge. My hope is that this will be the year I discover the joy in it. Warm drinks, cozy blankets, hot fires, the joy of the holiday season - there's no shortness of things to love about this time of year. So why is it so hard?
Perhaps more days like yesterday, lovely long walks followed by nice hot drinks, will give me a nudge in the right direction.
Speaking of hot drinks, we ended our date on Saturday with a delicious peppermint mocha for me and hot chocolate for him. I can't even remember the last time we went on a date, just the two of us. I think it was shortly before this little bundle of now-eleven-month-old joy was born. It was time, and I'm glad we went. We took in a movie, sipped our hot drinks while walking through a bookstore, and came home to two perfectly content little boys and one much-appreciated babysitter.
Oh, and we got to talk - uninterrupted! And talk we did. Parenting, politics, religion, entertainment, the works, with no crying baby or three year old I-just-want-to-be-included-in-the-conversation interjections. We put the kiddos to bed and continued to talk late into the evening.
It was perfect.
it sounds perfect indeed :)
ReplyDeleteI used to love the idea of winter when I didn't really have a winter...and enjoyed the actual winter for the most part as well now that I have one.
sounds amazing!
ReplyDeleteMy husband and are in the middle of our adversary week (the date of our legal wedding and the ceremony that took place in a different country). I'm SO hoping to have a little date like this before it's all over.
Sounds so lovely!
ReplyDeleteI love winter, or the idea of it. I keep praying we are going to get sent to some wintery climate where I can full take advantage of boots, sweaters, scarves and coats.