Crazy Cold on the Prairies

Snow Waves

Crazy Cold on the Prairies

You know it is REALLY cold when the weather makes the headlines on the prairies of Canada and uses words such as: intense,frigid, longest, coldest. I’m still not sure why they call it a “cold snap” because in my mind a “snap” is something that doesn’t last very long.  This cold snap has lasted over 6 weeks!!   This morning it was -33 C/ -27 F , the windchill -45 C.  My Canadian friends and family say: “Just for you Tammy. You get to experience a real Canadian prairie winter!”

I have to be honest with you, this is quite an adjustment for me. I don’t find that I am a natural at hibernating and I find the extreme of these natural winter elements  (cold, wind) push me out of my comfort zone and challenge my choice of attitude and action towards it.  How I choose to respond and look at what for me is a challenge can define the way I see the world around me. I am wanting to learn and hoping to grow. Phil and Alex, my real Canadian men, are loving the cold and snow and constantly encouraging me….and Amanda and I, who is staying with us for a month after having graduated this December from Wheaton college ... well, we joined the health club today. :-)

So once again it comes down to a choice and I can even say that because of the temperature there are so many things that I am thankful for on these cold prairie days !

Here are a few of them…

Walk in the snow with Amanda who just graduated from College and is spending some time with us up north!

The beauty of winter!

Time for tea with my hubby!

A warm home to play games together

Our favorite game "Settlers of Catan"

Cozy times of visiting with Oma!

...and I could mention many more :-)

A Fun, Full, Thanksgiving Week End!

Leaving the great white north..

Well, we woke up to snow, lots of snow, the morning of our departure for Minneapolis to meet up with Michael and Amanda for American Thanksgiving. 

Have you ever seen a Virginia license plate with a power cable wrapped around it'? What is that cord for, you ask?  Well, up here in the great white north, those of us who don't have a garage need to plug in our cars so that they don't freeze up and you can't start the motor the next day when you are trying to get your son to his 8 am violin lesson across town. So we have electrical outlets in our parking lots, even outside of some grocery stores...or we just leave our car running (to my environment-conscious daughter's horror).

A BFA Thanksgiving reunion

What fun to meet up with our two college kids and 14 other BFA alumni at friends in Minneapolis to celebrate Thanksgiving together.  

The Turkey Run

No, we didn't run after a turkey to catch and eat it for our dinner....that might be kind of fun actually. We decided to go on an actual 5 or 10 K run around Lake of the Isles in MInneapolis with our homemade T-shirts , which we all "enthusiastically" made that morning.

Turkey t-shirt production

 The Turkey Runners

Lake of the Isles, Minneapolis, MN

Thankful Hearts

It was moving to sit around a beautifully decorated Thanksgiving table enjoying a time of friendship, memories, yummy food and listening to our "kids" share what they were thankful for in the last couple of months. It makes a heart glad to listen to young people express their gratefulness...

...great friends at college

...a place to live after I finish college

...friends in my new Canadian school

...my sister

...a good supportive church

BFA Thanksgiving Gang

                        

We had some more fun, crazy days...and yes we did go shopping for the first time in my life on "Black Friday" at the Mall of America of all places. Enjoyed staying with our very good friends Scott and Lisa Countryman and their off-the-wall dogs, Gracy and Zoe.  Also got to witness live the engagement of Elizabeth Kronk, one of Amanda's very good friends,to Jon.