Winter happenings

I’m a little afraid to say this out loud, but I’m not totally over winter yet. I’m still into this whole thick sweater, steaming hot chocolate and hearty stew weather. The winter has been good to us. It’s given us lots of good snow and even some sunny days too! Those days are the best. Puts a smile on my face just thinking about them. Except they can really fool a sun-deprived soul. Over the weekend we had a super bright sunny day so I convinced Scott to go on a walk. It wasn’t long after we started walking that we were reminded sun is not synonymous with warmth, not even close.

We’ve been trying to experience this winter like true Finns, getting out there and embracing the white world. That’s how you’ve got to do it. You have to crave that sharp bite of frozen air on your face and relish in the numbness of your fingers. I’m not quite there yet, but I’m working on it.

So we’re just cross country skiing (way harder than it looks), ice swimming (just as cold as it looks), snowshoeing (right past bear tracks), and sledding (alongside all the small children). It’s the best. Yesterday we even tried curling! That’s not so much a typical winter activity, but it involves ice. And where there’s ice there is falling and knee bruises. Winter is not for wimps.

And on that note, I’m going to go crawl back under the covers with my cup of coffee and experience some more winter.