davidandmarta.blogspot.com: the long dark winter

at work, in the hospitals, in the news, across the state, country and world, we've all been told: expect a long hard cold winter. COVID cases started increasing rapidly in december, death rates were increasing and days were getting shorter, darker and colder.

at home, december is a favorite time. advent arrives and the celebratory mood is real, and the christmas decorations make our new house feel like a home. being together and at home is typical for our family around christmas, so despite the swirling of viral doom outside our walls, inside we held together, stayed home, and kinda just had a normal time enjoying our december.

the weather continued to be jaw droppingly beautiful, and we squeeze SO MANY moments of pleasure and joy out of the month, while emotionally preparing for the coming of the long dark winter.

we waited for the cold and the snow and ice by watching the sun go down pretty much every evening, a real benefit of everyone working from home as the winter solstice approaches.

every day birds birds birds gathered behind the house, collecting in groups to travel south. hundred of canada geese, bufflehead ducks, mergansers, coots, and tundra swans made a beautiful view and cacophony every day. photographing it is nearly impossible.

david and i went for a paddle on that cold lake, and the water was so slow and viscous. it was a glorious winter paddle on the lake.

indoors, the christmas cactus got the memo and started her annual bloom (and we successfully prevented aretha from nibbling the blooms, reducing her ongoing poisoning by houseplant! hooray!).

virtual learning continued apace, including a role for james in the class play. he got to be the big brother goat in the billy goats gruff. it was a riveting performance by the entire cast.

while we waited for the snow to arrive, we watched our favorite holiday themed movies, including this special one about waiting for snow to arrive.

we drove through the lights in the park,

we built gingerbread (ahem, graham crackers, whatever) houses with great succes,

and our little scandinavian first born eagerly participated in the baking of the lussebuns and the donning of the santa lucia wreath.

and because i can't seem to stop baking, i also dipped my toes into the jewish holiday baking traditions and made my first chocolate babka and ooooh myyyyyyyy was it yummy.

we hunted out ice on small ponds and took our first tentative skate strokes on very smooth thin glass like ice (and also ended up adopting a pet frog from the ice of that very same pond)

we kept baking, and in collaboration with friends, we put together 50 christmas cookie boxes and hand delivered them to friends and neighbors. it was chaotic and a lot of work, but it was also maybe my favorite holiday project this year. i felt so connected to so many people during this time of isolation and disconnection.

we made ice globes to decorate the steps, and it went so well that i might have already made 20 of them. i love them.

the parks system made enough snow to ski on at elver park, and we eagerly hit the loop as soon as possible. it always feels so good to get those cross country skis back on our feet.