Let it Snow!

We got snow this morning in the Netherlands. So close to Christmas, but it just missed the mark.  I think not having snow is one of the things that makes it more difficult to get into the Christmas spirit over here.  Well, that together with not having friends and family around.

It was so nice to wake up and see this snow this morning, though!   The great thing about when it snows here is that it last just long enough for you to go “aawww it’s SNOWING!!” and spend a day outside listening to it crunching under your boots and going to the window just to take in the beauty of it all… and then it’s gone.  As quickly as it came it just disappears as though it was never there.  Unlike in some other places, like back home in Canada, where it sticks around so long you wonder how much snow you need to melt to drown yourself in and put yourself out of your misery.

I really wonder how we are going to handle real winters in Pittsburgh.  Being Canadian, I’ve had real winters in my life many times, but my husband hasn’t.  Sure, he’s gone on holiday to Norway and Sweden during the winter, but he was a kid and life was all about snow forts and sledding.  Winter as an adult is about snow TIRES and SKIDDING, it’s an entirely different kettle of fish that he’s never had to deal with.

Although, that said, I am far more wimpy these days than he is when it comes to the cold.  You know those funny memes people put on Facebook in the winter?  The ones with the kid whose mother put so many layers on him that he can’t bend his limbs anymore?  That’s what I feel like sometimes when I go out in the cold.  So, as much as I brag about being Canadian (because that’s what we do, ‘eh?  We brag about how tough we are and how we had to climb out the window to shovel the door out.  Snowsuits are for sissies!).  Well, I’m talking the talk but there isn’t so much walking the walk going on over here.

I even bought a new down parka for this winter, which I have been loving the heck out of. I haven’t even touched any of my other jackets since I bought it.

I went for a longer length because for some reason the front of my thighs were always freezing. Go figure.  I never realized how wonderful down is.  It’s so thin, but so warm, but not too warm.  It’s like the Goldilocks story of jackets… it’s juuuust right.

Brrr… maybe we’ll get lucky and move before the winter next year, so we can ease into it.  Oh, and take advantage of American shopping for winter clothes. OH yes, American shopping. I cannot wait!  The prices! The variety!  The free shipping and Amazon Prime!   Is it time to go yet?!