The title of this post describes perfectly the tenure of this post, and Yes, for me it's Christmastime. It's not "the holidays" it's Merry Christmas. I will not suffer the absurdities of political correctness, my country was built on the back of Christianity; more precisely, Catholisism and the Holy Roman Catholic Church. I am not a practising Catholic and I definitly don't believe most of the teachings of the Holy See, but I won't ignore tradition and history. Regardless of the bad press and abhorrent thing the Church has done, my ancestors believed in Christ and they followed the teachings of the church in building this country and applied their faith in their daily life and traditions. So it's Christmas, period. For you it may be the holidays or Kwanza or Hanukkah, whatever you may call it, for me and my family it's Christmas, regardless of religion.
This morning we have the first real snow of the season. A thick, fluffy white blanket cover the trees, the ground and "my car". I won't pretend to live winter, but the beauty is undeniable. A certain calm and warmth takes over, every year at this time and I must admit, it's a great time of year for me. Would rather be on the beach sipping Mojitos, but I chose to live in the great white north and have to make due with the life I have chosen.
Many of my neighbors and acquiantances live the winter life to the fullest. I see them outside snowmobiling, playing hockey, etc... For me the snow brings snowboarding and skiing. One of the only joys I get out the 4-5 months of cold and snow is hitting the slopes. My parents taught me to ski at a very early age (seriously, I could barely walk). We lived in the mountains and skiing was a second nature to my sisters and I quickly became quite a good skier. In the early '90's I took up snowboarding and I now alternate between skiing and snowboarding, depending where I go for some downhill runs. Obviously, with my bad back, I have to limit my outings and although being a great, fun sport it is very expensive. First, there are no ski resort iut where I am living so going skiing is not always an option, what with the price of gas. Food prices at the ski hill is usually 60-80% more expensive than elsewhere too. Regardless, I manage to go out at least two or three times a year, Which is more that sufficent considering my aments.
Last week I put up our traditional wreath and cleaned up the house for xmas. Made some room for the tree, clean out the fidge and freezer, made some meat pies and canned some crannberries. Luckily, dec. 1st is a saturday this year and, as always, i will be breaking out the cristmeas music and spend the day writing xmas cards and sendjng out pictures to my parents and friends. Exceptionally, this year, I am driving out on xmas day to visit my father in Mt-Tremblant, and will probably go skiing at Mont Blanc. I am taking the whole week of xmas off from work to have some fun with my son and we will probably spend a few days skiing, tubing and getting our fill of some fresh winter air, before the ling dark months of the deep winter.
In the last coiple of years the winters have actually been quite mild and pleasant. But the short days tend to wreak havic on the winter fun time, and you never jnow when uou might wake up to -40 degrees. There are usually a few weeks in january and february when the weather is coldest before a warming up towards spring around mid march. I won't jide it, heating costs bring me to my knees and it's not uncommon for me to have a 2500$ elctric bill roll in come march ir april.
So, for now, let's just enjoy the cool white stuff falling from the sky, look pleasantly forward to a great christmastime and a few days of RR, instead of dwelling on the agony of the dead cold.
Merry Christmas y'all and a very Happy New Year, too.
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