You are currently browsing the category archive for the ‘weather’ category.
I’d just like to mention that last year was decidedly unwinter-ish here in Toronto – it didn’t even snow significantly until like February, and even then it was pathetic. I understand that Toronto is geographically more South than the Northern bit of California, and the Southernmost part of Canada, but still. It’s CANADA! It needs to have snowstorms, and ice, and “winter storm watches”. I miss the 5 foot snowbanks that stay from November – April every year. That’s what I had growing up in New Brunswick. It was pretty fun & exciting, especially on those glorious snow days!
Fast forward to now – December 17, 2007. Yesterday was a fantastic snowstorm that dumped around 30 cm of snow on the GTA, and while that may not be that much to some parts of Canada… for Toronto it’s plenty! Because our brilliant city hasn’t plowed any side roads since mid-afternoon yesterday (before the storm was done), the drive to pick up my friends this morning on the way to work took about 18 minutes. It was 2 km. Soooo… I decided to stay home from work today. Hurray for snow days (even if self-mandated)!
Yesterday was a great day to have a storm, I must say. Saturday night was our Christmas party with the six of us (our best friends, the Carson’s and the Coker’s). It was good times of hanging out, eating, watching a movie, and exchanging gifts (I got the Hairspray soundtrack (!!!) & some scrapping stamps), and then the Coker’s slept over. In the morning the snow had started, so what did we do? Stay in, like smart people? No! Why would we do that? We went on an adventure to Zeller’s and Tim Horton’s (really close to our house)! There was pretty well no one at Zeller’s (a great time to do some Christmas shopping), so we walked around, bought a couple of things for Christmas, and then went to Timmie’s, where there was a line-up like 6 people long. Welcome to Canada! Then we went home, where Mat seized the opportunity to throw off his pacifist convictions and seek global domination through the brutal destroying of the weak, in the game of Risk. Finally, we drove the Coker’s home (again in the snow). I couldn’t think of a better way to spend a snowy day!
I love Christmas. Who doesn’t? (That’s a rhetorical question). In honor of this super-duper holiday, I give you… my top ten best things of Christmasy Christmasness:
10. Lights (so pretty. too bad the LED money-saving ones are ugly. oh well, I sucked it up because I’m cheap frugal).
9. Turkey Dinner (nothing beats Mom’s Christmas turkey dinner with everything just right… East Coast style dressing, dill pickles, and all the vegetables you can eat! Of all the moves and changes throughout my childhood, this is one very yummy thing that was constant every single year).
8. Snow (I remember looking out the window framed with Christmas lights and seeing the freshly fallen foot of snow sparkling in the light of the street lamp… along with the awesome snow fort I had built with my friends earlier that day).
7. The music (I start listening to my Christmas music on November 1st each year, and I NEVER get tired of it. Favorite song is the Hallelujah Chorus. I love them all, really. Except the Christmas Shoes song which I hate so much it makes me want to scream).
6. Real Christmas trees (I’ve had a real one every year of my life. One year, my Mom wanted to get a fake one, so they bought it, set it up, and it was so amazingly terribly ugly and wrong. All 5 of us stood around it for about 6 seconds, then promptly jumped in the car and went and bought a real one. The fake one was never seen again).
5. Giving gifts (I hate the commercialism associated with Christmas, but I have to say… it’s awesome getting a little something for someone I care about, and seeing them open it and be happy! I love it! It’s especially sweet when you get unique gifts that you know they’ll totally love… like when I went to Kenya last month, and “may or may not have” bought some Christmas gifts there).
4. Candy Canes (my family is obsessed with “real” candy canes, with all the proper stripes, etc. The fake ones are quite reprehensible, and frankly not worth the energy required to consume them, in our opinions).
3. Christmasy specials and movies (The cute ones like The Grinch and Miracle on 34th Street, and It’s a Wonderful Life, not the creepy/weird ones, except Elf, which is weird, but somehow heart-warming).
2. Family & Friends (predictable? Maybe, but I bet most people don’t really realize how fortunate they are to have family and friends… I don’t usually… but Christmas makes me remember and be thankful for the amazing gift that they are).
1. Jesus! (Of course you knew that I had to put Jesus, didn’t you. I blame Sunday School. Honestly though, it’s true. It never ceases to amaze me that God loves me so much that he came to earth as love incarnate, just to pay my debt).
Merry Christmas! May you know the joy and love that is our awesome God desiring a relationship with you and demonstrating His love to you with a baby in a manger 2007-ish years ago!
What the heck?
I’d just like to note for posterity here that it is 32 degrees centigrade plus humidity, feeling like 40 degrees, as well as the fact that it is thanksgiving weekend. The 8th of October, 2007, in Toronto.
What theological, philosophical, or political relevance does this fact have?
I’ll leave now and ponder this question in all its depth and maturity.
Red and Honey 