This week has really thrown me for a loop. Monday arrived and brought snow! Not a lot but enough for some definite excitement. I was getting the girls ready for the day, getting Pearl ready for school, and texting with a friend group chat about something else when one friend asked if anyone else had heard that it was a snow day. Peter (who is a teacher) had already left for work at this point but when I checked on-line, sure enough. It was a snow day! The excitement of my children cannot be exaggerated!
There really wasn’t a lot of snow but I guess it was enough to make it hard for school buses to run in certain areas and other parts of the Coast were hit harder than we were so they called it early and we all got to enjoy. Here on the West Coast, I’ve learned that snow doesn’t necessarily stick around so you have to enjoy it quickly. We suited up and headed to our backyard and then to the park nearby to do some sledding.
In years past it would have been hard for me to take both girls sledding on my own but this year they were both largely independent, dragging their own sleds back up the hill after each run. Pearl went straight to the “big kids” hill while Rose started out on a more gentle slope. After a while though her sister convinced her to try the steeper hill and they both had a blast going down together, holding hands on the way back up. We headed home as toes and fingers were beginning to freeze and settled in with steamed milk and an episode of “Octonauts” to warm up.
Unfortunately, a good friend of mine had a small accident that same day and needed someone to take care of her kids in a pinch. Our kids are the same age and spend a lot of time together so it wasn’t difficult to have them at our house but it definitely created a more energetic atmosphere than I had planned for! I ended up having them over for the next day as well so that she could continue to rest and recover. We baked cookies and iced them, made crafts together, and watched a Christmas movie. I navigated lunch, dinner, and another lunch for four kids and did my best to help them get along. I’m glad that we were able to care for our friends in this way and I feel like we saw community work in the way it is intended to. Other neighbours witnessed her accident and were able to get a hold of me and make sure her kids got to our house safely. Our friend group quickly mobilized to make meals for their family and to reach out in practical ways to help. I’m grateful we got to be a part of it.
Karissa Reads Books 
That is definitely community in action and at it’s best. Nice job, Karissa! I hope poor Peter didn’t get all the way to school and then have to turn around and come right back again.
He stayed for a few hours and then came home early. Technically, teachers here are supposed to go to the nearest school that they can safely reach in case students show up. A couple other teachers were at his school but I don’t think any kids were.
You had snow! Lovely pictures of you making the most of it! I am a bit jealous – we’ve had a couple of flurries but nothing that laid. I’m hoping we get some over the Christmas break, though preferably not enough to disrupt travel.
It’s quite unusual for us to get snow at this time. It barely lasted the day and then was just super slushy but it made for a lot of excitement!