Snowbirds

Snowbirds: birds (or people) who head south when the weather gets chilly.

Yup, that's us. We headed south for the holidays this year, and thank goodness! The snow held off for a while this year--we even got a few brown days in November--but when winter hit, it came on with fury! During the first two weeks of December, the temperature didn't get above -20 F, and even got as low as -59 F with windchill (if you think we're wimps about wind, a) you've never felt wind like this, and b) without windchill it was still below -40 F). Were we ready for a break? Oh yeah.

Of course, we did have a few loose ends to tie up first-- some concerts to attend and a birthday to celebrate! Aaron's choral concert, titled Heaven and Nature Sing had a bit of everything--high Renaissance motets and gospel singing, Christmas carols and the choral-orchestral Hear My Prayer in celebration of Medelssohn's birth 200 years ago. Aaron's combined choirs now total over 100 members (up 70% since he came here), and let me tell you, they sounded outstanding in the gorgeous church where they performed! His orchestral concert, A Toast to Mendelssohn, was another big hit, with a program I swooned over. He started with Mendelssohn's Fingal's Cave overture, which you may not have heard before but definitely should, then Beethoven's seventh symphony (which has this amazing, haunting second movement), and finishing up, once again, with Hear My Prayer. Watching Aaron conduct and make music pretty much always moves me to tears, and makes me so proud of the amazing man I am lucky enough to have married. We squeezed his birthday in amid all the rehearsals, somehow--or at least the cake and presents portion. Since they don't really have a decent Mexican restaurant here and we were headed to Utah, we decided to stick with tradition and save his birthday dinner for our trip.

So, south for the winter! We went into the trip with a bit of a stomach bug. It hit Emerson and Sera the hardest, as they had to endure all the throw-up rituals, but it was really fast, and they were both better within about 12 hours. Sadly, because of the timing, that meant we missed a day of skiing with Papa that we had planned. We left at 11 pm on December 17 and somehow managed to make it down to Salt Lake in time for my mom's big family party at 6:30 on December 18. There was no--er, make that very little--throw up in the car! Also very little sleep, two cranky drivers, and a whole bag of Costco fruit and nut trail mix consumed.

Believe it or not, we've never spent a holiday away from home before. We've always kept it simple, just us, a Christmas tree, and no end of frustration over our inability to figure out how to keep the kids from waking up at 3:00 am. It's not pretty, but it's life as we know it. This year, our holiday was full to the brim with events and visits. Of course, the main purpose of our visit was squeezing in some real time with Grandma Ruthie, who has been saying for a while that as soon as she finishes up the family history that she's been working on for the last few years, she plans to rejoin her husband, Dean, who passed away 47 years ago. I decided that I absolutely couldn't stand for her to go without spending some more time with her, and making sure my kids had a chance to really understand what an amazing lady she is. But it worked out nicely that we worked in time to enjoy a little warmer weather and some fun times with family too.

Since we landed in Salt Lake first, we spent a couple of days enjoying the unique holiday spirit there. We visited Temple Square to see all the lights, and Addy and I had a chance to take in Ballet West's Nutcracker performance--a big deal to me, since the traveling version that comes through Regina takes place in early November, is performed to canned music, and still costs nearly $70/ticket. We both loved it! After that, we headed north to Logan, where we had a little time to visit with Papa and prepare a musical number with all my siblings (except Chelsi, who we MISSED!) to perform in my grandma's ward. On Sunday morning we performed a version of The First Noel, with Aaron at the piano, Rennie, Tenille, and Howie on violin and cello, and Aubrey and I singing. It really was wonderful to make music with my siblings again! I also realized that the church we were singing in is the same one my grandma has attended most of her life--her father helped design the building around the same time that he helped design the tower at Utah State University (see the picture of the kids in front of it, below), and she attended church there all through her childhood, youth, and, except for a few years when she and Dean lived elsewhere, adulthood. Amazing.

After that, everyone else went their ways, and I got to have Grandma all to myself for a while. One day I took the little kids to her house, and the other days I took the older kids. They all had so much fun playing with her toys--seriously, she has this one small bookshelf with toys on it, but because she has filled it with only those toys that have stood the test of time, kids never get bored of playing with the things she has there. We made snowflakes and toffee and talked for hours about her childhood and different things I remember from growing up, and I was just so thankful to be there, smelling exactly how it always smells there, helping my kids onto the little pull-out steps to wash their hands in the bathroom, setting the table with the same dishes I ate out of when I was a little girl. I have so many wonderful memories of spending time with my Grandma Ruthie when I was younger, and I hope that now my kids, even Sera, will have a couple of special ones too.

After our visit, we traveled up to Bear Lake to spend Christmas with my mom and Don and my brothers and sisters. There was tons of great food, lots of good movies, and some fairly fiercely competitive game-playing (at all costs avoid playing Blokus with my mother). Christmas Eve and Christmas Day were so relaxed! The kids had gotten presents for each other, but we left everything else at home. It made me seriously question the sanity of all the traditional Christmas excess (not that I needed help questioning it--when it comes to Christmas extravagance, I have a fair amount of sympathy for Scrooge). The kids were so thrilled with their gifts from one another, and after opening them we could just enjoy the rest of the day. Of course, we left out the nativity play, which seemed sad, and we didn't escape a 4:00 am wake-up call that ended in a rather Scrooge-ish stocking-treat confiscation, but whatever. We haven't solved that one at home, why expect any different? Maybe next year we'll forego the stockings in the bedrooms and try one of the "kids sing Christmas carols to parents at 8:00 am to wake them up" things. Let's just say my uncomfortable relationship with Santa Claus probably hasn't done anyone any favors.

The food, however? Fantastic. The cosmic orbiter? A hit (don't ask). And the trip into town to go bowling? Well, who cares if it turned into a lovely afternoon of syrupy shakes at Dan's Diner when the bowling place had no hours posted and no working phone number? Good times. The important thing here is that we experienced temperatures that not only did not cause instant frost-bite to uncovered hands, but that actually melted a bit of the snow. It felt wonderful.

After lots of hugs and pictures, we ventured back to Canada in time to ring in the New Year with a little extra spring in our step, and a cooler full of shredded cheese and grape-juice. So long 2009--it's been cold, but at least we ended on a high note!

December photos

The weather before we left: yup, that ice is on the inside of the window, and yup, our windows are double-paned.
After The Nutcracker

Temple Square

A "sleigh" ride (only wheels, not skis on the bottom--Canada would be scandalized)

After church with Grandma Ruthie

This jack-in-the-box toy got no end of love

These guys loved playing Grandma's organ

The wonderful tower that Grandpa Dan helped design

We loved seeing Grandma and Grandpa Hooper--who clearly have no intention of getting old, ever!

Christmas morning in Christmas jammies!

Shakes at Dan's Diner--LOVE the decor!

Hangin' with the aunts and uncles

. . . and the patience with pictures grows thin

New Year's Eve at the Saskatchewan Science Center--so many fun activities including sleigh rides (WITH skis on the bottom--Canadians don't fake winter!), hot chocolate, face-painting, an I-MAX movie, and lots of balloons and confetti

Party animals!!