it's beginning to look a LOT like christmas

And... we have a new camera! It's nothing fancy -- just something basic to help keep memories -- but at last after half a year, we have a camera that takes PICTURES and not just low-res video. YAY! So call me snap-happy, but it seems fitting to include a few more pictures than normal today for my photo-starved blog.

I took a bunch of these two weeks ago before "snowmageddon" hit Huron County. Welcome to our corner of the world...

We don't have a lot of Christmas traditions. But one thing's for sure. We love choosing our own little evergreen, chopping it down ourselves and hauling it in the house. Love the family time. The real-ness. The smell. But I have to ask... is chopping down your own tree and strapping it onto the roof of your car to bring it home becoming a rare thing? We were surprised by honking horns with thumbs up on the way home, as though we were performing some ancient ritual. For us, this tradition is a keeper.

(Side note about this tree... after the smell of a scotch pine in our house made me want to hurl daily when I was pregnant with Maia six years ago, I decided to never again get a scotch pine for fear that the smell would trigger the nausea all over again. After the tree was strapped on the roof, we asked the guy who sold it to us what kind of pine we'd chosen... no, not a Red Pine like we thought, but a Scotch Pine! Nice. Once set up, I was relieved to find out that it smelled good to me after all. Phew. Wouldn't want to relive that memory.)

Had to do something with the extra branches we cut off the tree...

We've been enjoying revisiting the Nativity story with the girls. Each day that we read it, we add a new member to the nativity scene and move the pieces around for the next part of the story. This was such fun for the girls last year, and I love seeing bright-eyed Eliana starting to make the connections this year. Hmmm... Mary's not looking very pregnant here... I guess the pre-stable journey to Bethlehem was never anticipated by makers of Nativity scenes.

So then came the unforgettable snowfall of December 2010. Snowmageddon.

Six snowdays in the last two weeks. Tonnes of road closures, day after day. A school bus in the ditch just outside of town. Military helicopters rescuing motorists stranded overnight on a major highway not so far from here. I'm guessing that about 5 feet of snow has fallen since the 1st of December. All I know is, our 'snow float' has become our beloved friend as we shovel day after day.

Here's a glimpse of our backyard. Doesn't that slide look like fun? I've got to see if I can convince the girls to trudge back there to try it out.

The neighbourhood girls have all been flocking to our place, enjoying the huge hills that the snowplows create while clearing the street for the fire engines. And we make a little snow run of our own on our front lawn, using the slope of the land and a big pile of snow that's now about as high as the wooden fence. Fun!

I know some moms go a little crazy on snow days, but I've enjoyed having Maia at home more. She's been getting really artsy lately -- making cards, pictures, bracelets, even mosaics today. The friendship between the two sisters has been challenged lately. Lots more jostling, words, tears. Regular sister stuff that until now we'd largely avoided. A couple of times this week we bundled up to get the mail or go to the library to deal with our cabin fever. Yes, I know we're going out in a snowstorm ladies. But we clearly need to get out! The Wiggles Christmas movie has been a big hit over here this week. So has Dick and Jane's Christmas book. Maia is taking such a keen interest in learning to read. Such fun to see her progressing so quickly now. More on that another time.

For now, I leave you with a fun photo (courtesy of my friend Lynette) of Tim and the staff, trudging through the snow (this was a week ago -- much deeper now) for a group photo. I just love it...