Festering Winter Mileu

 I admit my hatred of winter festered through last spring and summer. Those feelings threatened to overcome my love of fall replacing it with a dread of a fast-approaching winter. One morning it appeared to me Alaska provides the perfect milieu to learn the truths of embracing the long, hard, challenge. I chose to embrace fall. We loved fall for fall. I chose to embrace winter.  And we have found the joy in winter.  Just this week, with temperatures rising to 40, we all began to realize our thoughts are askew. In fact, while we dream of spring walks, summer gardens and fall colors, we do NOT want to get outside to the garden, the yard, house staining or storm repair.  It may be nice to extend winter by a few more weeks.  And so - we WELCOME a Saturday in which it snowed all day long....

It snowed all day long. We were snug and content inside the house with most the adult Gherkins showing up at one time or another during the day. 

Jared and Jamin showed up first, followed by CoRielle, and then Cy dropped in on his way back from Men's retreat at Victory Bible Camp, and finally Carrie and Livie arrived from visiting a friend in the next town over.  It was FUN to see Livie's excitement to see Josiah back from retreat.  Danny is ALL over the house and was full of smiles. One highlight of the day came when Danny grabbed the inside snowballs and ran into the kitchen to throw them at Benny and Cory. He's evidently been observing Benny's fun and waiting for the chance to join it. 

Danny & Cory

Stacia and Jamin played Head Bandz with Livie and Benny. I was thrilled the kids were enjoying the game. I've been checking out thrift stores for games the kids will enjoy. 

Auntie Stacia and Livie

Benny and Uncle Jamin 

Jared and Benny connected over Calvin and Hobbes...a Gherkin favorite.

Benny was THRILLED to see this Uncle

Jamin brought out the VR headset and showed the kids our New Year's fireworks and rivers and such. 

Vying for favorite uncle

There were lots of hot drinks.

If winter hadn't come back for a second glance, we couldn't have had this REAL snowball fight! 

Nothing brings the feeling of contentment as much as enjoying a leisurely day with family while it snows outside. It continued to snow all night. 

Resulting in 6 inches of snow on the deck this morning.  It was BARE. 

This led to extra Sunday morning prep....I fed animals, then shoveled the ramp....

Our snow mess was complicated by snow falling OFF the roof in big chunks as the temps were warmer than they've been.  We now have 6 inches of fresh snow on top of our ice rink. LOL 

We made it to church at our regular time. Lunch was a quiet affair, and then there are more hot drinks, and Sunday naps and evening visits. 

And always TP shenanigans. Always. 

Note - 3 words of the day used in this post: fester, milieu, askew. Double points for using one or two in the title. ::snort::