Lately everyone has been trying to frighten my co-worker about a Saskatchewan winter. This includes myself, telling Corey that he hasn't experienced anything like this coming out of Toronto.
But, if I'm completely honest winter is actually quite beautiful. Despite the cold, which can get into your bones if not dressed properly, winter is a wonderful season.
As long as you dress accordingly, the cold truly isn't so bad and maybe that's coming from a Saskatchewan farm kid; but, we were always sent out to play in the snow. Dressing in layers was what we were always told to do finishing off with our warm parkas and snow pants. As our mother of course continually asked us as we were getting ready if we needed to use the washroom because once we were bundled up we would have to do it all over again if we did need to go to the washroom.
My sister and I would then play outside. We'd find a hill to take our crazy carpets down, play pie tag in the snow, make snow angels, build snow men, and build forts out of the piles of snow my dad moved from the drive-way.
We never froze and it was always so much fun that is until you had to go to the washroom while dressed in all of your layers.
Winter despite my childhood fun holds a majestic quality. There's something quite serene about the first snowfall of the season. The air is always crisp and watching as the white fluff begins to cover the ground can be breathtaking, as the brown dirt and decomposing fallen leaves are hidden below a fresh layer of white.
When explaining Canadian pastimes to people from Britain and Australia a couple of years ago, one of the activities my friend brought up was drinking hot chocolate. Everyone laughed at this, how could drinking hot chocolate be a winter activity?
However, preparing hot chocolate or tea after coming inside from the cold is typical, it's a way to warm up and make you feel cozy in your house. But, we would go on to describe a wintery scene that simply made those who've never really seen snow before seem to understand.
It's later in the evening and you've just sat down for a hot drink. The Christmas lights are on outside and because of the cold beckoning at the window a thin cover of ice has formed. The lights dance off of the window as a white snow begins to fall. It's peaceful.
There's something grand about being the first one the next morning to walk through the fresh snow, leaving lone footprints behind. There's a type of solitude in this until you hear children playing during recess or see people milling about along Main Street.
The cold, made worse by the wind, is somehow made bearable.
Though the sun isn't out for long, it is always welcomed and as it reflects and bounces off of the snow and ice the world almost lights up brighter than any other time of the year.
Two years ago I missed a winter, having been travelling, and it was all of these things that made me long for home, for changing seasons and a beauty that only emanates from the prairies.
Sarah Addison Allen wrote in her novel, The Sugar Queen: "Snow flurries began to fall and they swirled around people's legs like house cats. It was magical, this snow globe world."
I've told Corey since first trying to scare him that winters really aren't so bad, you just have to dress for them and be careful on the roads; but, I think he's still pretty worried as a couple weeks ago he wrote about seasonal depression. Though this can be a reality during the winter months, it's important to stay active and to get outside regardless of how chilly it is because that brisk winter air can almost revitalize you in a way.
This year I've read that our winter is supposed to come again with lots of snow and quite a few cold days, it will be similar to last year's winter. Though this did cause problems for companies, the weather is one thing we cannot control. It reminds us we're not in charge of every aspect of our lives, though we often think that we are, and lets us be humbled by Mother Nature.
Which reminds me of a quote from Anne Bradstreet: "If we had no winter, the spring would not be so pleasant: if we did not sometimes taste of adversity, prosperity would not be so welcome."
