I guess I'm a snowbird!

I've done just awful at blogging for the last few months. I guess it's a lot of things.

I'm busy. (Who isn't?)

We've been fighting colds and little stomach bugs off and on and honestly I just haven't felt good.

Mostly though I think I've been bad at blogging because anything I feel like blogging about, I know I've blogged about before. Which, on the other hand, isn't so bad. I guess that just shows the cyclical and seasonal, habits and traditions that our lives tend to take. The last few years bring the same fall/winter traditions of trick or treating, school music programs, gingerbread house building and somehow I just don't feel like blogging about those things again!

This winter however has been a bit different. We've had five snows this winter! The earliest was way back in October and our big one, 6 inches, occurred right before Thanksgiving. After the last three years of living in the worst drought in Kansas history it's really nice to see all this white stuff on the ground. Really nice since the infamous Kansas winds have seemed to back off and allow the snow to stay put!

I remember winter days growing up in Indiana where I just dreaded the cold winter days. I'm not even sure what it was about a snowy winter day that bugged me. Maybe it was having to get so bundled up in so many layers to go outside and get chores done. Maybe I despised it because my sisters and I spent so much time outside during winter weekends cutting and splitting wood to fill our wood burning stove. Maybe I just got cabin fever being stuck inside with six brothers and sisters. Who knows! I just remember not really enjoying winter much growing up in Indiana. I would have been happy with snow on Christmas and that's it!! I lived for summer!!

But this past weekend changed my thinking. Saturday night we received a lovely snow, 3 or so inches. The kind of snow that you see on made for TV movies that just fell gently and looked lovely under the moonlight. Then yesterday after church we had a beautiful sunny day, cold enough the snow didn't melt and no wind. I felt antsy and even though DR and the kids were quietly watching a movie I just felt like I couldn't stay in the house one more minute so I decided to take a quick walk around town.

My intention was a brisk 15 minutes of fresh air but as I meandered through our sleepy town my walked stretched to much longer. My light excersions quickly warmed me up until I had unzipped my coat, dropped my hood and stripped off my mittens. It was glorious! The sun was bright, the snow was clean and I felt that with just a few more trees I might have been at home in Indiana.

And at that point I realized I really loved being outside in the snow. Or maybe I just love being outside and I haven't spent nearly as much time out in nature as I did growing up. I think maybe it was God's way of telling me that I need to spend more time outside. Either way, it was lovely and I think I'll be thinking of snow differently from now on.