A Whirlwind Christmas

The holidays have left me entirely too busy. It's near impossible to get any work done for university when I'm trying to do things like baking cookies, buying gifts, and introducing my boyfriend to the Seattle area. We spent an epic weekend in Vancouver visiting friends, who I miss dearly. Then, a week getting accustomed to being back home (or being in a new country, for my boyfriend), preparing for Christmas, and getting small amounts of project work done. Now that Christmas is over, I have a couple more days with my mom before she flies home, and then a week to do more touristy things and still try to get some work done. I think it will pass far too quickly.

The power went out on Christmas Day, just as we were about to start making German Apple Pancake for breakfast. With bacon and coffee. It was due to a wind storm, and it was just a local outage, so it was barely covered in the news. I'm sad about missing that breakfast, but thankfully that's the only thing we missed due to the power outage. We were still able to go to my relatives' place for dinner that evening, since most of Seattle had power, and we had already baked our traditional Pepparkakor cookies and bought presents for the kids (my second cousins).

My boyfriend's impressions of America? There's a lot to say. The major difference he's noticed is that everything is bigger. I thought that was just an exaggeration that people threw around, but apparently it's true. The cars, the sizes of food and drinks, the roads, the houses, the stores. There seem to be slightly different driving rules, apart from the obvious different side of the road; overtaking a car in the lane to your left is seen as legal here, yet it's illegal in the UK. Tipping waitresses is expected of you here. And, most importantly: sushi is much cheaper.

I might manage another blog amid the chaos in the coming week. Until then... Happy Holidays!

Snow

Last night was our first snowfall of the season. It's continued today, just enough to make the roads slushy and dust the grass and rooftops with white. In the next couple days we might have a few more flurries, but not anything substantial. Nevertheless, it's made me finally embrace the fact that winter is here.

I can never quite explain the excitement I feel when snow falls. It makes me want to go out and play in it, dance in it, touch it. It covers everything in a silent, sparkling white blanket. There's something magical about it, something more than just white and cold. I know its distinct smell, how it feels to step in an unbroken patch, the crunching sound it makes. There's something mesmerizing about how it falls from the sky.

It's also a sign that the holidays are near. Time with family and friends, time for warm kitchens, full bellies, trees bedecked with twinkling lights. Coming in from the cold outside, taking off heavy layers, and enjoying a hot cup of coffee or hot chocolate. The excitement of opening a colorfully wrapped present or thoughtfully chosen and sealed card--or watching someone open something you've chosen for them. Even as the years pass and fewer presents under the tree have our name, we remember what it's like as a child. It becomes equally as exciting to watch the younger generation open their presents. I think snow stirs these memories. Even if I have to wait a few weeks for these things, the anticipation makes the happiness stick with me.

So if you see me watching snow fall with a grin, this is likely what I'm thinking about.