Top 10 things about Winter

Utah has been drilled with snow, and us in the Northeast have gotten a few storms as well. I found myself missing and longing for the snow while I was in Thailand, just like I couldn't wait for it during the hot days of summer. Now that everybody's either cursing the snow or glad they live in the South, I have to come to Winter's defense. Maybe it's because I resigned myself to living in a cold climate for the foreseeable future, but I am starting to love winter. In fact, I don't know how I could live in a climate with no seasons. After all, we're here to experience opposition. Living in a state with perfect weather year-round (California) is embracing Satan's plan. That's right, I went there. Deal with it.

So after a few weeks back in the cold, I've taken note of everything I like about winter. Of course, I'll be nice and ready for the Spring when it chooses to arrive, but I'll be looking forward to the snow next November, too.

Top 10 things about Winter:

10. Building enormous snowballs with no intention of making it into a snowman--I don't really care about actually making snowmen, just making the biggest ball possible. Last week I got Mel to help out after I couldn't push anymore and probably made my biggest ball ever. We did end up making a snowman out of it, but it's pretty disproportionate. Here's the "Allegory of the Snowmen" she alluded to in her last post:

1 For behold, thus saith Kent, I will liken thee, O marriages of young chumps, like unto 2 snowmen, which a man and his wife took and built in their backyard; and the snowmen gathered snow, and began to wilt, and tilted away from the other.
2 And it came to pass that the master of the backyard went forth, and he saw that his snowmen began to tilt away from themselves; and he said: I will push the abdomen back towards the middle, and dig up some more snow, and pack it around the base, that perhaps it may stand up straight through storms and weather, and it tilt not.
3 And it came to pass that he pushed the abdomen back towards the middle, and dug up some more snow, and pack it around the base, according to his word.
4 And it came to pass that after many days it began to tilt again.
5 And it came to pass that the master of the backyard saw it, and he said unto his wife: It grieveth me that I should lose these snowmen; wherefore, go and push the abdomen back towards the middle so that the snowmen may be saved.
6 And it came to pass that the wife of the master of the backyard saith unto him: Do it yourself.
7 And thus the master did push the abdomen back towards the middle, and made the base bigger.

So anyway, what really happened is that the snowmen began to tilt away from each other, but they didn't fall off the huge bottom snowballs we built. My neighbor said to me, "I've noticed that your snowmen are drawing further and further apart, I hope that's not a sign of things to come." I thought about it, and then went outside the next day to fix them, because I didn't want our snowmen to get divorced. As I fixed them, I thought how if a couple draws apart, it just takes a little effort to get them back on the right track, as long as the foundation is strong. If the foundation isn't strong, then of course the snowmen will fall apart easier and it's harder to get the snowmen back together. So there's that.

9. Bizzing--Bizzing is the Orem word for what everybody else calls "Hooky-bobbing", which is hanging on the bumper of a car, sliding on the snow as the car drives down the icy road. I always thought that Bizzing was the perfect word for it. When my companion from Tooele (like he has room to talk) told me that it's called "Hooky-bobbing" everywhere else, I was appalled, and thought that was the gayest word ever. It sounds like a 50's dance. Where's the hook? Where's the bob? Bizzing is the sound your boots make as they whizz down the road. Perfect word. Duh.

8. Stomping--This is the act of putting on Huge Winter Boots and waterproof everything and going outside and just walking anywhere and everywhere because you are invincible in your gear. No amounts of snow can phase you. You could burrow holes through the snow and come up dry. You plow through mountains of snow as if it was solid, dry ground. Then you stomp through big puddles and slush piles. This is Stomping.

7. Huge piles of snow--I just love the huge piles of snow that accumulate at the end of large streets or parking lots. Just mountains of snow, piled 20 feet high. We had one such pile in our culd-de-sac back in the day. I don't remember too much about it, except that we had tons of fun digging holes and caves and secret passages throughout. There are many such mountains around Massachusetts, and when I have a couple of kids, we're going to take a couple of shovels and spend a day playing in one of them.

6. Trailblazin'--This is similar to Stomping, except that it serves more of an actual purpose. This is when you blaze a trail across a field of untouched snow, so that you and others can cut across that field later. I always blazed a trail across the Nau's yard while I was walking home from the Judds/Jacobs/Robinsons, and I resumed that tradition just last week. There's this park/grass area next to my work that has a gravel path on it that I take to the train station. This gravel path doesn't get cleared in the winter, so after the last 2 storms, I've taken the initiative to blaze a trail there. It's very fulfilling to see your trail being used by others. It's a trend that I truly started.

5. Making all sorts of different soups--I love a good soup on a cold day. I don't know if I appreciated my mom's soups enough, but I certainly do like making soups now. This winter, I've made brocolli and cheese, corn chowder, chili, and most recently, borscht. When I was living with in Russia in the winter of aught-3, borscht was my favorite meal. My Russian mom would make a huge pot of it and I would eat it 4 times a week. My fond memories of it led to the Great Borscht Experiment of Aught-9. (Only one more year of saying "aught". You really ought to use "aught" more. Ha! I kill me!) I found a good recipe, bought some whole beets at the store, a pork hock (not sure what part of the pig it comes from, but it's apparently necessary and definitely gross-looking), and all the other items, and followed the directions to a tee. My first spoonful took me back to Voronezh, Russia. My next spoonful brought me back to reality. Borscht isn't as good as I remember. I don't think I made it wrong, I just think the other staples I ate in Russia made borscht seem a lot better than it really was.

4. Cuddling up in your favorite blanket with your favorite someone next to the fire, sipping hot cocoa--Similar to the hot soups item, but of course this is the actual act of cuddling with a warm blanket and beverage while the weather outside is frightful. So relaxing!

3. Snowboarding/Sledding/Winter sports--I have a lot of good snowboarding memories, but a few of them are in my top 25 ALLTIME great moments. One of them was a sunny February day, right before Sam got married, I went to Brighton with Jason. It had snowed all night and we had almost a foot of powder. We showed up right when the lifts opened (those who know Jason will know this is a feat in itself), went to the "other side", where the only lift is the double-chair. We took it to the top, and got a fresh powder run almost by ourselves. Nothing like swishing down an untouched hill on waves of powder. This is what I picture when I think of "bliss": first tracks on a powder day.

2. Church/work being canceled--This is usually combined with number 4, sitting at home sipping cocoa when you usually are slaving away in a cold office building or fighting off sleep in church. That is, if you're the type that sleeps in church. I've never done it myself, but I've heard of people who have. Sinners!

1. Being outside at night during a quiet snowfall--This is one of those moments that you can't quite put into words, but you all know what I'm talking about. So peaceful.

One more thing before I put this subject to rest:

When I first arrived in Boston, I went to the single's wards with all the "vets" who had experienced one, maybe two, years of Boston winters. When it first started getting cold, if any of us "newbies" said, "Wow, it's cold today!" we'd get a lecture of epic proportions on how we don't even KNOW how could it can get: "THIS IS NOTHING!!! THIS IS LIKE SUMMER STILL! IT'S GOING TO GET SO COLD YOU'LL BE WISHING IT WAS OCTOBER AGAIN!" and so on. Well, this is my 4th Boston winter and I'll just go ahead and say it: Not that much different than Utah winters. Not really colder, not really snowier, I'm sure it depends on the year. But I hear about the cold temps in the Midwest and I am glad that it's not THAT cold.