02 December 2007

Getting colder

The temperature reached a high of -10.7°C yesterday afternoon: I wore my 'long janes' for the first time under my jeans. They're fantastic - even my feet stayed warm for once. The big puddles behind the house are now solid ice, so the children had a fun afternoon skidding about playing ice-football on them. The stream coming down from the pond has nearly frozen over too - the boundary between the water and the ice makes lovely ice-bubble patterns. I've gone into full-on comfort-food mode, with lots of stews and steamed puddings on the menu.

Canadians seem to put up their Christmas decorations very early, but then I suppose it makes sense to put up outside lights in November, so that your fingers don't freeze trying to do it in December.We bought some lights in Canadian Tire last week and put them up, but I waited until yesterday to actually light them, as it seems a bit indecent to have them on in November, somehow. We saw an advert in the local paper for a 'cut your own Christmas tree' farm today, so we might have a go at that in a week or two.

Today we've got snow, so the children are busily tobogganing down the front garden. They've been out there for ages, as it's the first time they've ever had a chance to try their toboggans. I remember that being able to go tobogganing was a very rare treat during my childhood winters, but I suspect that the novelty will soon wear off for them here.

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