Let it snow....let it snow............let it snow.

I hate the snow, I hate the snow, I hate the snow!!!!!!!!!! (well, not really...but today I do)

Gah!!!

I come from Victoria, it maybe snows twice a year...if we're lucky and when it does, I'm all over it. Love launching myself down a hill at break neck speeds, its awesome.. its a treat, you know you have one weekend of total debauchery and then it goes away and you can look forward to next year. This is not the case in Elkford, it is a constant! it just keep piling up and up and up. Its over whelming, I've had a hard time keeping it together! I've never had problems with the weather before and I come from S.A.D.S central. Some people hate the coast because of all the rain and over cast weather, they get depressed, they buy special lamps and o.d on vitamin D... Me, never had that problem.. love the rain, love the wind... over cast weather never really bugged me. Now place me in a small town in the mountains and cover me with the white fluffy stuff and I loose my bloody mind.

It took me 20 minutes to leave my parking lot this afternoon.. 20 minutes! My car was buried. First you have to find the door, dust off all the snow and the surrounding snow (so nothing blows in the car), then get out the scraper, unplug the block heater, start the car and turn the defroster on high, dust off all the snow from everywhere, then scrape off all the ice, remember to put the block heater extension cord into the car so no one takes it, get into the car, wait for the ice on the inside of the car to melt so you can see out, put the car into reverse, discover the snow plow left a snow bank underneath your tires, go into the trunk and get the shovel, dig out the back tires, swear alot, ignore the smart ass neighbors, remember to put the shovel back into the truck only to discover you can't make it collapse back into its self (for easy storage, of course), swear some more, close the trunk, get back into the car, only to discover the ice still hasn't melted... do all this, just to drive 5 minutes up the hill. So you all must be thinking "Why don't you walk?" Well, because I'm 7 months pregnant, the roads are an ice rink and you try walking up two hills in knee deep snow... then I would be complaining about how it took me 20 minutes to put on all the water proof gear, just to walk 2o minutes up a hill!

The moral of the story is, its along way from Kansas Toto and I chose to live here. Everyone, I've asked said that its always hard the first year of living up here and next year it will be easier. Next year, I'm going to hire someone to do all this crap for me and stay warm until its time to leave. Gotta love the mountains, gotta love it.

That'll do donkey, that'll do

In true Christmas form, every elementary school has its Christmas pageant....errrrr... play... or as Josh reminded us... performance...

...So in true Christmas form, every elementary school has its Christmas Performance. Last night was Rocky Mountain Elementary School's time to shine. So naturally, Terry and I went to cheer on our darling nephew, Joshua's big time in the spot light. I'm no stranger to Christmas pageants..(I mean performances) because I myself, had a staring role as Mary's donkey in my elementary school performance back in the day. Yes, it was a hard role to learn...I spend hours becoming one with my inner donkey.. crawling on my hands and knees and sitting ever so patiently beside Mary while she did her bit...yes, I guess you could say that was my fifteen minutes of fame, if you could recognize me under my cardboard donkey head and my gray clothing. It was a proud moment for the Betts family, very proud indeed.

Anyways, back to the present...as in last nights performance. From what I gathered from the play (eerrr performance) was that it was Christmas around the world and each class had a different city or country. Josh's was England, the lights turned off and all the kids came out wearing black and in their hands they had different colour flashlights. They walked around the gym, flashing their lights all over to this beautiful music.. it reminded us of the Northern Lights because it was all greens, blues, oranges and reds. Absolutely beautiful, it honestly made me emotional, I had a hard time keeping it together. Josh's class moved me to tears. I think the amazing thing about the whole performance, Josh's and others, is that it wasn't typical Santa and Jesus...It was more than that, it was pure and involved everyone... different cultures and a different spin on your typical Christmas carol. Its a looong way from Mary's donkey, that's for sure, can't wait to see whats in store next year... or 5-6 years from now when its my own kid moving me and probably Terry to tears.