Let It Snow, Let It Snow, Let It Snow

I am Canadian. I mean it. I REALLY am Canadian. My mother is the daughter of a man who left Scotland on a boat when he was a teenager searching for a better life in the new world. My father is an 8th generation French Canadian. We can trace his family all the way back to France. Wow...how Canadian is that? I remember when I was in University there was a lot of talk about Canadian identity. I mean--who are we? For the most part, we define ourselves in relation to others...primarily the Brits or the Americans. I mean we most definitely are NOT American. We're too apologetic. But what things are we that let us stand on our own. For me...I think of it in relation to snow. Most of us grew up digging forts into snow drifts...listening to the sound of our snow pants rub together as we ran to school...wearing toques, riding toboggans and knowing not to lick cold metallic surfaces. Our varied seasons defined us. And, recently, I have begun to wonder what it would mean to lose those seasons. On November 18th, my family loaded up into the car with the plan to drive until we found snow so that we could take the photo for our Christmas greetings(I'd say card, but I'm more of a digital girl). We had to drive all the way to Banff...and, then...there wasn't much. Just a skiff. And, it got me thinking--for goodness sake(really I used much harsher language, but I'll refrain here) it's the middle of November and there is hardly any snow in Banff!

Of course, the snow situation has changed quite drastically now. There is lots of snow, but it was a very long autumn. And, now people that you meet, curse it. What happened to our warm weather? Where did the lovely fall go? I get this weird feeling in my gut everytime somebody says something like that to me. As far as I'm concerned--Let it Snow, Let it Snow, Let it Snow!!!! The warm weather in the winter only gets me down. That is why I haven't written in awhile. Well, that and the fact that I am working more now. But, sometimes I get down. I get down about this whole global warming thing and I think that we have gone too far to come back. And, that worries me. Not for me, but for my kids. And, I choose not to share that with all of you who look to me for optimistic answers. Sometimes I just don't feel all that optimistic.

So, do me a favor...love the snow and the bite in the air that comes with it. It, too, is so very Canadian.