The activity on my January self-care calendar for today: to write down my 3 favourite winter memories.
I think my best winter memories all relate to being outdoors in the snow.
As children growing up in rural Saskatchewan, there was always lots of snow from mid November all the way until the end of March. We had a large back yard which allowed for the creation of snow forts. One year we even made the newspaper.
I am fortunate to have my birthday in January.
I say that because we often had part of my birthday party playing in the snow.
We also became a fun destination for our friends and neighbours.
We spent hours, piling the snow, digging tunnels and carrying water to make a slide.
Dad would also pile the snow up against one our trees out front and make a slide coming down from it.
We had a tobogganing hill we would go to and spend the day. It was near our elementary school and most likely on someone’s property but it where everyone went sledding.
Even in my teens I was lucky to be able to spend time outdoors, cross country skiing at Madge Lake and having winter camp outs with Air Cadets.
One year us senior cadets built a snow duck at Duck Mountain Provincial Park.
Once I was married, I was fortunate to live in places that get a lot of snow and fairly mild temperatures.
Our kids were able to play outside most days in the winter.
In Barrie ON, it snowed almost daily; I would shovel while keeping an eye on the boys playing in the snow. We had a sliding hill we would go to right next to the their school.
In Russell ON, we had so much snow one year that our lamp post nearly got buried.
In Trenton ON, we lived a block away from a storm water basin.
It was a massive hole with a field at the bottom and sloping sides all the way around.
It was great for sledding and, if we had a warm spell in January and then a flash freeze, it was also great for skating.
It wasn’t only the kids who enjoyed sledding.
Others were forced into it.
Visiting Kamsack SK one Christmas, our teenage boys went out and made a snowman.
It must have been a lot warmer than this year.
It is no wonder then that I am enjoying shoveling all the snow at our new property.
Being outside, enjoying the fresh air and getting some exercise in the winter have always been a part of my favourite winter memories.
What a fun time you had in the snow…I remember doing some of those fun winter things when I was a kid. Now ..not so much! I prefer to be inside with a good book and a warm blanket instead. Getting too old for sliding down a hill in the snow..LOL!
Yes, those were days when Mom had the house to herself for awhile , 😃.
Building snow forts is great, we were lucky, no one was ever buried by a avalanche!
So parents of this read, make sure there is always on eye out when these structures are made, they could have contractors that took a short cut. Beware