Ah the joys of a Canadian winter. This past weekend I kicked off my vacation buy curling up on the couch with a book and watching the snow fall. And fall. And fall. And then it fell some more. In my city we've been the lucky recipients of 45-50cm of snow in the past week, most of it in less than 48 hours. Being the smartypants that I I thought that if I stayed in the house until Wednesday I'd be safe from the snow. But the sidewalks still hadn't been cleared. It makes trudging home, uphill, with Christmas gift just so. much. fun. Especially when you have to dodge around snowplows.

Now I won't say that snow, especially when it's in the process of accumulating, isn't pretty. If you don't believe me go take a gander at the pictures that Tea and Margarita's in My Garden took during the storm (if she's serving margaritas in her garden now I assure you they are the frozen kind). Or these pictures from A Daily Dose of Imagery. Yes ma'am the lights do look mighty pretty in the snow. And yes, the shoveling sucks but there's still something special and magical about being out in the snow.

It’s incredibly beautiful outside, the end of a blizzard beautiful, a slow down and draw a deep breath beautiful. It’s still the neighbourhood, but enough snow came down, it’s as if shape shifters got mischievous and you blink to get your bearings in a usually familar landscape.
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There was even a snow day in Vancouver earlier this month. Vancouver is one of the few places in the Great White North that is not so accustomed to the fluffy white stuff.

Yes, 6 cm of snow is a big deal to Left Coasters. It will soon be gone though, with temperatures creeping up to the double-digits tomorrow with accompanying rain but to savour this wintery blast a while longer.

Miss 604

Over on flickr I found this fabulous posting called When You Live in Atlantic Canada. I personally think that steps 11 and 12 are yet another good reason for me not to own a car (well...that I live in a city so I don't need one...).

11. Now you realize that the snow is 2 feet high on your car. Start with the broom. Very carefully, try to slide the broom across the car so that you are pushing the snow from one side of the car to the other. Never, and I mean, NEVER push the snow to the front of the car because you will be driving out and that means you will have that much more to shovel.

12. Shortly, you throw the freaking broom in the middle of the driveway because the snow is so thick and heavy that you would do better with a chainsaw than you could do with any broom that has ever been invented. So, what do you have that will do a better job without scratching and hurting your 2005 Honda? Your arms and hands. :) Take big clumps of snow and throw them as far away as you can. Remember, do not throw the snow in front of the car. That is essential. It will prevent more work later.

We have a love/hate relationship with snow around here. We love to have it for Christmas and when we don't get it we may get a little persnickety. But that doesn't mean that we want it all at once. So Work in Progress kindly wrote a letter to Mother Nature.

I know that last year I lamented the lack of snow and was unhappy with you for the Green Christmas. However, I think you have more than made up for it this year. In fact, I’m pretty sure we now have enough snow to last us through the whole winter. Therefore it is no longer necessary to send us 5 cm of snow every other day. Especially after you gave us almost 40 cm on Sunday alone. Not to mention the almost 40 cm you’d delivered to us over the first few weeks of the month. I mean, it isn’t even Winter yet - solstice is on Friday. And we have more snow on the ground than we had all last year.

And the sign off to that letter? Perfect. I totally agree.

Contributing Editor Sassymonkey also blogs at Sassymonkey and Sassymonkey Reads.