Well. Sarnia turned out to be no problem at all because we basically didn't leave the house the whole time we were there. We arrived at my mom's at about 5pm on Christmas Eve. My brother pulled up behind me just minutes later, and with him came nightfall and snow. We were both RIGHT on time, in my view, especially as I'd never been to the house before and really didn't want to have to look for it in the dark. It snowed all that night. We had a white Christmas. YAY! It continued to snow all Christmas day. It stopped for a brief window of time on Boxing Day, which my brother wisely used to make his escape back to Toronto, before picking up again. So we did what anyone should do in such situations: we stayed inside for the most part, making good use of the Netflix streaming, and braving the elements only for such critical tasks as shovelling a path in the back yard for the dog and taking a walk down to the lake or around the block to see the Christmas lights. At some point the driveway also got cleared and snowmen were attempted. (Failed, sadly. The snow wasn't consistently of the good packing variety; I think it accumulated in layers that made it impossible to roll a snowman body but still enabled small amounts to be formed into snowballs.)
We made our own escape on Friday, the 28th. Luckily the snow had stopped by then and the roads were clear. The next storm was set to hit on the 29th. And it did. We had another get-together planned for that day at noon and woke up to far more snow than had been forecast. Snow that continued to fall, heavily, all morning. I'm not used to driving in the snow anymore. It was really stressful. Just at the on-ramp to the highway I saw a car off in the ditch and his skidmarks leading there. I almost turned around partway when the snow-covered highway intimidated me. The cars by the concrete dividers that were completely spun around to face into traffic certainly didn't help my confidence. But I didn't turn back. I trudged on and we made it to the restaurant right on time. By the time our lunch was finished and we headed back, the snow had slowed and the roads had been cleared, for the most part. Thankfully. I wasn't looking forward to driving it a second time.
Back in the GTA, we made good use of the fallen snow and took The Little Ninja tobogganing. My dad's ancient giant toboggan, though huge on memories, was nowhere near as good at getting you down the hill and halfway across the field as the new plastic ones we borrowed from a neighbour. The plastic ones had a definite weight advantage - as in, you could get the damned things up the hill while also carrying a toddler who couldn't walk in the deep snow because his legs are too short and he'd just fall over. Which was hilarious for us, but not so much for him. Still. Snow fun? Check.
New Year's Eve, on the other hand, sucked. In fact, it was so bad, it inspired a resolution: I won't be pressured into anything this year. Like staying up until midnight just because it's New Year's Eve. The new year will come whether I watch the shitty shows from New York and Niagara (I couldn't even make myself flip to the Toronto one it was so horrible) or am fast asleep in my bed.
We tried to go skating on New Year's Day. We checked the opening hours, got all dressed up for the cold, propped The Little Ninja into a borrowed wagon and trudged over to the local outdoor skating rink. It was closed. For New Year's Day. Booo. We drove over the next day. I got to try out my new blades and, much as predicted, The Little Ninja stood on the ice for about 4 seconds before demanding that the skates be removed. It was a good start, though, right?
That was about it, really. We saw some people, didn't get to see some people. Went shopping and got some stuff (like the mini eggs I'm stuffing my face with while I write this) and everything fit into our bags, which is always a plus. I guess this trip was pretty successful, all in all. Yay!
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