Overall Asha has adapted to our move very well but, just in case, when we first landed in L.A. I tried to make a point of telling Asha all of the great things about living in Calfornia. One of these things was the fact that it doesn't snow there which for me was somewhere around number 1 on my list of reasons to move there. Well when I told her that it doesn't snow in L.A. Asha started to cry. Big, fat, miserable tears. It had never occurred to me that for a 4 year old, snow was one of the best things ever. Her classmates were SO jealous that she got to go to Canada for Christmas and play in snow. Many of them have never seen snow and most of the ones who have went to the mountains outside of L.A. and searched for a patch of snow to touch.
One of the most common questions that I've been asked lately is if I miss the snow. Well, I hate to break it to you but I haven't missed the snow one tiny little bit. If I never saw another snowflake for the rest of my life I would be A-okay. I know that some people genuinely enjoy skiing and snowmobiling and all that but I am not one of those people. Sometimes I wonder if anyone actually does enjoy those activities or if they just fool themselves into liking them to justify living in this ridiculous climate! I've also wondered if anyone really truly likes wasabi or if they just pretend to. Seriously, it tastes like a combination of saltwater and toilet cleaner.
I think Canadians like to feel superior to the rest of the world because we're so tough and rugged. I recently saw a commercial for Tide laundry detergent that said something to that effect. Essentially, we Canadians are so tough for living in the cold and therefore should wash their laundry in Tide Cold Water detergent. I don't really see the logic... Anyway, I find myself doing it when I'm in L.A.. Whenever someone complains that it's cold I openly mock them and tell them that they don't know cold. I went to a kid's birthday party and it was probably about 10-15 degrees celsius outside which is very chilly for the folks down there. Everyone was huddled around a heat lamp while Asha and I wore T-shirts. I felt very superior and thick-skinned compared to those wimpy Californians.
But are we really hardier than them or are we just stupid? If we could skip the snow and have warm weather year-round would we really not choose to? We tend to think that the only options are the Edmonton 4-season climate and the Carribean tropical-year-round climate. People often say that they love Canada because of our distinct 4 seasons. Well I hate to break it to you but they also have 4 distinct seasons in L.A. They consist of: warm summer, temperate fall (complete with beautiful fall leaves!), somewhat rainy winter, and temperate spring. In my books, that beats 6 months of snow any day! We also tend to think that the only options are a white Christmas and a brown Christmas. Well how about a green Christmas, people?! In L.A. everyone stops watering their lawns in December because it's humid enough to keep your lawn green! Yes, green! People have to put cardboard cutouts of snowmen and snowflakes on their lawn for Christmas decorations (and yes, I openly mock them because they don't know what snow is REALLY like).
So, all of that said, we are now in Canada. One of the first things Asha wanted to do was put on her snowpants and roll around in the snow. We spent a lovely hour shoveling the driveway which was actually pretty fun and Asha was quite helpful, much to my surprise. I like shoveling snow but probably because I never do it. We popped up to Whitecourt for a quick visit and it had recently snowed so there was a layer of glittering snow on all the spruce trees. The sun was setting over Whitecourt "mountain" and I had to confess, out loud to myself that it was really, really beautiful. A Whitecourt sunset beats a the sun setting over the beach anyday.
I also must confess that it feels much more Christmas-y here. When I ask Asha what Christmas is about (in the hope that she won't say 'presents') she says it's about snow. I think she might think that we had to leave California for Christmas because it doesn't actually happen there because there's no snow. She must be very sad for her friends.
So I guess my love/hate relationship with snow continues. It's probably about 10% love and 90% hate. But I guess it's in my soul for life. Maybe one day I'll long for a good snow day so I can go tabogganing or something. Although I've always though tabogganing was the craziest winter sport of all. I imagine aliens coming down and watching it. I think they would say something to this effect: "So you run up the hill, then slide down it while snow flies into your face and goes up your mittens and down your boots until you run into something. Then you run back up again to do it all over again. Over and over and over. Let's go find some intelligent lifeforms". Building snowmen is genuinely fun but there isn't enough snow this year and it's not sticky enough! I just can't win.
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