Just in the St. Nick of Time

We only just escaped having a 100% green Christmas this year.  Christmas morning we woke to the beginnings of a storm that eventually added up to just enough snow for sledding by the 26th.  There wasn't a ton, but there was enough.  It was quite a task getting everyone to stop Lego-ing but by the afternoon Troy and I were ready to actually leave the house for a while.  We shoved everyone into snow gear, a process that takes approximately 20 minutes of bundling, wrapping, zipping, shoving and tugging per child.  I always find that discouraging when the kids want to go outside since often they stay outside for less time than it takes to get them ready to go outside.  It's a mother's burden to bear, I guess.  Happily, the snow clothing process was well worth the effort.  We headed to my parents' home, where we always hope to have a repeat of the best sledding day ever; Christmas 2008.  Or maybe 2007, I'm not sure.  It was the best ever.  I may have mentioned it once or twice before.  It wasn't quite that great but we had a nice afternoon hurling ourselves down the hill.  The fail of the day was that every time I got on a sled I seemed to clear that particular section of the hill of snow.  Doh!  The happy surprise of the day was that that Skippidy is now one of the big kids.  She's no longer the little toddler wanting to always be with mommy or refusing to try things.  This was her first sledding experience in which she actually seemed to enjoy sledding.  She went down the hills dozens of times, mostly by herself, and never had a moment of terrified crying or anxious refusal to try again.  I also enjoyed Bitty's piercing scream she let fly in a continuous stream every time she went down the hill.  It only took me one run with her to realize that she would have to go solo from then on in order to protect my eardrums. It was really a fun afternoon.  Except Troy's cold.  That wasn't so fun.  We limited our sledding to an hour then took him home to snooze on the couch so the rest of us could get back to putting Legos together while watching extended versions of Lord of the Rings Movies.