Thank God For the Crabapple Tree

Because the crabapple tree out our window brings the robins. The robins who hang out up here all winter, just like we do.

This winter. Ugh. I already whined about winter last year, calling it the "least frugal thing I have ever done" -- and, uh, now I'm kinda looking back fondly at last year. I just deleted a huge paragraph of whining about the snow and the cold. (I'm sure I've complained enough on Twitter anyway.) There has been snow on the ground every day in 2014. That's longer than Jesus spent being tempted in the desert, y'all.

But let's not dwell on that.

Let's focus on the good things instead. The weird and fun things I'm still learning about living in a winter wonderland.

• Dancing trees. One day it was snowing buckets and buckets, and I watched it pile up so much on the evergreen trees that they finally gave in. The snow fell off, the branches bounced up and down, and it reminded me of this singing Christmas tree that my mom got as a gag gift many years ago.
• Snow-hawks. The poor unfortunate cars that are not garaged often get left with snow on the tops. The owners drive them around like that, and it looks like they have white mohawks.

That black car in the background totally has a snow-hawk

• School closings not dictating anything else (unlike in my home state of Georgia). Thank God for this or we wouldn't get anything done around here. The schools have closed for 12 days since January, and they have tacked on over a week to the end of the school year to make it all up. But all the shops, libraries, and my beloved gym stay open unless it's a state of emergency. This also means my husband goes into work all those days, but at least I have places I can go to.
• No random old ladies reprimanding me for bringing my tot out in -3° to get groceries. And she often removes her hat and mittens, so she's not even fully covered. But these old ladies know that you gotta get things done, weather be darned! On that note, all bread, milk, and beer have been stocked in their usual quantities throughout the winter (unlike that Southern panic thing I know too well).
• Sledding! In farm-flat Indiana, you have to seek out the hills. B remembered one from when he was a kid (and I had seen it on some lists), so he took Cora and me there. I had never really sledded before* either, so I actually shared a first with my 2-year-old. How cool is that?
  

*Well, I do remember something from my youth about a trash can lid, an inch of snow, and accidentally sitting on a cactus. But let's not count that.

• Most importantly, the realization that God is in control. We can make all the plans in the world, but some days there will be blizzards. Other days, I'll wonder what on earth made me think it was a good idea to leave the house. And on other days, your city will be paying $300,000 in overtime for snow removal efforts just so people can get to work.

Aside from the dirty snow piles, the calories I've expended shoveling the driveway, and the blown-over snowman in our front yard, if you really look at all of this fluffy white as a whole, God really shines as a master artist. And he even gave me some cute little birdies to gaze at out my window.