Christmas traditions

My family has many Christmas traditions and over the years they have extended beyond Christmas Eve and Christmas day.  Here's some of the traditions I'm enjoying this week.

• Christmas Eve service followed by a simple meal.  It used to be oyster stew and potato soup (for those who couldn't stomach the oysters).  This year we had white chili.
• Stockings laid on the love seat with care.
• Presents with no names which means someone opens a present that is really for someone else.  (That didn't happen this year.)
• Too much food: date balls, ginger snaps, peppernuchies, ham, creamed corn, homemade rolls pistachios, eggnog, apple cider...
• Games played as a family
• A puzzle to work on while watching too much football
• A couple of days with some of the Louisiana relatives
• Playing in the snow no matter how cold it is
• The extended family celebration scheduled for January 1st.  As usual we are watching the weather to see how difficult it will be to actually get there.

As much as I'm enjoying traditions here, I'm missing traditions from France including papillotes (special chocolates sold only at Christmas) and a buche de Noël (ice cream Christmas logs).  I also miss dear friends.

All of this is to celebrate Jesus' birthday.  I think he enjoys all of the feasting, laughter, games, stories, naps and time with family and friends.  After all he was accused of liking parties a little too much.  I think he was delighted to hear my 8 year-old niece read the Christmas story before opening presents.  I think he was just as delighted to see the laughter (and a few tears) as my mom has given away some of the "flood treasures" she recently rediscovered.  I wonder what treasures/memories Jesus will have for us when we get to celebrate his birthday with him face to face?

A glimspe of what is to come

This week I finished the first semester of classes.  With only 7 more to go it is easy to lose sight of the end goal which is eventually being an occupational therapist.  Friday I walked a few blocks to spend the morning with some of the OTs at a therapy care unit.  The original idea was to strengthen my application to get into an OT program.  The added benefit was to be reminded of the joys and challenges therapists face on a daily basis.

It was a packed three hours and the therapists graciously explained a lot of what they were doing and why.  Robin told me that if you take an extra two minutes to do little things for the patients they will worker harder for you.  One of the women she was working with was just about ready to go home after back surgery.  Robin's role that day was to make sure she could handle taking a shower by herself.  The little extra was putting lotion on her back and legs.  Another woman, a stroke-victim, hadn't been a good patient from the beginning.  She had made things tough on all the staff and refused to work with the therapists at first.  Now she is willing to work with Robin.  I think that is because Robin reminded her of her options: lay in bed for the rest of your days, or get up and get dressed and work so you can handle a motorized wheelchair and go outside by spring.  It's not surprising that this woman in her 50s decided it would be better to work.  And having a therapist who would get her to sit forward in her chair and scratch her back for a few minutes while she worked those core muscles helped the process along as well.  The time I spent with her was doing some testing to make sure she had the necessary strength and reaction time to try out a motorized wheelchair next week.

I watched another therapist work with a young man who had brain damage due to carbon monoxide poisoning.  The sounds and activity in the therapy room overwhelmed him so he was wheeled down the hall to a sitting area where he could see outside.  There it was easier for him to focus and the task was just to get him to follow an object with his eyes and turn his head.  One side was a whole lot easier than the other.  She also worked with one of his arms trying to get the tense muscles to relax.  Afterward, the therapist explained some of the family dynamics I had observed during that half hour.   Some family members stay completely in the background and others get involved - and getting involved isn't usually helpful.  I would have liked to have seen this young man without the "help" of his family to see the difference. 

shoveling

I know, I wrote about winter weather last week. I should have waited a week as yesterday we had our first blizzard of the season. (In case you don't know, that means snow + wind which results in drifts in front of anything that stops the snow.)  While we didn't have terrible winds here, close to 12 inches of snow fell and in some places it shifted around into at least 24 inch drifts.  Last night about 5 it stopped snowing so I went out to to get a start on the shoveling.  I sunk up to my knees in most places but for some reason the drift next to the garage left a 3-shovel wide area with hardly any snow.  Then I walked around the corner and realized all the snow that should have been there had been deposited in front of the garage doors.  Last night I cleared a path to the garage and in front of one garage door.  If need be we could get out.

This morning the sun shone bright and it was down around zero.  My church was canceled since it would take most people all day to dig out so I walked to a church nearby that was still having services.  The man who gave the welcome said, "Welcome to both of you."  (There were more than 2 of us there.)  The sidewalks across the bridge had been cleared but other than that it was safer to walk on the streets.  I saw a few cars that were going to take some major work to get dug out.  One side was packed in by the snow from the snowplow and the other side was packed in by the snow from the sidewalk snow blower.

I spent the afternoon finishing the shoveling.  The alley was plowed last night leaving a foot high mound that I needed to get away from the garage.  The other problem was where to put the stuff.  There just isn't a lot of space.  I was about ready to peter out and offer my car to my roommate for work tomorrow when a neighbor came over to help me with what was left in front of the garage.  I met several of the neighbors today.  And despite the close to zero temps, I was far from cold.  In fact I was sweating.  My core definitely got a work-out.

Some may ask why we don't have a snow blower.  Actually Kathryn does - it's just over at her brother's and he's on another continent right now.  However the friend staying there said he'd gladly come over and help once he got his car dug out which he figured would take all day. He'll stop by tomorrow.  In the meantime we can get our cars out and the mailman can get to the mailbox (which is by the front door) and people can walk down the sidewalk.

Tomorrow I have my first of two finals.  Since it's online I can take it when I'm ready which will probably be sometime in the afternoon.  Wednesday I have my Math final and then I'm done for the semester.  I have quite a list of things that I want to catch up on over the break.

Winter

For the past 18 years winters have been mild for me. Since I grew up in Iowa I know what "real winter" is all about but in France it was gray and rainy with temperatures in the 30s. While living there I learned that "cold" is a relative term. Most French people I met think it is really cold when it gets down to 0°C (freezing). I'd show up with a fall jacket on and they couldn't imagine that I could possibly be warm. I'd smile and tell them it was -40° in Iowa and they couldn't fathom being able to function at such extreme temperatures.

Snow was another area of misunderstanding. I tried to explain the concept of dry snow that couldn't be packed into snowballs but it was beyond their comprehension. I'd invite them to come visit and they'd shake their heads in horror and add, "Not in the winter!" It was quite humorous watching the French drive in snow. But I can cut them some slack since they usually have only one opportunity to practice each year and quite a few cars end up in the ditch here following the first snow each year.

Now I'm getting to experience a full Minnesota winter while carrying on with my business despite the elements. I must confess that when the first snow came on a Saturday, it felt very much like a snow day, even though it was only about 6 inches of very wet heavy stuff. (Dry snow is MUCH easier to shovel.) After that I was able to ride my bike a few more times to school but now it's just too cold and the streets are too messy. I still see brave souls pedaling away but personally, I'm grateful for my student bus pass. I have to leave earlier and it's not quite so easy to stop by the post office or the library on the way home but at least I get to school without watery eyes and a frozen face.

At this point I still like "real" winter. (Ask me in February or March if that is still the case.) I went out for a walk this afternoon and the new layer of snow that fell on Friday and Saturday made the city seem very clean and picturesque (if I didn't look at the streets.) The beauty of God's creation is seen in the desert and the cold north. So let it snow - and I need to buy a pair of boots!