It Was One Frigid Week Across the Continent!

Today is the beginning of a warmer trend in our city with highs near -5 Celsius expected later today.  Currently it is -14 C and the car windows are frosty but the sky is clear and the sunrise sheds hues of mauve and pink near the horizon.

Yesterday was another story.  I drove to work in ice fog, which is rather pretty but it was too dark to really enjoy it at 5 am.  The drive home was incredibly beautiful with hoar frost decorating the branches and needles of the trees that line the roadside.  Beautiful but cold.  Our city temperatures overnight set a record low for the coldest day on record at the International Airport with lows of -26 Celsius.  It warmed to -13 C but the wind picked up and it was pretty bitter to walk in.

This is what Global News had to say on the weather for the continent.  Looks like we are all cold! 

So I looked further and discovered the cause of the cold was a typhoon that began November 4, crossing the ocean and meeting air in the arctic which then swept over the continent with temperatures 15 degrees below normal.

I recall January being the coldest month of winter but that seems to have shifted over the years and now it seems November and December have become the coldest months.  Remember December 21st is the first day of winter?  Well, someone forgot to tell Old Man Winter because he has stopped in for a prolonged stay like the unwanted houseguest who just will not leave.

On the other hand, this is also the season of beauty.  Sure the leaves are gone, the air is crisp, and the roads downright treacherous; but the snow sparkles like small diamonds when light catches the small crystals.  The local greenhouses are decked out in Christmas and winter finery and there is nothing quite like visiting your favourite greenhouse this time of year.  The aroma of fresh pine fills the air and every so often the sweet fragrance that reminds you of Christmas baking lingers in the small vignettes displaying scented sachets and candles.  Mmmmm......

Here is a sample of the Christmas store set up at Greenland Greenhouse this year.  It is my go to destination where I escape the rush and stress of working in retail this time of year.  The area twinkles with hundreds of mini-lights and a reindeer greets you with songs of the season.  Come linger with me for a while, won't you?

More to come soon so if you love to visit greenhouses at Christmas, be sure to bookmark this blog!!

How to Decorate a Christmas Tree BH&G Video and Festival of Trees Collage

The Inspiration:

Collage compiled from Festival of Trees photos taken in 2010

Instruction:

http://www.bhg.com/videos/m/32071352/how-to-decorate-a-christmas-tree.htm (check out this video for step by step instructions)

Rule of thumb for stringing lights:  100 lights per vertical foot of height of your tree.  Weave the string of lights up and down the branches, not limiting yourself to just the exterior of the tree.

Follow with garland, then big ornaments, then mid-size ornaments, then small.  This video suggests putting your tree topper on before adding ornaments to avoid messing them up but I like to stick with tradition and add the topper last, as the finishing touch.

Do you add the topper last?

Incidentally, today is the last day of the Festival of Trees here in Edmonton (December 2/12) at the Shaw Conference Centre.  If you are in town, I highly recommend you attend.  Sadly, I will miss it this year.  I love to volunteer at this event which is a fundraiser for the Stollery Children's Hospital, but I missed out this year when the forms to sign up when to my old address and was picked up last month, too late to register.  I'm not attending this year either.  It's my son's birthday and we are having a family gathering here today.  I can't believe he's 25 already!!  They grow up far too fast!

Have a terrific week everyone!

Join Mary for more mosaics in her weekly meme Mosaic Monday.  

Real or Artificial?

Your Christmas tree: Real or artificial? - Canadian Living
In this article link above, Frankie Flowers debates the benefits of artificial and living Christmas trees.  Which do you prefer?

After years of artificial Christmas trees, this year we are seriously considering having a real tree.  I just love the fragrance of a real tree and the added bonus is I don't have to store the tree for 11 months out of the year.  Yes, that means having to go out and buy a tree yearly or go to a tree farm where we can cut our own, which we did do a couple times.

One year in particular, my husband and I, our kids and my sister and her husband went to Porcupine Hills, permits in hand to share the experience of cutting our own tree.  We had done it previously and thought we'd invite my sister and brother-in-law along for the trip.  

So, we got up in the hills of Southwestern Alberta.  The hills had a generous amount of snow and even people in four wheel drives were getting stuck.  Well, you just have to drive reasonably, we all said.  No sooner said then we were stuck.  There was no budging the truck we were in.  It's funny now to look back on but at the moment it wasn't so much so.  As the afternoon slipped by and our efforts to extricate the truck were proving futile, we thought we'd lost our chance to even get a tree too.  Luckily some very nice men came along and pulled us out.  A bit more humbled for the experience, we selected our trees and hastened on home lest we get in trouble in the snow again.

I'll have to ask the kids if they remember that trip.  It was rather funny to recall now.  That's one of the blessings of the season ... memories with loved ones and times spent together.  Hopefully along the way, we'll have a little adventure to remember that we can share and ... ahem...elaborate upon.

Churchill Square Tree Lit for the Season (2012)

Churchill Square

Taken Christmas evening at Churchill Square, Edmonton Alberta. (2011)

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