Thursday, January 10

Winter, snow, sleet, hail and ice

I HATE winter.   I can still feel that wind blowing up my skirt and though my tights while walking home from the bus after school.   I can see my father as Frosty the snowman that Friday that he walked home from court, and the ten inches of snow on my in-laws' heads when they walked 5 kilometres for my brother's Bar Mitzva.   bbbbbrrrrrrrrrrr....
But winter in Israel, even when i complain about the cold, is special.

First of all, everyone is grateful for the rain.  Every milimetre added to the Kineret is mentioned on the news. Everyone is grateful for Gishmei Beracha.
The kids like the hail - they play with it, and they find the noise it makes is a good distraction during class.
And when it snows - everyone in the entire country gets so excited.  The newspapers put snowmen onteh front pages.  We can even ignore politics for a few minutes.  And DH is happy to pack the kids into the car to drive ten minutes to higher altitudes to play.  (And they usually let me stay home!)

But most of all, I love the fact that the snow, winds, hail and sleet, are only a few days a year.  Yes, I skipped school  this past Monday to avoid driving in heavy rain.  I can do that, because it was once this year, and probably won't happen more than one more time.   Avoiding winter driving does not require missing many important activities.
BEH,  Today the kids will go to play in snow, and that's it.  After this week, there might be one or two more weeks in which we have to bundle them up in coats AND hats AND scarves (or חמי-צוואר) AND boots AND gloves ...  The rest of the six months from Sukkot till Pessah require a jacket and maybe an umbrella and wellingtons.  And many days we don't need any of the above.   

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