Something magical happens when you bring together kids and snow. A landscape that can illicit groans of boredom from your average child, once blanketed in a layer of snow is a limitless wonderland of possibility that no child can resist.Otherwise mundane activities take on a whole other dimension when done in the snow. Sitting on a piece of plastic and riding down a hill, digging a hole and jumping in it, rolling around on the ground, perhaps mildly entertaining under ordinary circumstances, become downright intoxicating when done in soft white powder.
This truth can have some unexpected results. As soon as we arrived at the chain up area off the Strathcona Parkway last month for our Second Annual Snow Spectacular both my kids dashed for the piles of snow before the car had barely come to as stop, so irresistible was its lure. Unbeknownst to my husband and I, as we unpacked the sleds and snowshoes from the trunk of the car, our youngest son was testing the depth of a creek on the other side of the pile. Lou, responding to a muffled cry, found him thigh deep in the freezing cold water moments later. And so the fun times were cut short for the two of them, as Lou was forced to take Malcolm home.
For those of us lucky enough to stay, we were able to surrender ourselves to the snow's spell, to a much happier ending. We sledded, dug, built and played until we were wet and cold and tired. A few hours later, reluctantly and with much convincing and cajoling, we loaded the kids back into warm vehicles and brought them home.
A wonderful afternoon made possible by the magic of snow.
