Winter

Winter is in full swing in Alaska.  When we came seven years ago everyone told us "We don't get a lot of snow."  and it snowed, and snowed, and snowed, and snowed some more.  We lost track after 15 foot of snow that winter, but that was nowhere near the end of the snow.  More came, we just lost count.  We were assured on our return that kind of snow was not typical and that they barely even saw snow for the last few years.  Well, either they tend to undersell, or we are snow magnets because we've had lots of snow already.  We haven't seen the ground in something like three weeks.  And that's with several days of rain to work on melting the snow down.  Whatever the cause, it's still beautiful and still brings a little bit of magic with every snowflake, without me even making magic snowflakes.

While the snow may be magic, the darkness is not!  If I could make magic sunshines I most certainly would.  With winter solstice last week, there was a tiny window of hope.  Then I realized that, while solstice meant we were going to be gaining light every day, it also meant that we were only half of the way through winter.  It already feels like forever since we had real sunlight on our way home from school and that forever is only one half of the time we have to endure.  Winter is my favorite season, but the snow is much prettier when it can sparkle in the sunshine instead of the playground lights.

This pictures shows where the sun is at 1:30 in the afternoon.
I miss you sunshine!!  Please come back!

When it rains on top of snow and then freezes overnight, the
snow grows these super cool ice crystals.  I took a bunch of
pictures trying to do them justice.  If the sun had been out,
it would have been easier, but that's already a sore subject!