By Allan Olson
Regardless of what the calendar says, winter is
officially here, with the 16 inches (or more) of snow that dumped in the area
last week, followed by the sharp blast of cold winter air that dropped
temperatures down to near 30 below on Thursday morning. I think it safe to say
that winter is here to stay, at least for the foreseeable future.
The weekend kicked off with all of us taking in
the basketball games on Friday night at Cass Lake-Bena. Both teams played well,
but unfortunately, they didn’t both win. Our entire family was there for the
evening, although the younger three left for home at halftime of boys game when
mom decided that the kids were getting restless and tired and it was time to go.
Nikolai and I stayed for the duration, and what a game we saw! It featured
multiple lead changes, missed opportunities by both teams, and the final,
game-winning bucket by the Panthers. It was an edge-of-your-seat, nerve-wracking
game. On the way home, Nikolai said that his legs were still shaking from the
excitement.
We did not do much on Saturday. My wife and I
rented two different movies during the day, and after watching them decided that
we would not describe either as a must-see-again flick. I think I even managed
to take a nap, although Abigail and her mom were wrestling nearly the entire
time and kept disturbing me – I guess dads aren’t meant to nap on weekends. We
also managed to get the girls haircuts; other than that, we avoided the cold air
as much as possible.
Our schedule was a bit busier on Sunday. We
headed to town to pick up a few supplies for this week’s meals. Upon our return,
we quickly turned around, fully dressed for the great outdoors, and headed to a
nearby tree farm. Last year was the first time we had visited a tree farm to
purchase a Christmas tree, and it was such a good experience we decided to try
it again. I contacted the place we went to last year but found that they had
given it up, so we checked around and found another place, closer to home. This
one was a little different – instead of having trees cut and ready to go, we had
to search to find one in their fields and then cut it down ourselves.
My wife spotted one she liked almost
immediately, and it was close to the road, so there would be less dragging
through the snow. The kids, however, wanted to explore their options, and even
though the temperatures were still well below the donut, they didn’t seem to
notice and went tromping off through the fluffy white stuff. Actually, they did
more than tromp – they jumped, laid down and shook the snow off different trees
to see if that was one they wanted to bring home for the Christmas
season.
In the end, we selected the one that Mom had
wanted to begin with, and started the process of cutting the tree down with a
hand saw. All the kids had to help dad cut down the tree, and it seemed to take
an excruciating amount of time – perhaps five minutes – but we managed the task.
We brought the tree back to the yard, paid the owner, returned his saw and
headed for home. I unloaded our purchase and dragged it into the house to thaw a
bit. A few hours later, I dragged it upstairs and helped to set it up. The kids
were eager to decorate it, and finally Mom relented and allowed the process to
begin. Having learned from experience, I watched from a safe
distance.
Another first on the evening was making holiday
fudge. This turned out spectacularly, too, and we plan to make several more
varieties for the Christmas holiday. All in all it was a fun weekend, and with a
quick glance at the thermometer, a good one to spend mostly indoors.
This weekend’s plans are still not determined –
some geocaching might be fun, although with the cold temperatures and deep snow,
the odds of finding caches aren’t good.
Please be safe while ice fishing this season,
and remember to take a picture to preserve a lifetime of memories. Also please
watch out for the buses that are transporting our children. And please remember
to drive safely and slowly this winter season. Thanks for reading, and have a
great week! For more of my columns visit: http://allan-crazykids.blogspot.com.
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