Let it snow

I don’t know what it’s like in your neck of the woods, but it is bizarrely brisk in Sydney for the week before Christmas. The youngest went out last night with her friends huddled in a hoodie.

She doesn’t remember that she once had a white Christmas when we briefly lived in New York. Mind you, she was only two and cute as a button.

The youngest makes a snowball on Christmas Day.

We were all horribly sick with the flu that Christmas, so it wasn’t our merriest.

Snow in a big city is also only briefly romantic before it turns into dirty grey mush. But we lived beside a park, so we got to make some impressive snow angels together.

I am not a skier, so snow isn’t big on my holiday bucket list (though I would love to see the Northern Lights one day).

However, I don’t think I’ve ever been anywhere as beautiful as Lake Tahoe in the United States. It was so gorgeous it took my breath away … or perhaps it was the -8C temperatures? Let’s stick with it being the scenery.

DD and I went on holidays there in the early stages of our relationship, after I tagged along on one of his business trips, and we had the best time. I am feeling a bit jealous because he’s about to head to San Francisco for work next month without me. Waaaah.

We flew in via Reno, which is a butt-ugly place, but driving up into the mountains was divine.

I am talking fairytale gorgeous, with all the pine trees covered in snow. As we crested the mountains, Lake Tahoe sparkled below us and we were dazzled.

Aside from being gobsmacked by the scenery and taking hundreds of photographs of it, we were jazzed by sitting a spa in the snow at our hotel – as the steam swirled around us and the stars twinkled overhead – and by going snowmobiling for two hours in the forest. DD also spent a day skiing at the aptly named Heavenly Mountain while I shopped and saw a movie.

Ah, those were the days. We would return to Lake Tahoe in a heartbeat. It was such a happy place for us.

I can’t wait for us to go travelling together again. It has been a long time between overseas trips. But first I need to get the youngest through the HSC – how did that little cherub in the pink parka grow up so fast?

Have a lovely weekend.

PS My Christmas present to myself just arrived. Soooooo excited to unwrap it. Downsizing rocks!