Write@Home
Winter 2015

Seasonal

close up of two people wearing skates on ice

When we talk about our first winter in Canada, my husband frowns and groans, my son smiles and his face lights up, and I just laugh.

My hometown in China doesn’t get very much snow, and my son really loves snow. (I believe all kids are the same.)

When we first immigrated to New Brunswick, my son couldn’t wait for winter to arrive even though we were enjoying a beautiful and colourful Canadian fall. In fact, he checked the forecast every day through the months of November and December.

At last, the first snowfall came while we were sleeping on a cold December night. When we woke up in the morning, the whole world was covered in powdery white snow. It was so beautiful!  You cannot image how excited we were. It was the first time we had seen anything like that. My son eagerly put on his snowsuit to play outside. He made a snowman, a snow angel and just lied in the snow looking up at the clear blue sky. Full of confidence, my husband took his shovel to dig out our driveway. He refused to buy a snow blower, and I refused to help him. He believed he was strong enough to do it by himself. Instead, I made a cup of hot chocolate and sat on the sofa to enjoy a peaceful morning in a warm room looking out the window. After one hour, my husband came in sweating profusely and breathing heavily. He was tired out and lay down on the floor immediately. (Ha…Ha…Ha, I couldn’t stop laughing at him) The following autumn, my husband bought a snow blower as soon as he found a good one on sale.

We must thank our neighbour, Mike, who often shovelled our driveway with his snow blower our first winter in New Brunswick. His kindness made me feel warm and part of the neighbourhood.

Best of all we got to try a lot of winter sports for the first time in our lives. We went downhill skiing, which we all loved. We also went skating and snow boarding, which we also enjoyed. Besides, having to shovel the snow our first Canadian winter was great.