So, not everything got cancelled due to snow. In fact, several new wonderful events emerged.

The daily sledding party. I don't know how it happened, but our hill became the place to sled for blocks around. Some days there were 50 people out there. Runner sleds, innertubes, those little saucers that spin. . . it was so cool. I mean, J broke her wrist and the firefighter on the block called his buddies who came with a big fire truck to rescue her, but she was out the next day socializing. I saw more of my neighbors than I probably did the whole rest of the year. There's a girl that Rose has been wanting to play with, and I forgot their name. They were there. I really got to chat with the neighbors a block away whom I don't know. I hung out with a family from our elementary school. Plus, I got to do a lot of sledding.

Lots and lots of playing with the kids across the street, outdoors and in.

The neighborhood holiday party at Z's house. We have a great block party in August where we close off the block (this is an entire Seattle event), grill, and play in the street. So Z and family thought we should get together more often. They printed up nice invitations and had us all over for cookies. I learned they were expecting in March, W is thinking of Reed college, M is getting married in June, and Z (age 2) is finally growing some hair. Rose had a blast playing with Z.

Our tree decorating party. We had invited mostly neighbors and friends from school who lived within walking distance, so no reason to cancel. It was our most relaxed tree decorating party ever. No one fought over who got to put up which ornament, and then the kids put on a series of shows for us.

The play date with the artists next door. We say hello to our next door neighbors, but we don't hang out with them. So, it was very nice of them to come to our tree decorating party, and the next day, Rose announced she wanted to take her sketch book over to their house and sketch. I didn't want to presume on their time, but it also seemed like a nice idea. They had built an artist's studio in their backyard and had been doing glass work in it. The play date went just fine. Turns out they had done some art teaching, so they could actually have a little project for Rose to do. I'm sure she'll be happy to show you the finished product.

The substitute Hannukah party at my sister's house. When the big synagogue party got cancelled, my sister invited all the relatives who felt safe walking there to come on over. We had a little trouble getting out of the house since David knocked the tree over as we were leaving. (You may wonder how we celebrate Christmas and Hannukah. It's complicated.) But then we had a magical walk in the snow, pulling David on the sled. The party was great. I think we had 11 menorahs. My sister gave David a bathrobe which he so loved that he wore for 24 hours straight. John gave the kids math coloring books that they ooh and ahhed over and left the table to color, meaning the adults got to eat in peace. We had to leave early because of the walk up the hill, but it was beautiful too.