Warmth and The Storm

This is pretty much what I saw every time I looked out the window today:
And this is the snow that's been piling up on the chicks' windowsill over the course of the day:

We are, in a serious way, experiencing The Storm up here in Montreal. Multiple travel mishaps meant that we missed Ninna's preschool this morning. After being the worst mom by getting very mad at Bojey for refusing mittens for the 567th time this winter, after which she cried hysterically about the cold for the 567th time this winter, I decided that we would just stay inside today and focus on warmth.

To set the scene, we turned on the fireplace and simmered some orange peels and cinnamon on the stove. I know it looks disgusting, but it smells so, so good.
The chicks played peacefully by themselves for awhile, starting with an interpretation of Little House in the Big Woods. The last chapter we read included a long description of cheese-making, and now one of Ninna's oft-used themes is "let's use a cow stomach to make rennet so we can make cheese"! So she runs around the house with a cow stomach, usually made from something like bubble wrap or a plastic bag, and she and Bojey "make cheese" and then "sell cheese" and then "serve cheese."

Ninna is pretty sure these snow blobs on the window are from animals walking up it. The biggest ones are "raven footprints."We also stayed warm by making crackers, a delicious adventure I'll share more about tomorrow night.

And it turns out that today is Candlemas (along with Groundhog Day.) I'm not up on all these smaller holidays, but this one is kind of cool. It marks the midpoint between the winter solstice and the spring equinox. It's a time to celebrate the slow return to light.

A friend of ours hand-delivered these little walnut boat candles she and her son made to us last night so we'd have them in time for Candlemas. In this house, we have a love for wee tiny things, beeswax, candlelight, and walnuts. And I happen to have a love of things made inside walnut shells, including these darling wee felted babies inside a half of a walnut shell that I'd love to make someday.

So needless to say, the handmade floating candles were a big hit. The chicks went to their dad's this afternoon, so we had to cheat and light the candles a little early. There's still plenty of wax left to burn tomorrow night, so we'll be able to see them in the dark.



And can I just take this opportunity to say how amazing it is not to be attached to a car during a crazy winter storm?