Grandma Henke

For the first 32 years of my life I had wintery winters … the kind where it is bitter cold and there is snow on the ground … where you see your breath and don’t go outside without coat, boots, gloves, and a hat.    When that was all I knew I liked it.    It couldn’t be Thanksgiving or Christmas without it for one thing.

For the last 28 plus years I have lived in southern Utah in the warm desert and our winters aren’t very cold.    We occasionally have freezing temperatures, and occasionally it snows enough to stay on the ground for a day or two … but not very often.     Our first Christmas in Ivins was amazing because the kids were outside riding their new bikes and hot cycles without so much as a sweatshirt.     I have to say … I like desert Christmas’s the most.

We can get to the snow in a half hour’s drive from home if we really want to play in it or get nice and cold … that’s good enough for me.   Now that our children are grown and gone that doesn’t even tempt me!   No more going to the woods to cut our own Christmas tree … no more sleigh riding … no more snow ball fights or making snowmen.   I just love to sit inside by the fire and drink my hot chocolate and watch the Salt Lake City weather on the news.  That’s close enough to the snow for me!

I’m in Seattle visiting my kids right now and it’s freezing cold up here!   In the house I wear sweats and a sweater!     I look outside and get the shivers!     The kids up here don’t think it’s cold … they run around in the house bare foot and then climb up by me and stick their icy little feet on my arms to hear me squeal.   

When Lynn retires and we become snowbirds, splitting our time between Southern Utah and Seattle we will have the best of both worlds.  

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