Chestnuts roasting on an open fire, and other winter activites

Who said winter is a drab?! As many of you know Winter is my favorite season and for an assortment of reasons. First of all Winter is magical. If any of you are familiar with the show "Gilmore Girls" (I expect no man to ever take a serious interest in this show) I have the same strong feelings about the first snow of the year as Lorali Gilmore does. There is nothing better in the world than waking up to a fresh foot of untouched snow with little sprinklings still coming down. I grant you that it isn't the best to drive in, but magic makes up for that.


Also there is that wonderful holiday season associated with winter in which you do tons of different things, like go see the lights on temple square, put up a Christmas tree, and decorate the house with reds and greens even if it does clash with your furniture. This year Sean and I didn't really get a chance to do a lot of Christmas activities, but he did get a recipe from his coworker for roasting chestnuts. So we decided to go to the grocery store and try some. If you've never had roasted chestnuts before, they are interesting. I don't think I'll ever crave them but they tasted pretty good. They were a lot like little baked potatoes. Now that I think about it, they would probably taste great with ketchup, or even sour cream and cheese. Here is a picture of Sean making Chestnuts. You just cut a slit in them, throw them on a cookie sheet, go to town with the salt, and bake them at 100 degrees for about an hour. Then when they are done, peal the skin off and enjoy.

We also had a chance this past month to do some Ice Skating. And I am proud to say that the only time I fell that night was when I stepped into the ticket area with my stiletto high heels on and pretty much just did the splits in front of the ticket desk. They were pretty hesitant to let me on the ice. In the rink I did do a lot of arm flailing, but I didn't fall. I also never went further than five feet from the wall and never faster than five miles an hour. Sean just stayed by my side and would catch me when I was about to go down (half of those times he was the one helping me fall). It was a blast, and I ended up wondering why I don't go more often.

And then there is that one activity, that if it were the only redeeming quality winter had, would still make winter my favorite season. If you don't know what I'm talking about, you don't know me. Oh, that's right, Sean and I also got a chance to go take on the mountain, and it was fabulous. It was freezing, I couldn't feel my toes most of the night, but it was so worth it. I am sorry to say, that I did punk out earlier than I usually do (which is before the resort closed). I'm not as in shape as I use to be, and this is giving me a whole lot of motivation to get into shape. When you are going down the mountain and your thighs start to feel like they are on fire, but you have to hold your stance or else you are going to have to walk the rest of they way, it's time to get into shape. But oh what a burn!
So yea for winter, may it last as long as possible! (or at least long enough that it doesn't interfere with my outdoor reception)