Well, we knew it could not last.
After a prolonged fall stretching from September to mid-January, which reignited debate about climate change and global warming, winter has finally bared its large fangs.
Some may have reacted with “oh no” when snow began tumbling, spreading a white blanket several inches thick across the landscape. Others, however, will have greeted the wind-driven flurries with a shrug and even a wry smile.
There was something disorientating about the sight of so much greenery over Christmas. It seemed fake, almost fraudulent, as if disguising some terrible truth.
It was like a phoney war: the waiting, the tension, the awful sense of anticipation had become almost unbearable as the imagination worked overtime, creating worst-case scenarios.
Would winter in a fit of pique wreak revenge for so many months of inactivity? Were the predictions of the Farmers’ Almanac about to be realized, and then some?
Now that winter has finally reverted to type – white and piercingly cold – there is an almost palpable sense of relief.
The sight of snow plows, homeowners and shopkeepers shovelling snow from sidewalks, wires attached to cars, vehicles left running while the owner stays indoors for five or ten minutes, and people kitted out in thick coats, boots and mittens has a reassuring familiarity.
This is Canada, this is Alberta, and this is winter in its brutal glory.
Besides, it is so much better than sudden bursts of freezing rain which weeks ago turned roads and sidewalks into skating rinks and seemed to leave everybody nonplussed and unsure how to respond.
Now at last winter sports enthusiasts like snowmobilers can look forward to some fun in the Barrhead area, without having to go elsewhere for their thrills.
As the Northern Lights Snowmobile Club’s Darren Strawson said recently, ice may be great for hockey and skating, but it is misery for sledders. All that they need is a bit more snow, and a little less cold.
Of course, many will smile inwardly and whisper a prayer that winter took so long to appear. We are already well into January. Only a few months before green shoots of spring emerge.
But for now we should enjoy the beauty that winter brings. Few sights are more awe-inspiring than a snow-covered landscape.
Poets are moved to rhapsodize or create word paintings that describe a season of magnificent and humbling power.
Christina Rossetti’s Christmas poem of 1872, In The Bleak Midwinter, has a haunting, timeless resonance for everyone in Barrhead and beyond.
In the bleak midwinter, frosty wind made moan, Earth stood hard as iron, water like a stone; Snow had fallen, snow on snow, snow on snow, In the bleak midwinter, long ago …
Yes, winter is a bleak beauty.
It is also a season of calm and soulfulness when the sun never shines more sweetly or with such subtle radiance. For once we fully appreciate the wonder of that fiery ball in the sky.
We should embrace winter.
After all, what choice do we have?
