First Day of Snow & Winter Blues

We’ve officially stepped into winter—at least according to Mother Nature.

But before I get into the season itself, I have to talk about the moment that kicked off the magic: the first time I ever saw the Auroras from our own backyard.

It was the usual evening chaos in our house. Paul had just gotten home from work, I was in the middle of prepping sourdough pizzas for the pizza oven, the kids were going feral in their pre-dinner frenzy, and my mother-in-law was over. Right on cue, my brother showed up—he has a sixth sense for arriving exactly when dinner is being served.

He mentioned how busy the roads were, which reminded us that the Northern Lights were supposed to be bright that night. Once Paul and I finally got most of the pizzas baked and everyone fed, I stole a minute to run upstairs. I peeked out the tiny bathroom window facing the ocean, hoping for even a hint of color.

As most locals know, the Auroras show up best on your phone camera. So of course I used the cheat—pointed my phone at the sky—and instantly my screen lit up with bright greens and reds. With my own eyes, I could only see a faint reddish glow, thanks to a couple of stubborn street and house lights.

I rushed downstairs, scooped up Lorelai, turned off the porch light, and stepped onto the back deck with her. After a moment of letting our eyes adjust, we both saw it clearly: the sky glowing and dancing in green and red. It was surreal.

In Kodiak, seeing the Northern Lights at 7:45 p.m. is practically unheard of. Usually, they only show off between 1 a.m. and 4 a.m.—and these days, you won’t catch me anywhere but my bed (or work) during those witching hours. And even when the Auroras are active, the weather doesn’t usually cooperate. If you’ve lived here or even visited, you know Kodiak and clear skies aren’t exactly best friends.

But on the rare nights when the clouds part?

Kodiak becomes one of the most beautiful places in the world.

Can you spot the Big Dipper in this one?

The next day—November 13th—brought the most beautiful, fluffy snowflakes. Of course it started snowing right at lunchtime, which meant trying to convince my toddler that we had to nap instead of play in the snow. A battle, to say the least. But nap had to happen—I was starting my work week that night, and if I’m going to pull an all-nighter, I need at least a little afternoon snooze.

When we woke up, it looked like a winter wonderland. First things first: we had to go pick up Lorelai from school. She was over the moon that it had snowed, so naturally we had to go straight outside to play.

You might think that once Alaska gets snow, it sticks all winter long… but I hate to burst your bubble. Where we live, we’re lucky if snow stays longer than a week. There are places in the lower 48 that get more snow than we do. Being surrounded by the ocean in south-central Alaska gives us much milder winters than the northern communities. Every once in a while we’ll get a true winter, and honestly, I feel like this might finally be the year. It’s been a few years since we’ve had any real blizzards or heavy snowfall. Last year I don’t think we had more than a few days of snow—it was depressing. If it’s going to be dark and cold, at least give us some snow.

Maybe that’s why I ditched all my afternoon chores the moment it started sticking. Lorelai made a “snow buck (deer),” and Avalyn got to ride in the sled for the first time ever. Yes—ever. Her first winter she was a newborn, and the next two winters we didn’t have enough snow to even use a sled.

I’m honestly so grateful for the Northern Lights and the snowfall (even though today’s rain melted every bit of it). A couple of weeks ago, I felt the winter blues creeping in. In all my years of living here, I’ve never felt seasonal depression hit me like that. But this year was different. I had a solid week of feeling down, fatigued, and unusually quiet. I made it a point to start taking my Vitamin D again, hoping it would help.

I realized it probably hit harder this year because I’m working nights now. I don’t get much sleep between shifts, and switching back and forth between being a “day person” on my days off and a night-shifter three days a week is rough on my body. I’m hopeful that prioritizing my vitamins and making time to get outside with my girls on nice days will help keep that lingering sadness away.

If you made it through my second blog post, thank you for taking the time to read and be here with me.

Do you struggle with seasonal depression?

If so, message me on the Northnest Instagram—I’d love to hear what helps you get through it.