Winter Wonderland
It’s winter, finally. We’ve waited so long for this and now it’s here and we’re all sad. Well, not all of us, actually. I’m not pumped about the weather, but the snow makes me pretty happy, you know, once it’s on the ground and of the road and not flying in people’s faces and making them slip. It’s really the snow I’ve been waiting for. I could do without the cold and the wind and the ice, especially the ice, but I enjoy the snow.
Some of my favorite memories, naturally, are getting all bundled up to go out and play in the snow every winter. We once tried to build a giant snowman, but found out when we got all three giant snow balls to the front of the house, using all the teamwork, that it was impossible to stack them. So that year we just had three giant snow balls sitting in front of the house until well into spring. Another year we made an igloo in the back yard that we were pretty excited about. It was just a small thing, but it fit two of us and some cats, which is sufficient.
And of course there was sled riding. The greatest of all winter past times. We had three options for sled riding. The cow pasture behind the house, the big hill across the road or our friend Drew’s backyard, when invited. We had all the sleds, the round ones and the long ones and the old fashioned one that my dad would pull all three of us on when we were wee little. We had a little plastic snowboard too, which was fun. We could pretend that we were cool without actually knowing how to snowboard. Once we moved things got a little difficult with the sledding. We had a big field in back of my parents house that was never cut down so it was full of dead weeds when the snow fell. Not super great for sledding, but it worked a little once you got a good trail tamped down. The other option was the front yard hill that went down to the drive way, and then, if you were going fast enough (which you probably were) on to the road or into the big rock at the end of the driveway or into the bushes, take your pick. We didn’t do a whole lot of sledding at the new house.
The best part of winter fun, though, was always coming inside again. It was stripping off all the wet snow clothes and tossing the socks in the dryer before going up stairs to wrap up in blankets with a cup of hot chocolate. The hot chocolate was always my favorite part, for obvious reasons. There is just something wonderful about getting out of wet clothes and into dry ones that make the dry ones feel so much more comfy. We would gather in the living room after that and watch a movie or maybe play a video game and enjoy the warmth, it was quite lovely.
I have a confession to make. I’m super excited about the new house having a yard so I can play in it. I’m not sure if my husband will be as into this as I am, but I really want to make a snowman. I swore I was going to make one, somehow, last year and I never did. It’s a little hard when you live in an apartment and that might be frowned upon. There’s also not a whole lot of room for such things. But the new place has a whole big front yard for us to play in and I intend to. I’m going to make a snow man and then come in and get hot chocolate and sit by the fire place and read a book, I think, because that’s a terribly romantic thing to do on a winters day.
I find, though, that as a grown up, I’m more than satisfied to just look at the snow. There will always be that inner child that says “Go out and play! You should totally go out and play in that!” But the inner adult is much stronger now and always manages to convince me that it’s a better idea to stay in where it’s warm and I can light my wood wick candle and just enjoy the look of the snow. I have this lovely tree outside my window that is simply beautiful when covered in snow. I’m going to miss my tree. Ah well, there will still be lots of snow to look at. I appreciate right now that it’s outside and covering the hillside across the street. It looks so depressing in winter when there’s no snow on it. I hope you all are enjoying your snow, and staying safe, my friends.
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