Snow Day

I love Carolina snows.  I used to think we were all pretty pathetic, hanging out of our windows catching the snowflakes on our hands even for just a flurry.  A few years ago, it took me 3 hours to get home from picking Riley up from school on a snow day (the school was about a 10 minute drive from home on a typical day), and this for less than an inch of powder.  That day, I could not believe our complete paralysis.  I am sure, in fact, that I ranted about it to more than one person.  Now, I have a very different view.  I actually LOVE the fact that we are completely incapable of manuevering outside of our neighborhoods, going to work, or completing any previously planned activities when the glittery white snowflakes start blanketing our lawns.  After that memorable traffic gridlock, a good friend of mine (who is my hero when it comes to mothering because she loves to love her kids) gave me the key to the whole thing.  She said, “You know, as soon as I see the first snowflake, I just go pick up my kids.  Even before they close the school.  I don’t even care if they close the school.  The thing is, I figure we only see snow every few winters.  It’s a good day for a vacation.  The kids should be out there playing in it, and I should be out there with them.  Then we should be inside, cozy in front of a fire, drinking hot chocolate together.”  She’s so right.

Carolina snow days are holidays that take us completely by surprise.  

When my kids made their way downstairs this morning, sleep still curling their hair up on top of their heads, each one in turn noticed the snow.  I keep white lights twinkling in the living room all Winter because I love the warm glow they create.  They are my tribute to snowflakes, popping fires, and tree limbs bejeweled with glinting ice—all the truly beautiful features of the season.  I tied up the sheers in the living room so that we could watch the snow fall, and sat drinking my coffee under a blanket when they came downstairs.  The funny thing to me was that they all seemed to think I’d been sitting there all that time before the windows and had not noticed the snow.

“Mom, look!  There’s snow all over everywhere out there,” Riley said.

Adam just stood there watching the snowflakes fall for a few minutes, then he turned to me, crooked his finger in an arrow-like point toward the window and said (impressed), “Snow.”  It was clear that surgery day for Adam had come and gone.  He was completely himself, with no trace of anesthesia-induced fog or nausea to be found.

Zoe came down the stairs chattering a mile a minute, “Mom, look!  Snow!  Maybe we could make a snow man.  Maybe we could roll the snow into balls and throw them at each other.  Would you like to do that with me?  Maybe we could make snow angels…”

I couldn’t help but think about how blessed I am as I sat there watching them all standing in front of the windows together beneath the glow of the white lights, taking in the backyard and the way the snow had made all the features that were ordinary to them suddenly extraordinarily beautiful.  I vowed to throw all else aside and let the day be the kind of vacation it can only be in Carolina (and all other places where snow is a rare and beautiful distraction).  I promised them that we would go out and play out there and then come in and drink hot chocolate together.  Zoe immediately suggested what I’d already been thinking:  we needed a fire in the fireplace.

About mid-morning, we all got bundled up to go outside.  I helped the kids into their coats, hats, and gloves.  Since we don’t usually need all of this cold weather paraphenalia, when we do it’s always interesting to see which pieces are missing and which ones are actually in the closet.  Adam’s coat had been a messy casualty of surgery day and was in the laundry room, so I bundled him up in one of my thickest water-resistant jackets, the hem of which fell somewhere around Adam’s knees.  He has a hat, but that too was missing, so I pulled out an olive green one my mom made years and years ago (I believe my brother Tommy used to wear it when he was a kid).  It’s a little too big for Adam, but he clearly liked it because he started examining his reflection in the closest doorknob.  I found his gloves, and as I helped him with those, he spoke up.  “Scarf?” he asked.  Zoe heard him and immediately said, “He can borrow mine!”  Hers is pink and has flowers all over it, but Adam didn’t seem to mind a bit.  Since Zoe had already started wrapping it around his neck and seemed so thrilled to be able to share with her brother, I decided to let that pass without comment.  Riley, having been anxious to get outside for several hours, bundled herself with expert speed and stood ready and waiting.  Zoe launched into a long discourse on all the reasons why she did not need to wear a hat (they mess up her hair) or scarf (she doesn’t like anything touching her neck) and then selected (against my advice) some thin cotton gloves for her fingers.  I am really big on allowing my children to learn lessons on their own, particularly if the consequences for doing so will be fairly minor.  So, I let Zoe go outside exactly as she so passionately felt that she should.

Riley saw some other kids out sledding down the hill in our cul de sac, so she persuaded us all to go play out front instead of following our original plan to play in the backyard.  This turned out to be the most fun we’ve had in a long time.  Some very friendly neighborhood dads were in the cul de sac pulling their kids on plastic sleds (I’d brought out ours, which was a one-person neon-orange disc.).  They immediately offered to include Riley, Adam, and Zoe in the fun.  Within seconds, Riley was sliding with glee down the hill, packed in a red plastic sled with two other kids.  Remember Adam’s hat that’s a little too big and his pink flowered scarf?  One of the dads gestured toward Adam and Zoe as they waded across the front yard and said, “Would the girls like a ride too?”

This launched us into a few hours of sled rides down the hill, during which time all of us laughed and the kids uttered squeals of delight.  Adam quickly mastered our one-person disc and had so much fun propelling himself down the hill at varying speeds.  It was so refreshing and wonderful to see him having such a great time after all the difficult things he’d faced the day before.  As Kevin said, he was truly “in his element.”

After Zoe’s first trip down the hill, she decided she was VERY cold.  “I’m ready to go have hot chocolate,” she said.

I laughed.  “I don’t think so.  Not yet.  We just got out here.  There’s a lot of fun yet to be had.”

Not having heard our earlier conversation, Kevin said, “You know, you’ d be a lot happier out here if you were wearing a hat.  And some better gloves.”

“Ready to go get bundled up?” I asked her.  Ah, sweet victory.

When we returned, Zoe plopped on her back in the snow and made several snow angels.  Zoe had discovered earlier that a neighborhood friend was sitting at the edge of the cul de sac making snow balls.  He was so kind to Zoe, supplying her with snow ball after snow ball, which she hurled with glee at me, Kevin, Riley, and Adam all morning, always at very close range.  Fortunately, she aimed for our coats and not our faces.:)  She complained a little more about being cold (snow angel making is a wet and icy business), but as soon as she realized the rest of us had not exhausted our fun, she figured out how to use another one-person sled someone had discarded in the cul de sac.  Soon, she was sliding down the road right next to Adam, giggling all the way.

Our beautiful, fun-loving, wave-riding Riley took to playing in the snow and sledding down the hill with the same enthusiam she has for playing in the ocean.  She didn’t care if someone was pulling her sled or she was pushing off with her feet, whether she was alone or other kids were packed in her sled, she went down over and over and over, each time wearing a huge grin on her face.  When we finally came inside (and we were the last of the group that had been out playing  to do so), Riley immediately started negotiating for “playing in the snow” to be added to the day’s list of activities after rest time.  Naturally, I was easy to convince.:)

Once all the wet clothes had been replaced with dry ones, we all sat at the kitchen table drinking hot chocolate.  Have you noticed that hot chocolate always tastes 10x better if you’ve been outside playing in the snow?  We garnished ours with marshmellows and peppermints and enjoyed every sip while the fire roared and popped in the fireplace.  During rest time, I stretched out on the couch in front of that fire and enjoyed the best nap I’ve had in a long time.  When I woke up, the kids came downstairs ready to get bundled up again and play in the untouched snow that covered the backyard.  “Outside?” Adam asked succinctly, and then went to lift the keys off the hook by the door.  The first thing he did when I got him bundled up again was run to the slide, thrilled to see that his quick launch resulted in a huge spray of snow (most of which then covered him).  Then I watched from the window while he and Riley jumped on the snow-covered trampoline, delighted that the snow bounced with them.  Zoe’s second trip out was shorter than the first (I guess she’d worn out her tolerance for the cold.), and she finished by retreating to her room to put on some flannel pajamas.:)

What a gift today was…an unexpected holiday…the chance to just celebrate being together.  I love snow days.