Wistful for the White Stuff (Snow!?)

Recently I caught myself watching yet another Lifetime movie even though I swore to kick that addiction. (I usually end up a blubbering mess by the second commercial break)  In this current hormone fix the scene they depicted was of a beautiful snowfall.  I was lost in the moment and found myself yearning for that exhilarating yet almost dizzying feeling of standing in the snow as it falls around you.  Reaching out to catch a big fluffy snowflake in my hand and coming up short remembering it is just a tv show.  (I think I need to get out of the house more often.)

Before you snowbound fellows jump on me, know that I have experienced living with snow on a day to day basis. I am not one of those loonies that says how much they love snow but has never had to shovel a path for your too short wiener dog to go to the bathroom, or clear the porch roof of snow or experience a personal avalanche or the much worse collapsed roof, or remember to salt the walkway and steps so you don't end up spliting the crack on your hind quarters further.  I didn't always live in the dry desert that is Las Vegas.  (Where you have a better chance of winning big on slots than getting snow in the Las Vegas valley around Christmas)  I lived in Northern Utah for the first 10 years of my life and another 3 years of my adult life in Northwest Tennessee.

 

I love the versatility of snow.  With snow all you need is some imagination and you have a day of fun.  Snow is like ready made natures dough.  Form it into whatever you want.  Build a fort and have an intense snowball fight.  Create a snowman or a whole family of them.  Build an igloo and have a winter picnic inside the outdoors.  It's not just the standard fun snow activities I enjoy.  I loved shoveling snow as well. I don't know what it is but there is something about that chore that leaves me feeling self satisfied.  (I enjoy mowing the grass and raking leaves too)

I will always fondly remember the year we spent the entire day building an igloo only to come back inside and find out our pipes were frozen.  The igloo was still worth it. I had such a blast building it with my husband and sitting inside it with my two oldest girl (they were only 2 and 3yrs old at the time)  We had used old wipes containers and packed them tightly with snow to make snow bricks.  Then we got a little obsessive compulsive and used a spray bottle filled with water and a few drops of blue and green food die to make them look like ice blocks.   I wish we would have had a camera with film at the time.  (I don't know how I ever lived without all my current gadgets.. ::shudder:: just barbaric)

What are some of your favorite snow activities?  My favorite thing about snow is the crunch sound of fresh snow beneath your boots.   I love huge snow drifts with the ability to hide a car or just those little piles of snow that pile up around the window sills.