Saturday

First Snow

I grew up in Tennessee, where snow falls in 
sparkling inch-by-inch increments. 
Small flutterings can cause schools to close and children's winter wonderland dreams to come true. Even in the 'bigger snow storms', after rolling up your snowman's round parts, 
all you have left is...grass.

It was great. 

The snow came (and left quickly)
and it felt more than magical.

We would spend the morning watching the flakes fall 
(after seeing our school highlighted on the news channel list for CLOSED)
  in our warm, cozy house. We would gather our snow supplies (gloves, mittens, hats, scarves, ear muffs, & as-water-proof-as-possible coats & pants) in preparation for the snow tromping adventures ahead.

We would scrape the purest, whitest, freshest, cleanest snow off the top of the car (or other outside surface) 
for Mom to make
SNOW CREAM
...a Southern snow storm favorite...
snow + milk + vanilla 
 I have also seen a recipe that is just snow + sweetened condensed milk...yummmm

We would throw snowballs if the snow was wet enough...
or throw snow confetti if it was too dry! We would revel in the footprint art we could create, compare snow angels, and if Dad was home too...we would convince him to play a riveting game of "fox & geese" with us (defined circle with an X in the middle, we were always the geese and he was always the fox and we'd run around until he caught each one of us). We would run around with the neighborhood kids and find ways to build snow-things. Snowmen, caves, forts...depended on how much snow actually fell. 

One year we had a nice chunk of snow (1990?) and we built a snow fort. It was awesome. Mom made hot chocolate and brought it outside for us to drink in our fort with Dad. 
He was the engineer for the project, no doubt. 
(My Dad is from Montana, by the way, 
so he is a pro with snow fun!)

Since my sweet Southern childhood, 
I have lived in several snowy states:

Utah
central Wisconsin
northern Illinois 

& now...we find ourselves in Minnesota.

Years later, that first snow
still feels magical to me.

And today is the day.
Welcome, Lady Winter.

Your flickety flakes are stunning.


3 comments:

It's Me - Jen E! said...

We have yet to have our first significant snow fall this year....but I am sure it is coming soon.....and the kids will be anxiously searching the school closing lists....and it will be a beautiful day. The second big storm and recurring snow days....not so beautiful!

JosephJ said...

Wish I had a picture of your MN snow! We had Halloween snow, but it wasn't that enjoyable since we were in kind of emergency mode instead.

(I read the note on Trevor shoveling and didn't really feel jealous, though I do like a good workout.)

Enjoy your winter!

Kendra said...

Snow cream, huh? Seems like the snow would just melt with the additions of liquids?