Snow Days -then and now

Who doesn’t love a snow day!  As a kid it was always the best.  In the neighborhood where I grew up there was a pond across the street that during the winter often froze solid.  We all had ice skates and would walk over and skate with our friends.  Building snowmen, making forts and having snowball fights were part of the day as well.

After we were cold and usually wet, we would invade someone’s house where the mom would make us grilled cheese and hot cocoa. We would line up our wet mittens and boots on the hearth by the fireplace or in some type of mudroom.

Fast forward to my years as a mom with small kids.  That was the best.  Bundling up those little bodies in snow clothes that you hoped still fit.  Finding the hats, gloves, scarves, snow pants and boots.  OK – so it wasn’t all that fun but once we got outside, my boys always had fun.  Since I am a teacher, I usually had the day off with them.

I would drive us to a nearby hill for sledding.  Then we would finish shoveling. Since I was home and my husband was at work, shoveling snow was generally left to me and as the boys got older I passed my skills onto them. After sledding and shoveling, there was always the snowman to make. Ever the crafty mom I was good at finding things in the house to create a friendly face. Once we had all claimed to have won the ongoing snow ball fight, we went inside.

I loved cooking on snow days.  Cupcakes, cakes, or banana bread followed by a nice pot of stew or chili.  I always made the dessert first! Just like sledding before shoveling.

A few years ago my boys no longer needed me to drive them to the sledding hill.  They drove my car and their friends to the bigger hills.  I stayed home. I took pictures of the snow.  One time the little girls in the neighborhood came over and helped me bake cupcakes.  They insisted we make different color icing to decorate them. We lined up about 15 red solo cups with different shades of icing.  The girls were awesome designers and then delivered the treats to all the neighbors on our block.  After that, we watched the movie Frozen.  How fun!

Last week we had 2 snow days.  I loved getting the phone call the night before that I could stay home and not have to drive on bad roads.  I slept in and enjoyed seeing the storm out my window while I drank my coffee and watched T.V.  I curled up with a book for a few hours and read.  I wrote a blog about a trip I took to  Croatia.  10 Fabulously Fun Things to do in Croatia  I found more old letters in a box to read and laughed at the old memories.

The 2 days led into the weekend.  The roads were dangerous and I was a little lazy.  In fact, the quiet time was almost too much. Being alone in my house with nothing to really think about gets me thinking about what I no longer have.  My kids are away at college and my husband is no longer here. I do believe that I am past the point of thinking that he is still coming home.  During the first year, I thought it was just a temporary thing. Acknowledging that he died was an important adjustment. I am not used to being so alone and I’m not sure how to adjust.  I guess it’s one of those “one day at a time” things.

Well, I finally baked some banana bread for the teenage boy next door who shoveled my driveway.  My neighbor invited me over to her house to watch a hockey game and eat chili. Sunday evening I attended an antigravity candlelit yoga class so I finally did get out of the house.  I still love snow days, they are just a bit different now.  Do you like snow days?