kjoyce4As a kid growing up in New England, snow days were the best. You’d get the call at 6am that school was cancelled and catch a couple more hours of sleep, before playing outside until your feet and nose were icicles.
In college, I didn’t have any snow days, and once I started working in news, snow days became synonymous with stress. There was always a scramble to get half a dozen freezing reporters on air, and no time to enjoy the world covered in snow.
Yesterday was Chloe’s first snow day and honestly, it couldn’t have been more perfect. We woke up to a foot of snow, and even though we slept in later than usual, nothing had been touched by the time we suited up to go shovel.
There’s something about untouched snow that makes the world look a little more perfect.
We spent a couple hours shoveling out the sidewalk and deck, with frequent breaks to play fetch with a fallen branch. My dad has been adamant that he doesn’t want a puppy, but was happy to throw the stick over and over for Chloe to chase across the snow.
After most of the shoveling was done, Chloe and I took my snowshoes out for their first turn of the year.
Once I got cold enough (Chloe never seems to get cold, but we dressed her in her new LL Bean sweater for fun), we went inside and put on some cozier clothes. Which included my slipper socks, stilled stored away from last winter.
We turned on the Christmas lights and curled up for a Christmas movie marathon, and even though the movies were cheesy, it was hard not to feel nostalgic for those snow days as a kid spent with family or friends, filled with so much joy and so few cares.
Really I’m a sucker for Christmas, and even though this year’s celebration will look a little strange, I’m happy there will be snow on the ground and people I love around me.
