Although it's been said many times, many ways...

Footprints in the first snowfall last year

It may have been 80 degrees outside the past few days here, but I’ve been seeing a lot facebook statuses about the first snowfall posted by my friends in other, snowier, places. This is going to be my first snow-less winter, and I’m a little sad about it.

When I was young the one thing I wished for more than anything else as this time of year rolled around was a white Christmas. Christmas was my favorite holiday by far, and not just because of the presents (although they were definitely a nice perk).

To me, Christmas meant snow and lights and Christmas Eve at my grandmother’s house with all my cousins.

It meant mittens and crisp cold air, decorating the tree and writing a letter to Santa.

Searching the house with my brother and sister for my mom’s gift list to see what presents we were getting.

Building structures out of the presents under the tree, including a fort for the cat.

Having snow battles with the neighbor kids.

Seeing Christmas lights glowing everywhere you looked.

Playing an angel in the Christmas pageant at church.

Standing with my cousin in front of my grandma’s big picture window on Christmas Eve with our noses pressed to the glass, searching the night sky for Rudolph’s red nose.

Night view of Radio City Music Hall at Christmastime

One of my most vivid memories from childhood, evoked every time I listen to the Oak Ridge Boys’ Christmas album (a family favorite), is of coming into the warm, bright house from the snowy darkness outside during Christmastime. The house would be lit up with lamps and Christmas lights everywhere, my mom would have the Oak Ridge Boys playing on the speakers and the smell of baking Christmas cookies would fill the air while I pulled off all my snow clothes and rushed into the kitchen to taste-test the warm gooey cookies fresh from the oven.

Although it has been years since I’ve done that, the memory lingers.

To be perfectly honest, I’ve been kind of a Grinch the past few years due to some family problems, and I’m not entirely sure why I’m suddenly so nostalgic now. Maybe it has something to do with being so far from my friends and family and everything I know. The exotically warm weather is just the most obvious manifestation of how different everything is for me now.

Now more first snowfalls for me, at least for the next two years.

Sunny Days

I think it snowed today.

Unfortunately those sunny days seem to drawing to their annual close. Of course, I realize that the sun still shines in the winter, but it just isn't the same. It's cold, and dreary, and slushy. Even those bright clear days when the sun shines are still cold, and often freezing. Besides, all the leaves are gone and the grass is buried beneath snow, so the absence of color makes the sunshine seem paler, less substantial.

Don't get me wrong--I love winter. For about a month. Then the wonder of the first snowfall starts to fade, and the beauty of a snow-covered lawn becomes smothering, and the bleakness sets in.

That is why I am a firm believer in winter vacations to tropic locales. Unfortunately there are no actual vacations in the stars for me this winter, but I will be making a short trip to Georgia to visit my parents in early January. It'll just be a brief respite from miserable Midwestern winters, and then back to the cold and the wind.

Early Winter

I know the weather isn't the most fascinating topic to discuss, but it's only Oct. 10 and it already feels like winter. We haven't gotten any snow here, thank goodness, but it snowed yesterday in my hometown, which is not that far! This picture might not show the actual scene outside right now, but it describes rather well the way that it feels. There's a definite chill in the air, and when I left for work today it felt like winter. It even had that cold smell that heralds winter weather.

Snowy Days Have Come Again

It's been steadily sleeting all day and is expected to turn to snow sometime this evening. Forecasts keep changing, so I'm not really sure exactly how much we're supposed to get but I think it's somewhere in the area of several inches. Luckily not a foot or more like other areas of the country are getting!

This picture is of my cousin, taken several years ago when he was three. His little sister had just been born several weeks before, in early December, so they came for Christmas and we got to see her for the first time. Our old dog Maggie was endlessly patient with my little rapscallion cousin, who wouldn't leave her alone for the entirety of his visit. She was the best dog ever and unfortunately died at the ripe old age of 14 last winter. That was about a month before I moved out of the house, to my current life here in the Burg. Oddly enough, with everything that was going on with my parents, it was Maggie's absence that made my home stop being my home. Without her, it was just the place that my parents live. How odd is that?

Snow, snow, and more snow!

It's been snowing like crazy all day today, it only stopped around 6 and now we have 3 or 4 inches on the ground. Driving was lots of fun! Luckily, I have a small SUV with four-wheel-drive or I would have gotten stuck several times. The roads quickly deteriorated after only a few hours of snow, but me being me, I was determined to make to the store to pick up Generation Kill, which came out today. I had originally planned to stop by after work, but I was worried that the snow wouldn't stop in time and the roads would be impassable, so I ran out on my half-hour lunch break to get it. I didn't have too much trouble, I just kicked my car into four-wheel-drive the whole way, and that pretty much took care of everything. I only had one small problem: I got overconfident. I started to take a corner too quickly and slid all the way over across the road. Luckily the street was empty so there was no one to run into, and the slide stopped just before I hit the curb, so no damage. Just an attitude check to me.

Art Deco

This is one of my favorites. 'Nuff said.