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| (That’s me in the pink… Cindy Lou Who, as my family likes to call me in this pic. This is before my younger brothers were born… but is one of the only snow pics I could find at the moment – so I thought I’d share.) 🙂 |
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I wake to a small nudge and the sound of my mom’s voice quietly urging me awake for a moment… “Christy…”
I slowly force my eyes open and glance at the neon red numbers of my alarm clock: 6:00am. Why is mom waking me up an hour early??? I think to myself, confused.
Then I hear the sweetest words ever spoken to a child: “The snow came like they thought it would. School is canceled. You guys have a snow day today…. you can sleep in.”
I grin to myself and turn back over… nuzzling into my covers, knowing I can sleep for a few more hours. Eventually I wake and head upstairs to find my mom making oatmeal over the stove. My siblings are gradually waking up as well… None of us could sleep long with the excitement of a snow day running through our heads.
We eat our fill of oatmeal mixed with butter and brown sugar and immediately get bundled up to head outside. We dig out a spot under the pine trees, pretending we are children living in the woods who have made a home under the tree’s branches. We stomp lines in the snow with our boots and play tag within the paths we’ve made. We build a fort into the snow plowed onto the corner of our lot, and stay warm deep in the shelter we’ve built. We sled as best as we can down the side lawn – pretending we are Olympic bobsledders competing in the race of our lives.
We play until our fingers and toes are numb from the cold.
Eventually we head back indoors where mom has lunch ready. We peel off layer after layer of our winter gear and line ourselves up along the electric heater at the base of our living room wall. We devour sandwiches and sip hot cocoa as we thaw out – our backs turning red from the heat.
Then we get bundled up and do it all again.
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| (This one is just my older sister and brother… I’m not sure I was even born yet – or if I was old enough to be out in the snow.) |
These are my memories of snow days. They are some of my fondest memories of childhood. Having a mother who worked at a school was an extra bonus – because if we had a snow day – that meant she did too.
Today my snow day announcement came in the form of my boss sending everyone in the office an email alerting us that we would be closing at 2pm as well as closed all day Wednesday. I grinned to myself, just as I did as a child.
Having a snow day as an adult is rare. And it is cherished. 🙂 James and I stocked up on a few things for our first snow day in Chicago together… (a little different from the snow days of my childhood, I might say)…
We’re looking forward to relaxing, laying on the couch, eating, watching some movies, and perhaps even playing a video game or two (which I haven’t done since I was a kid! James lured me into playing by picking up a used version of Sonic the Hedgehog… one of my favorites from back in the day. haha)
I hope you all are enjoying your “free” day too!
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