Small Stones Day 16: Snow Days

This week’s arctic blast has everyone talking about the weather. There’s been a lot of snow falling in parts of the country. It brings back childhood memories of snow days growing up in Maryland.

Remember waking up and turning on the radio or t.v. in the hopes that school was canceled? We could not wait to swallow some breakfast and put on all of our snow gear. Sometimes i felt like Randy in A Christmas Story. We could barely move after suiting up.

My family lived at the top of a pretty steep hill. When we received a major snowfall every kid on 17th Ave dragged their sled over to our house to slide down the hill. Parents rarely came out to supervise we had developed our own system. Everyone lined up at the top of the hill. Only one sled went down at a time. When you got to the bottom you walked back up the hill to the left of the slide area. That way no one got run over. Little kids rode with older brothers or sisters. We all took turns and everyone had a blast! 

Then there were snowball fights. We would build snow walls, and stock our “forts” with snowballs. Once each group had built up a sufficient arsenal, the battle began!  We had so much fun throwing those snowballs. Little kids with weaker arms usually got the chore of making more snowballs for the fight. 

Once we were  throughly wet and cold (or Mom determined that you were in danger of turning into an ice sculpture), we would come trudging in the back door and shed our snowy gear. Mom would toss all the wet clothes in the dryer while we gathered around the dining room table for hot soup and grilled cheese, hot tea or hot chocolate.  After lunch, we would go suit up and go back out for another round of fun. Those were the days…

Do you remember going out during a snowfall at night? A snow falling really isn’t silent. It makes a faint sound as it falls, like the soft swish of a taffeta skirt as a woman walks slowly into the room. Standing in the silence and looking up at the sky while snowflakes fell around you was magical. It seemed like stars falling from the sky. 

Night sledding was a blast and sometimes the grownups would go out after the kids were tucked in bed and have their own sledding parties.

Sometimes I miss a good snow day!