Snow Day!

I miss Snow Day. I miss snow. I miss praying to God to let it snow.


I remember waking up on freezing cold winter mornings. The first thing that hit me was the icy air surrounding the space above my five layers of itchy wool blankets. My feet would hit the cold hard wood floor and carry me forward to the picture window. I would view the snow drenched world below. Snow! Glorious snow!

Mom would turn on the news channel. On any other given day the television would be turned on to our cartoons or the three stooges. All that changed with the promise of there being a snow day. Silently we waited for the words that would change our day. All schools closed today!

We wasted no time in getting dressed. The process of dressing for a snow day took time. Clean undies ( mom’s rule she did not want to be embarrassed if we got in an accident ) tee-shirt followed by a thermal top and bottom. Next I donned stretchy ski pants with stirrups on the feet, remember those?  Pants, long sleeve shirt, turtle neck shirt, sweater, snow parker, scarf, hat.

The most important part of successfully dressing for a snow day was to wear two pairs of socks followed by plastic bread sacks placed over your socks and held on by rubber bands. The bread sacks would allow for keeping your feet dry when snow entered your boots. Next came the red rubber boots. Lastly mom would pin our mittens onto the sleeves of our coats to prevent us from losing them. At last we were set to go.

We would run next door to our friends and scream out our secret known only to each other calling card “E-OR-KEY!”  We would throw snowballs at their bedroom windows to beckon them to come outside. Out they would come sleds, toboggans and cardboard boxes in hand.

When we tired of sledding we would go ice skating. Bonfires we lit to keep us warm. Mom would pack thermos filled with hot chocolate and Campbell’s chicken noodle soup.

We would stay outside until we really, really had to use the bathroom or until we could no longer feel our toes or hands.

Oh, how I long for the sweet innocence of a simpler time in my life.

This is as close as we get to building a snowman in sunny Florida.