All the snow is melting around here right now.
Finally!
Which reminds me to think back on the best thing about snow in the first place. Snow Days. I remember back in Elementary school when we'd have snow days - sometimes a few in a row (Alpena!!) - it was as if the heavens had opened and shined their light upon me. "You mean... I get to stay at home ALL DAY and play in the snow and come inside and get warm and watch movies and play dress-up? For real? Bring on the snow!".
One of the coolest things you used to do that made me feel so loved was on these days. Bree and I would be playing outside in the snow, vigorously building replication igloos and throwing ice chunks at each other. Snow was crusted into our hair, our socks, our feet were wet and our faces were red. Runny noses and numb toes didn't stop our adventures. When we finally surrendered to the cold (or one of us made the other cry with an ice chunk to the head) and headed inside...there was sometimes a surprise waiting. Ever so simple yet it made such an impact on me. HOT COCOA was already ready as we walked in the door. I couldn't believe how much our mom loved us that she'd be ready to warm us up before we were even out of our boots!!
And sometimes we'd even get buttered toast with it. Mmm.
Now sometimes, on a snowy day, I'll fix up some hot cocoa and toast with butter just to have that warm cozy feeling again. Without the chunks of snow in my hair, of course.