Let It Snow...

Like many places, it's been a snowy winter for Martha's Vineyard. Curiously enough however, we've not had any snow days from school. Quick, knock on wood before I jinx it!

Most of our snow has miraculously fallen on weekends, and our last blizzard was deftly maneuvered by an early dismissal one day, followed by a late opening the next.

Not that I don't enjoy a good snow day, so long as they don't pile up (the way I know they have for many of you this winter), or cause us to stay in school till July.

Recently, when Daughter #2's high school was dismissed at 11, the snow was falling thick and fast. We hunkered down with some Ben & Jerry's, purchased purposefully the day before along with the milk and bread, in anticipation of the storm.

Daughter #2 rejected my pitiful offerings from Netflix, so we indulged ourselves by watching (500) Days Of Summer on pay per view. 

Then she fell asleep on one end of my beautiful and comfy new couch, while I blogged from the other, our feet overlapping in the middle under the quilts, the wind whipping the flakes sideways as they fell in the yard.

It was a far cry from the snow days of yesteryear, when my kids piled outside to go sledding and build snowmen, working their way through multiple pairs of mittens, and not returning until their faces were numb and the hot chocolate was on the table. With marshmallows.

And, while those days were fun, I couldn't help but think, as I snuggled on the couch with 15 year-old Daughter #2, that this was pretty darned nice too.

What are snow days like in your neck of the woods?

 

Comments

[Vincent]

Why is it that Snow Angels all have the flares of LSD riddled refugee from the 1970s.

As to Snow on my island, this is the first in about 30 years that we've had any at all.

[SuziCate]

I remember snow days! They don't seem quite the same for me now that the kids are out of school...and they never matched the snow days of my own youth! Still, there is something special when the city closes down and the pretty white flakes are in the air and the whole world brightens.

[The gold digger]

They had a snow day last year here in Milwaukee and a local comic joked that the kids all looked at each other and said, "We get to stay home? Just because it's SNOWING?"

I am DONE with snow. Done.

[Jan]

My older kids really never had snow days - it just doesn't snow that much in Dallas. On the very rare occasion it snowed, they spent the time before it melted (around noon) playing in it, simply because it was such a novelty.

The Young One, who is also 15, gets 5 snow days a year, 3 of which have been used so far this school year. Most of them are spent moaning about having to shovel the driveway and walks around the house. LOL

Like Gold Digger, we are DONE with the snow; I'm just sick of the sight of the stuff.

[Twenty Four At Heart]

I have never experienced a snow day. Not as a child, not as a parent. I have, however, ditched school to go to the beach for a Beach Day MANY times. : )

[WickedStepMom]

Usually, there is pajamas and video games involved. :) And sometimes a snowball fight.

[PinesLakeRedhead]

Oh, how I miss the snow days of my childhood! Hurricane days just aren't as much fun.

[TheKitchenWitch]

Just wondering--what did you think of the movie? I thought the trailers looked promising...

Snow days here are frenzied little affairs, since the girls are still young. There's snow play, hot chocolate, usually baking of something sweet, and the inevitable visits from neighboring kids (whose parents have grown tired of them and sent them my way). Oh, and lazy mornings. Which are the best thing ever!

[Erin@TheLocalsLoveIt]

I think The King only goes outside so that he can have hot cocoa when he comes inside.

[LPC]

For snow days here we have to drive 4 hours up into the mountains:).

[Linda at Bar Mitzvahzilla]

In Arizona we're so wimpy we almost have "rain days." Honestly, people become completely paralyzed by anything short of complete, perfect sunshine here.

[Sprite's Keeper]

Oh, you've inspired me. I'll have to write my own post about OUR snow days!

[Terry]

Snow days sound so wonderful. I have never had one. You paint a perfect picture. And I loved 500 Days of Summer.

[Gretchen]

Snow days in my neck of the woods are usually accompanied by seriously sore necks from watching the pigs fly.

[Diane]

utter chaos, as you might imagine. any frozen precipitation on the roads might as well be hazardous chemical waste, the way we (south TX drivers) react. And don't get me started about the TV weather personalities. Open up the heavens, the apocalypse is coming.

Hardly ever happens.

We sat out by the pool over the weekend. Sunny, warm, beautiful weather.

[mrsblogalot]

Snow days are the best! Except for the shoveling (-:

But I am so ready for spring!!

[lisleman]

shoveling - we have a short driveway so I can't see getting a blower. Hey I'm saving the environment right?
I do remember sledding as a kid and later with my kids. Nice memories.
Great to read about your quality time together.

[Braja]

I don't think that question was for me :)

Great shot :)

[Erin]

Sounds about like my snow day routine. Except my 14 year old hardly snuggles w/ me at all.
You know, for Maine... you'd think we'd have more snow days... sigh.

[Casey]

Well you know we don't have snow days here but we do have hurricane days that are something similar. Except we put plywood on the windows and get the candles and flashlights ready. Not so relaxing, I guess.

I clicked through to see your couch and it's beautiful! We're waiting for them to restock the Ikea Stockholm in the US and then that will be OUR new couch. Isn't it funny how excited we get over furniture and appliances and such? I just ordered a Kitchenaid mixer and I can't wait for it to get here. Who am I?

[jessica]

snow days in our neck of the woods...hard to say. I can only imagine in my case and it would be her out in the cold till she was near frostbitten like your kids.

[Pseudo]

While we don't have snw days, we do have "girls' nights." And daughter and I snuggle and watch chick TV or DVD's and massage each others' feet.

[Mrsbear]

Aw. We don't get many snow days here in south FL but I am all for hunkering down with a movie, some ice-cream, and a teen that is not shrinking away from the close personal contact. lol.

[Krista]

That sounds like an awesome snow day!

I have never experienced a snow day! We don't have them here. We don't shut anything down ever, for any reason weather-related. Part of this is because we could go a whole winter with no school, doctor's office, post office, etc if we relied on good, clear weather. Another problem is that schools can never close on scheduled school days. This is because if a parent sends their kid to school and the school is closed, the student could freeze to death (or serious harm) with nowhere to go. (school's closed, parents at work, house locked, etc...)

I have always wished for a snow day though!!! Instead, I just take "lack of interest" days and do whatever I want. Does that count? My last one was... hmmm... let's see... Thursday of last week. LOL! I went out for a drive and took pictures, and played on my computer, and watched TV. :o)

[Sandi]

We're had FOUR snowdays. My kids have had FIVE. Being snowed in with 2 small children is not nearly as much fun as being snowed in with big children.

I now HATE Dora the Explorer.

[debbie]

That sounds like an ideal snow day to me. We have had one good sledding snow and a couple of passable ones. Neither lasted more than a day.

[Jane]

I don't mind a snow day - where there's actually snow. Here in the south they cancel school if there is a threat of snow. (Like today and now tomorrow) It's just another day around here.

[kathryn]

Well. I don't have to whine to you about the weather in NY. You've had to hear about it consistently since November.

Oh, honey...how could you buy ICE CREAM in anticipation of a snow storm??

[Gropius]

This sounds remarkably comforting, cozy, irresistable... The only such days we experience in Florida are in the preparation for or wake of a hurricane. So--you still eat ice cream even in the cold? Nice to know it's universal. I have no idea what I'd do without it.

[~The South Dakota Cowgirl~]

Loved your post over at Motherese, btw.

Snow days where I live- ha. I spend them in front of a computer blogging, or twittering. I read, I make jewelry, play the guitar, hurry outside to take care of my chickens, and sometimes I climb in Ol' Green and go with Zach to feed hay to the cows.

[She Writes]

Very rare! But I like them when I have nothing to do.

[Rowe]

I cannot say much about snow as I've never experienced snow. It's never snowed in any of the places I have lived. But, I read your new couch post and could relate to all of that. Yes, yes, YES! I've felt that way too, over getting new stuff.

[Beth]

It has been a blustery winter! It even snowed for 2 1/2 minutes at my house. That is the first snow we've seen in 17 years.

We tend to get hurricane or flood days in south Georgia... not snow.

[Sprite's Keeper]

Where oh where did my comment go?
I was saying that dance is a sport. If you have to practice all the time as dancers do, it should be a sport if not considered one already. You're linked!

[Vintage Simple]

Your snow day sounds wonderful... We've had a few - and they've all seemed to fall on weekends, too. It's been fun - lots of sledding down the street with the neighbors, and an endless cycle of mittens and pants and frozen noses... Noah is still in the digging and feasting on snow phase.

xoxo,
-maria

[Lisa @ Boondock Ramblings]

Snow days here...I trudge out into the snow to shovel off my own car while Hubby is inside with the toddler. Hubby stays home with toddler while calling me and asking five times a day "when are you coming home?" even though he knows I have to finish my day out before I can leave. I finally leave, trudge back to the house and there awaits a toddler with cabin fever bouncing all over the walls and Hubby leaves to go to work his eight hours (we both work at a newspaper and are lucky we can do stuff like this from time to time).

[Heather]

Such a sweet moment!

I haven't seen a snow day in over 20 years!
Cold days are snuggled on the chair with 3 dogs and 2 cats fighting for space on my lap.