Sing the following along to the tune of London Bridge:
Snow, snow, lots of snow
Falling on the ground
Merrily, merrily, merrily, merrily
School is closing down!
You can thank our seventh/eighth grade math teacher for that one. When snow was in the forecast, she would always stand up at assemblies and we'd sing it in a round, hoping for snow. She would also make origami snowflakes with the class and hang them from the ceiling, hoping to encourage snowfall. It often did!
Maybe she's been singing it again in retirement. In Pennsylvania, major snowfall has hit for the first time in a while. It shut down schools and the kids went out to play. Just this afternoon I saw a bunch of kids having a snowball fight on the sidewalk. Of course since it was iced over, they mostly were throwing ice chunks in trapezoids at each other instead.
I miss a good old snow day. They're hard to come by working in health care, but I manage as I can't actually get there some days. As a kid, Mom would always make us chocolate chip pancakes on snow days. She'd wear an old blue sweatshirt with Pooh and Eeyore dressed for winter. Then it was time to go outside or head out to play.
But today I'm talking about the outdoors. It was just fun to stand out in it. Everything was so quiet and different. We enjoyed making snow forts and sometimes throwing snowballs. When I was little I'd play a game where I'd throw a plastic fish into the air blindly and then try to find it, of course being super sad on the occasions where I couldn't find it. Snow angels were attempted, but it was so hard to get up without wrecking them. Another thing I'd do was bring the sled up the ladder of the swing set and then ride it down the slide. One time I actually managed to get some distance!
Speaking of sledding, my best sled memories come from young childhood. Dad would give us a ride to a teeny tiny hill. By that I mean it would take me about five steps to walk down. It was sure fun as a kid though! And it was also nice just to take the sled ride, in the darkness of night when everything was quiet and crystalline.
Even after the snow day, there was fun to be had. At recess, we were allowed to play in the snow as long as we brought boots, snow pants, a coat, and gloves. Getting these things on in the halls was such a nuisance! When I decided to brave it, I found it was mostly worth it.
Fun story time: one of the fields had iced over once, and we used it as a little rink. I can't believe the teachers didn't stop us. It was so much fun; one of those magical kid moments I knew I'd always remember. Once a section of my backyard did the same thing when I had a friend over, and we slid all over the place. Such fun. Nothing beat a nature-made ice rink.
One more memory from school: getting dismissed early. Usually they just cancel ahead of time now, but there were times when the snow got to be too much and they'd send us home early. Nothing beat the anticipation of snow coming down and kids yelling "It's snowing!" and teachers telling us not to get too excited. And when they called your bus over the speaker, you'd drop whatever you were doing and leave.
So if you're getting snow this week, don't worry about the bread and toilet paper, because chances are you don't need all that. Take it in, enjoy it, and remember what it was like to be a kid again.
