All I can say is, Better you all, then me!! Got up this morning to scenes like the above on the

morninng news! Brrrr! While I, on the other hand, languish in the glory that is Florida. You all can have that stuff. Keep it north of the Mason-Dixon Line and I'll be tickled to death.
Snow is wet, it's cold, it stickes to your clothes, and while it may be pretty for a minute or two, when it starts to turn to slush with coal dust turning it black or car exhaust turning it gray, or muddy footprints tracking it up it, then becomes yucky!!
I used to live where it snowed deep enough to cover our car. Lower Michigan! On Lake Erie! Talk about cold? Oh my God!! But, you know as a child, you are virtually unaffected by the cold. You play out in it until your Mom forces you to come inside. Your nose is running off your face, your fingers and toes have turned an incredible shade of blue and what you thought were vibrations from the sled, are actually chills you can't shake.
When I was younger, we lived in an old farmhouse in Lambertville, Michigan. Our front yard was very big and deep, and across the front of the property was a ditch that was probably six feet deep at least. In the winter, the snow would fill the ditch and cover it up.
My sister and I had this favorite game we always played with our baby brother, who is seven years younger than us.
We would play tag, in the snow, and we'd always get Butch to chase us across the front yard. My sister and I were big enough to jump the ditch, but not Butch! Without fail every winter, he got buried in that ditch trying to chase us!
Our mother, who was probably the best mother in the world, loved to have fun. Momma was from Georgia, and snow and freezing temperatures were not her cuppa. But, she always encouraged us to go out and play and have fun. When we got to be pre-teens, we whined about the cold, of course, but our brother always wanted to have snowball fights.
Mom's solution to that? We were allowed to go out, gather our ammunition for the snowball fight and bring it indoors. Our battles raged in the living room, the dining room and the kitchen! Momma laughing and pelting us with snowballs she'd pilfered from our stash!
Thanks God we had linoleum in the kitchen and hardwood in the rest of the house, because carpet would have been ruined.
Christmas time was always very special for us. Momma and Daddy always had a huge, live tree for us to decorate, but one year Momma decided on an artificial one. A six foot tall silver (aluminum) tree with a colorwheel! We thought that was the most beautiful thing we'd ever seen. Looking back, it was actually the ugliest tree we ever had, but you know kids, no taste.
Anyway, this time of the year is fertile for nostalgia. We all have our precious Christmas memories, and as the season draws nearer, let's share some, okay?
Merry Christmas, Happy Hanuka, Blessed Kwanza (or however it's spelled) Merry Yule, or just plain Happy Holidays to all!