Snowflakes on Sidewalks and Frozen on Mittens

In my old age I have discovered the anticipation of a snow day to be more exciting than Christmas morning. The feeling of hope coupled with the anxious feeling of waiting for your school district name to be displayed on the evening news pulls me in like I am the one who will get to miss school.

My own exuberance in participating could be remnants of days long passed. On snow days I remember my mother reading The Snowy Day, by Ezra Jack Keats, or how she would make homemade cinnamon rolls in celebration of our snow day. A snow day meant I could go out and build a snow man, do snow angels or have a snowball fight with my sister Joni. We stayed out and played until our clothing was saturated and stiff, our boots were filled with packed snow and our mittens were frozen together. I can remember coming in after what seemed a very long time, pulling off all of our layers into a pile, which later became a puddle. I remember rushing into the bathroom and running my frozen, bright red hands under the warm water of the bathtub faucet, my hands stinging while slowly returning to a soft and supple pink.

There are some crazy snow day rituals that my own children have participated in to make the snow day happen. The belief that any of these ridiculous antics could help tip the scales in their favor of a snow day is part of the energy in the air. I am completely pulled into the  moments when my children throw an ice cube behind them into the toilet, put an orange in the freezer, place  a spoon under their pillow, wear their PJ's inside out and backwards, or...shout SNOW DAY! into the freezer. It is a sort of modern tribal rain dance if you will. I love it!

 These feelings are ones I rarely get to return to... a return to the newness and excitement felt by a child, only for me now as a forty -six year old woman.   I make no promises that when I heard that the school day was canceled for today that I wasn't the one most elated, shouting the loudest or dancing the jiggiest.

For today there will be cinnamon rolls made and eaten, games played, books read and possibly a snow man built. The idea that school could be canceled tomorrow is already being discussed and I am on board, although pessimistic about the prospects of that happening. It's all part of that feeling and I will be up tonight watching the scrolling names of school districts listed on the bottom of the television, my p.j's on inside out and backwards with an orange in my freezer.