I would love a nice, thick, heavy snowfall. A snowfall that would plunge my tiny town into a winter wonderland from the classic film It's a Wonderful Life. Walking through my town, one would think that we are decades in the past. In many ways, I must agree. We have much small town charm, and the welcome sign says as much. However, it is nearly February, and we've only had two dustings of snow.
I grew up in a small town, and it was a good life. Far from perfect, but it was still good. Some of my favorite winter memories were when my parents, siblings, and myself would all bundle up and take starlight walks through the snow. We'd turn the corner, meet up with friends, and we would traverse the town. Inevitably, we would end up in the town square and admire the snow laying on the trees and gazebo. Of course we couldn't help but make snow angels!
Once our noses were sufficiently frozen, we would make the journey home and mom would make homemade hot chocolate (recipe below). Oh, it was delightful! If we had any cookies in the house, Dad and I would enjoy them along side our steaming beverage. Mom and my siblings had a different food of choice, toast. It is a combination that Mom grew up with, and she passed it on to all except myself.
The snow has always captured my attention. I find something to appreciate from each season, which helps to offset the misery unique to each season. For spring, the green and new growth helps offset the mud and slop. In the summer, the beautiful sky and full foliage counteracts the dreadful and smothering humidity. During the autumn, the beautiful colors of the changing leaves are appreciated during the impending monotony of brown. Winter brings snow which covers the world in newness. A reminder that spring is once again on the way, and that it won't be cold and bleak forever.
If you don't live where snow occurs, I hope you get the chance to experience a good snowfall with a starlight walk someday. It's worth the experience. I'll share more of my favorite snow images that I have captured over the years, and the hot chocolate recipe for a closing. Enjoy!
Homemade Hot Chocolate
1 Tbsp. Baking Cocoa (if you like it stronger, add more. I like the Special Dark powder best)
1/4 C. Cane Sugar
1/4 C. Water
1 qt. Milk
1 tsp. Vanilla flavoring
dab of butter
Bring cocoa, sugar, and water to a boil. Add milk. Heat until almost boiling. Add vanilla and butter just before serving.
Sometimes it's comforting and often quite necessary to dwell on memories of good times. Thank you for sharing them with us, they remind us of our own.
Sometimes you have too little snow and sometimes it can look like this:
and this
Haha! That looks like great fun! (Provided the fridge is well stocked, of course.) The closest I ever saw to this much snow was about 3 feet. It shut down our little town in Central PA, and it was delightful! For 3 days you had to walk anywhere you wanted to go. Definitely the most memorable snow of my childhood! :)
This happened many times during each of the long winters in northern Iceland, where we lived about 25 years ago.
After 6 years of that I got a bit exhausted and so I persuaded hubby to move with us to my home country Germany for a while. When we came back to Iceland we decided to live in Reykjavik, the capital, where there is much less snow, although we do have the occasional snow storm here as well.
I enjoyed your post! Growing up in a small town is great. And childhood winters with a lot of snow are very memorable. However, being an adult takes the fun out of heavy snowfalls, since most of us have to drive somewhere to work. We really haven't had much snow to speak of here in Iowa, either. One snowfall in early December measured 3 inches, but it melted long ago, and we haven't received any since. I'm not complaining, though. And I also dread the coming summer heat and humidity!
Indeed! Commutes in the snow can be downright miserable. I just finished my first week at a new job two streets over, so I don't have to drive 30 minutes to work anymore. I'm not sure how people react to snow in Iowa, but in KY a dusting pretty much shuts us down. For example, yesterday we had a light dusting (only covered cement/asphalt) and our county's schools closed. It was gone by 10am. I'm grateful to have grown up in Pennsylvania where the seasons are more distinct! haha.
Wow! Closed down for just a dusting of snow. It takes a pretty severe storm to cancel school, which I can remember happening quite often when I was a child. Now we hardly ever get heavy snows.
nice photos and well written - I'm sure lydon will share with you what I told him so I won't repeat myself here - but try not to get discouraged by an obviously undervalued post. I might have used the 'story' tab b/c it's a photo essay. Also, the location wasn't specified - I know you don't want to disclose too much about where you live but you can add some local colour without being too specific. A good post!
Thanks for the tips, especially about tabs. It's very helpful! :)