It’s time for Friday Five linkup with DC area bloggers Courtney at Eat Pray Run DC, Cynthia at You Signed Up for What?!, and Mar at Mar on the Run!  Be sure to stop by their blogs and say hello!  While you’re there, be sure to check out other bloggers who are participating in the linkup, too.  This week, the DC Trifecta chose Favorites as the theme.

Since the snow is falling like crazy outside and we are expected to get anywhere between eight and twelve inches of snow by the end of today (Thursday – as I type), I chose to write about my five most memorable snow days…..

MostMemorableSnowDaysPoster

“A snow day literally and figuratively
falls from the sky
-unbidden-
and seems like a thing of wonder“
~ Susan Orlean

 

1.  I remember having a particularly snowy winter when I was in the fifth grade, and then again when I was a junior in high school. We missed a full two weeks of school during my junior year when snow storms seemed to hit our area like a train, one following right after another.  Mom was a teacher so that meant that she had the day off, too.  She and I often spent our suddenly free afternoon baking, and looking back, I know this is where the flame for my love of baking was ignited.  Usually we made homemade bread (we called it light bread) or chocolate chip cookies. During that particularly long break from school my junior year, we made deep-fried donuts and devil dogs.  Even though the snow kept my farmer-dad even busier than usual, he always found time to stop by the house to taste-test our latest creation!

2.  Having classes canceled due to snow at Virginia Tech was practically unheard of, yet by some miracle, we had a snow day my senior year. During the afternoon one of my friends and I trudged through the snow to the Duck Pond.  We built a snowman, took lots of pictures, and watched a couple cross country ski past us.  It was the first time I’d seen Nordic skiers, and little did I know that in just three short years I would be cross country skiing all through the back country of Utah with my college sweetheart, turned husband.

DebSnowmanVTDuckPond

Senior Year at Virginia Tech

3.  Long before the internet and home pregnancy tests, I thought I might be pregnant and scheduled an appointment to go to my doctor for a blood test.  And then a snow storm hit!  We were socked in for several days and I couldn’t get in to see my doctor until the following week.  Stuck at home with no What to Expect When You’re Expecting and no Google, I wasn’t sure what to do.  I let Bill shovel the snow without my help and waited out the snowstorm to get the fabulous news that we were expecting our first baby!

4.  In the mid-to-late-ninety’s we had a stretch of snowy weather that gave our sons their first introduction to snow days. We had one stretch of snow with extreme cold which resulted in multiple days off from school.  I decided to pass along my love for “snow day baking” to the boys, and just like that, a tradition was born. Like my mom and I had done so many years before; Joseph, Daniel, and I spent delightful time together making cookies and memories.

5.  The most recent major snow storm that made an impressionable memory was when both of our sons were in college. We had an unusually heavy snowfall for December, hitting right as the universities were wrapping up their fall semester and students were heading home in droves for Christmas break. Being the weather forecast stalker that I am, I was well aware of the impending storm and implored (more like demanded) that both Joseph and Daniel come home as soon as their last exams were over.  Both were safely home by Friday evening just before about 21 inches of snow started falling.  I learned that weekend that a mama’s instincts are usually spot on!

 

  • Questions:
  • Did you get hammered with the east coast snow or ice storm?
  • What’s your fondest snow day memory?
  • Are you racing this weekend?