Snow! Snow! Snow!

I like to talk "big" about spending my winters in sunny, warmer climes, but the truth is I love the change of seasons and I love snow. I suppose it's easy to write about my love of snow in December when it's fresh and white and new and gives everything a delightful Christmas card feel. When it's still on the ground in March, however, and looking sooty and dirty and like big, hard clumps of gray gunk, I've already moved on to thoughts of spring and am just waiting for the first signs of green. But, it's December! At this time of year, I'm right with Bing Crosby and Rosemary Clooney, dreaming of a white Christmas. I'm singing with a smile as they croon "Snow" and convince me to "go to sleep and dream of snow, snow, snow, snow." I'm one with Steve Lawrence and Eydie Gorme, belting out jubilantly every word of "Let it Snow." And sing it I did the week before Thanksgiving when we experienced our first snowfall of the season. When I awoke that morning and threw open the curtains, everything outside was coated with a thick blanket of white. The stark, coal-colored bare tree limbs were frosted with inches of perfect, white snow. I grabbed my cell phone to capture a few pictures of the idyllic scene. I recognized that same excited feeling I've had since childhood in reaction to the first snow fall of the season, with visions of the adventures of making snowmen, snow angels and snow forts dancing in my head. That evening, our community held its annual Christmas light parade. Every glittering parade entry looked as if it was caught in a snow globe. It was magical. So this month, I'll sing along happily with Bing and Rosemary and Steve and Eydie. And I'll revel in the thrill of December snowfalls and the magic surrounding them. Let it snow!