1) Snow: love it or hate it?
Love it. I grew up in Houston, where short sleeves in December are not unheard of, so snow still has novelty for me. The place where I live snows just the right amount—two or three good snows. That’s not enough to invest in a huge fleet of plows and equipment to clear the roads quickly (they do have equipment to get it done eventually). That means that life stops, or at least slows down, on the snowy days!

2) First snow memory
I don’t remember this, but there’s a picture of me in front of my grandparents’ house in Dallas, with a pint-sized snowman. It was not a huge snow, just a couple of inches, so the snowman is encrusted with dead grass, leaves and dirt. (Remember the snowman that Pigpen made in the Charlie Brown Christmas special? Yeah, like that.)

3) Best Snow Day ever (actual or imagined)
Two come to mind:
The first time I went sledding. I was, like, 27 or something? This was in R’s hometown, with an old-style sled with steel blades. I remember this because I wiped out spectacularly on one of my last runs, flipping the sled over and landing on top of it. The bruise on my leg was literally plate-sized. It was awesome.

The other one was this week. It’s a strange thing to be grateful for, but I’m thankful for the teeny-tiny cold germs that invaded my kid for a few days, “forcing” us to have some quiet times together, just the two of us, before RB arrives. (She’s feeling great now.)

4) Best use of snow in a movie, song, book or poem
Why, Robert Frost’s “Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening,” of course!

Snow is used to good effect in It’s a Wonderful Life to show when George Bailey comes back to reality. I also expect that the snow in The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe will be quite spectacular too.

5) What you are planning to do today, with or without snow
Today the white stuff on the ground is snow-cone consistency. I’m told that’s perfect for painful snowballs, but that’s not really our speed around here. So we’re spending the day inside. C is watching Rudolph, R is working from home, and I’m wrapping gifts and putzing around.

Let it snow!