Snow Days

My sister told me how on Tuesday they are supposed to be getting snow, hopefully causing them to miss school. It reminded me of how much I miss snow days. I miss getting up early in the morning, pulling the covers back to a frigid room, hustling over to the window and finding a white world outside. A sigh of relief, then woo-hoo! A snow day! Then the mad dash to the radio or TV to find out if school is out. School is out! Now you can rest easy knowing you don't have to study schoolbooks or deal with the teachers for the rest of the day. No time to go back to sleep now! Time to put on the hot cocoa, pop in a movie, or curl up and read a book. You can make a snowman, bake cookies, or just throw snowballs at your siblings. Whatever happened to that?
It was one of the true pleasures of being a kid. As an adult, the closest thing I've had had to a snow day is the San Diego fires. We were off work for two days, but it's hardly close to the snow days of being a kid. Snow is so much more beautiful than fire. But there is something very special about an unexpected day away from daily responsiblities that isn't taken for medical reasons. I even used to like to get sick as long as I could get the day off school.
Speaking of the winter time, the holiday season isn't what it used to be. When I was a kid, the holidays were a big deal. Now all you notice is how much the family has estranged from it's original makeup. How different it is from what it used to be. Sometimes that's hard to cope with. Over the years since moving away from my family, I used to hate the holiday season with fervor. The more people talked about how stressful the holiday season is, the more it seems. It is stressful. That gray sky that just won't go away! The mandatory need to buy Christmas gifts. The shopping frenzies. But it doesn't have to be stressful.
Now I take a much more appreciative viewpoint, realizing how much I've gained over the years. I don't participate in the traditional story of Christmas, that being the Christian version, but I do love the holiday season. This year my girlfriend bought me a small tree and some decorations, and it meant a lot to me. She always talked about getting a Charlie Brown Christmas tree (a Chawie Bwown Cwistmas Twee!), but most of the trees we found were too nice for that. Here's the one she got me:



I'm only kidding. That's the Charlie Brown Christmas Tree. Here's the one she really got me: