SNOW, Snow, snow

We have a lot of snow out our door right now.  The yard is white and beautiful.  My husband reminded me that the beauty of snow is fleeting, it will soon turn black and brown and icy nasty.  Yes, yes, yes... sigh.  For now, the snow in our yard is beautiful.

I love the snug feeling in the house that snow brings.  And the forced quiet pace upon our lives.  All the hot chocolate sipping, cooking and baking in pajamas, card playing, book reading, and tons of snuggles and hugs are some of the best parts of being snowed in with the ones you love.

I find I'm even eager to pull on my boots, bundle up, and grab the snow shovel to clear the walk and woodpile outside.  I'm like a little kid, anxious to find out just how many inches of snow have fallen overnight.  My ears delight in the hushed quiet outdoors, all the better to hear the crushing sound my boots make with each step into the powdery snow I take.  My eyes lift to behold the red and blue colors of cardinal and blue jay feathered wings popping bright against the all white background.

A man came to plow our driveway yesterday afternoon.  Our poor driveway.  This plow man of ours does his job, but with no love.  Can there be love in plowing?  As I watched this man barrel down the drive in his plow truck, from my post behind the dining room windows, I could almost hear the drive way saying, "Ouch, ouch, ouch, OUCH, ouch, ouch!"  We'll be lucky to have any gravel left at all this coming spring.  

With all the beauty I found indoors and out yesterday, I got a little distracted and neglected one very important outside snow job.  I did not clear the snow off the van.  I discovered this mistake of mine while holding Sabine in my arms.  I was racing to get the three kids into the van to take Hugo to school this morning and surprise, surprise.  The van looked more like a giant snow drift than anything else.  Oops.  So, I carried them all one, two, three through the snow and buckled the children into their car seats to wait in the warm van as I cleared the snow, I had remotely started the van while dressing the four of us in our winter gear.  Hugo was a trooper and was very patient with me.  However, he did point out the fact that we were going to be very late for school now.  Yes.  Hugo was right, we were late to school.