Snow Good or No Good?

 

Snow good or no good? I asked myself that this morning as I glanced out the window. Today is the winter solstice, my first day of Christmas vacation, and features the first snowfall of the season. I was not certain how I felt but, after breakfast, I ventured outside to grab a shovel and get to work.

As the gray skies went away and the sun came out, it started to get warmer. As I shoveled, the brisk wind made the air feel colder than it was, and it did not help that the wind was blowing snow into my face and onto the sidewalk I had just shoveled. I started thinking – snow bad!

A Gray Area

A very gray area is where the neighbor's sidewalk meets mine. On one side , the neighbor had not shoveled yet. As per my usual policy, I shovel some of the snow away from their sidewalk on the line where our properties meet. This way I made a little effort. 

On the other side, the neighbors had shoveled, but left jagged remnants of snow on their side and on mine. I do not know what to make of that except that it seems to send a message – the property line does not matter when it snows. 

Once the shoveling was done, I stood holding my shovel like a farmer with a pitchfork looking over the landscape. I could not deny the beauty of what Mother Nature had done during the night before. Her brushstrokes of snow and ice on tree limbs, bushes, and houses sparkled in the cold winter sunshine. The snowfall takes an ordinary world and turns into a wonderland.

My Inner Scrooge

When I turned around, I realized that the cars in the driveway had to be cleaned off, and the driveway itself had to be shoveled. I started grumbling again. As I worked, I quickly blurted out "Humbug!" several times. 

Is this snowfall a foreshadowing of a winter of many snowfalls? Or is it an anomaly, and we will have mostly mild temperatures and little or no snow as we have had in recent years? I had no answers, so I kept on working.

White Christmas

As I finished up shoveling the driveway, Bing Crosby's "White Christmas" was playing on the radio in the garage. My inner Scrooge vanished, and when he sang the words "like the ones I used to know," I remembered being a kid and the sight of a new snowfall – especially right before Christmas – would have put joy in my young heart. 

Thoughts of Summer

When I was done doing everything, I leaned on my shovel and looked at my yard. The picnic table, where would enjoy our food from the barbecue, was covered with snow as were the chairs where we would sit. Now they were freezing cold metal that would serve no purpose but to catch snow. Still, there is something comforting in knowing that they will be there again next summer when we can enjoy sitting there again.

I went inside, had some hot cocoa, and looked out the window at what I had done outside in the cold. As I sat there in the warmth of the house with a twinkling Christmas tree, I realized how beautiful the snow looked a few days before Christmas. I decided that the the snow was good – at least this time. 

Merry Christmas and Happy Hanukah, and to everyone else, enjoy this season!