the first snowfall

I anticipate it for weeks. I watch the clouds, listen to forecasts, and hope it comes soon. The first snowfall. I'm so excited because this week I have watched it getting closer and closer to us in our new home in Iowa. People around here are hoping for fewer snow storms than last year. I'm secretly hoping for lots of snow. (We didn't get near enough in Illinois last year.)

Greg is aware of my love for the new snowfall. Many mornings he has witnessed me eagerly jumping out of bed to peal back the curtains in hopes of seeing a nice layer of snow. On some mornings when I am too tired to check for myself, he will look and I'll ask him, "Any snow?" It's become a joke to me that even on hot summer mornings, he'll peek out the window and I'll ask, "any snow?" haha. (I don't know what else he would be peaking for.)

But most years the snow takes it's time in coming. The weather man will say, "It's going to snow tonight, but the ground is too warm for it to stick so you won't see it in the morning." Well then, what's the purpose of getting our hopes up and telling us it's going to snow?? Why do they play mean tricks like that? I would rather not know I tragically missed out on witnessing the first snowflakes falling from the sky. Ignorance is bliss in this case. :)

Last year I made it very clear to Greg that I wanted a snowflake pendant for Christmas and I was so excited when I found it a few weeks ago. I was frantically searching for it because I heard the first mention of snow on the morning forecast. (Who cares that the forecast was for some place much farther north than us.) I couldn't find my snowflake necklace! And then, in the bottom drawer of my jewelry box, there is was. All silver and shiny and ready to be worn. So what was I to do? I wore it, even though it got up into the 60's and 70's that week.

I love the snow, for the most part. I don't like driving in it and I don't like how I can only spend so much time playing in it before I am freezing. Or before my kids are freezing. And I don't love how the snow feels like sticking around for months and months on end refusing to let Spring have it's victory. But, eventually winter does turn into Spring and we're all good again.

I love the crispness of the air, how it takes my breath away. I love the crunch of the snow beneath my feet, and I love catching snowflakes in my mouth. I love building snowmen and having snowball fights with the kids. I love looking outside and seeing a fresh blanket of whiteness covering all the gray. It sparkles in the sunshine, it makes sledding possible, it reminds me of newness and being cleansed "white as snow."

And so if the weather man says there is snow in the forecast, I say back to him, "Bring it on."