First Snow!

The First Snow of the Season (12/4/10, My LRDC)

It snowed today in Greensboro, North Carolina. It wasn't in the forecast. (If it was, I missed it.) It was just an ordinary, overcast, late-fall day, for all I knew. It was cold. So cold, in fact, that I was uncomfortable when I started my afternoon walk, even though I was wearing a fleece jacket zipped all the way up, and a scarf and gloves. But I decided to tough it out, even if I only lasted 15 or 20 minutes...

Then it started to snow. At first, I wasn't acutally sure it was snow, because it was one of those days when the sky is colorless, and just looks kind of wet. But then I saw little white things that could only be snowflakes. (I hadn't heard of any volcanoes erupting around here lately, so I didn't think ash was a likely explanation.) These tiny little white things felt cold on my face. Yep, definitely snow...

Snow! Before Christmas! Two years in a row! (Last year it snowed on December 18. That was the first time that had happened since the year we moved here -- 1982.)

I love snow. I have always loved snow -- even when we lived in Michigan and had lots of it, and it stayed around long enough to get dirty. Ok, I didn't like the dirty snow so much. And I actually hated any snow that came after April 1. But oh, those first few snows of Winter -- Loved 'em!

Of course, since we've lived in North Carolina, I haven't seen enough snow to make it a ho-hum thing...Maybe because it's seldom cold enough for it to last more than a day or two. Last winter was an exception, and I was very happy about last winter.

But enough about last winter!

I already had Christmas spirit, picturing the tree we would be bringing into the house later this afternoon. I had been listening to Christmas music since Thanksgiving, and there were miscellaneous boxes of ornaments and snowmen strewn about the house...

My walk was just an attempt to shake off the cold I've been fighting, and maybe drum up some energy for an afternoon of cleaning and decorating -- after the nap I was was eagerly anticipating (and feeling like I was earning, after burning off the chips I ate with lunch).

When what to my wondering eyes should appear, but snowflakes that were so tiny at first, they were almost unidentifiable, but that, as I walked, grew in size and quantity, and by the time I finished walking, were absolutely, positively, no-doubt-about-it snowflakes! And by the time I had taken off my walking shoes and hung my wet jacket on the back of a chair, were definitely starting to stick to things!

Talk about Christmas Spirit! I felt like shouting "Hallelujah!" and turning cartwheels in the the snow. Of course, I never have been able to pull off a cartwheel, so I curled up in my chair by the window and attempted that nap I'd been thinking about. Alas, I found I was so excited about all that white stuff out there, I couldn't sleep!

I'd like to report that I was so full of energy and spirit, that I cleaned and decorated the entire house -- perhaps even baked a couple of batches of Christmas cookies. But that would be a lie. The truth is that I sat in my chair, looking out the window and feeling really happy that it was snowing. Then I came down here to my computer to blog about it. (Oh -- I took a few pictures first.)