It’s a rare and precious gift we don’t take for granted.
Although we yearn desperately for snow at Christmas, well gleefully take it any day of the year.
It takes us all by surprise.
Credit:Getty Images
Every house seems plucked out of a storybook; every footfalls crunch brings us joy.
Judy Miller
A snow day turns us into rambunctious children.
Brennan Long/Southern Living
When I was a kid, we had enough snow to make it just once.
Hundreds of years old, this live oak in Ocean Springs has seen very few snows.Credit:Kumi Omori / Vestige / Ocean Springs, MS
At the time, it tasted like a playground slide.
This makes sense now that I think about it, since we harvested the snow from that exact location.
Even with its slightly aluminum-foil flavor, we thought it was the best thing wed ever tasted.
A younger me enjoying a scant snow in 1986.Credit:Judy Miller
Toasty again, we makehot chocolate, spice tea, or we brew up one more pot of coffee.
Judy Bass Miller
Snow days wouldnt be special if they didnt end.
But I still get inordinately sad when the melting begins and those ever-hastening drips slowly melt the magic away.
Me and my family enjoying a “heavy” snow day in 1982.Credit:Judy Miller
Our winter wonderland fades into memory; that which was brown before is brown again.
It comes and goes so fast it must have been a dream.
After a while, we stop believing in it.
Ivy Odom gracefully makes a snow angel during a recent Birmingham snow.Credit:Ivy Odom / Southern Living
Nothings going to happen…it never snows here, we scoff.
Then the next thing you know, its oh wow, theres snow!
We tend to want what we dont have; its how were wired.
Credit:Brennan Long/Southern Living
But if we had snow all the time, we probably wouldnt appreciate it.
The joy is abundant and free for the taking.
My mother (far left) enjoys a rare snow day in Pachuta, Mississippi with her father and siblings.Credit:Judy Bass Miller
