Today I decided to bake cookies. Did you know there’s only one thing that puts me in the mood for baking cookies? Can you guess what it is?
SNOW!
It was our first real dump this year. And being that it was coming down super heavy, I knew it wouldn’t last long.
Debating if I should hang tough and wait for my son to come home before venturing out for a walk, I decided the snow may not last even that long. So the oven got flicked off, and I ran out in full blizzard gear with my camera tucked snugly under my jacket.
I suppose my love for snow stems from my childhood. Back on the farm, we had pretty magnificent drifts higher than the barn itself. The roads would narrow so tight that the milk truck couldn’t make it through, forcing dad to dump the milk so he had room in the tanks for the next round.
But that was never a worry for us kids. All we cared about were those massive crunchy drifts that created a slope so high, you could step right up onto the barn roof. Then proceed to fall through some hole, catching you about waist deep, so your brother could taunt you endlessly.
We also had this massive circular driveway, so every night we’d hook up the toboggans to either the back of the tractor or truck, and dad would tow us ’round and ’round that circle until our faces could handle the snow drifting stings no more.
After I grew up and moved on in life, I didn’t have a big huge driveway like that, so we took our sleigh act on the road. We are talking towing a toboggan behind a truck down a deserted country road with not another human life form in sight.
And who comes cruising by with flashing lights to offer us a free ticket if we didn’t stop? Yep, busted.
That’s ok. We had neighbour Pete for excitement.
Pete, Jocelyn and family use to come by with their horse hooked up to the big wooden sleigh every Christmas eve to deliver cards to the neighbourhood. Now that was cool! One time Pete came winding down our driveway in full sleigh hookup mode on his own, then asked me if I’d like a ride down the road. Heck, yeah!
Pete was a bit of a daredevil. He laughed at the face of danger (or what I saw it as) so remember that as I tell you this next part. We’re careening down the long stretch of straight road with a very young peppy horse at the wheel, when I noticed Pete was having a little bit of trouble keeping the horse running in a straight line.
I didn’t really worry about it, until I realized we weren’t about to stop anytime soon. We were in fact picking up speed. And swerves.
“Uh, Pete… are you breaking in this horse on this sleigh for the first time… today? Like, with ME in it?! As in… NOW?!”
“Ohhhhh yeeeeeaaaaah! It’s ok! She’ll be just fiiiiine!”
Saying a quick prayer, we skid along steep deep ditch edges, but somehow miraculously ended up in my driveway. My white knuckled grip was still in clutch mode as I eased my shaking legs out of the sleigh and bid cya later. Brave guys like Pete? They don’t come along every day. He was such a trip!
Oh! And then there was that time we had that white out for days on end…
The winds and drifting snow were so extreme, we had to tie a rope from the barn to the house, so we could find our way to feed the livestock. The horse’s water kept freezing so we picked up this heater contraption you slipped into the water.
It worked great! As long as we had power. Once we lost that, we were carrying buckets of water through waste deep blowing snow, gripping that rope for dear life.
Walking out of the house was like walking into some dark vacuum cleaner in the freezer department. You simply couldn’t see a thing, reminding you just how dangerous the conditions were. But exciting and fairly short lived all the same. Those days you just made sure you had food and firewood stocked up at the first whisper of ‘wind’ and ‘possibility of snowfall’.
Fast forward to my son at a very young age, every time it snowed seemed to be at night when it was bedtime. But since my son adored the white stuff as much as I did, on a snow night, the regular schedule was OFF. We’d throw on our snow gear and head under the big yard light so we could play to our heart’s content, as long as we could hold up.
Snow by day is pretty, and fun! But snow by night is wicked cool.
Every snow creature you made looked a little eerie and misleading. You thought you were creating these magnificent sculptures. We made a horse one year that was big enough for my son to sit on. My, we thought we were outstandingly amazing.
Until the next day. It resembled some… something that didn’t have a name. It was pretty ugly, but apparently still so very much fun to ride… and that’s all that mattered.
So today, when my son came home from school, it was already raining, just as scheduled. But that’s ok. I have plenty of memories stocked up to last me until we get a REAL dump that lasts for more than 4 hours.
Back in the day, a snowstorm meant we’d need a snowplough to save our lives. Today? The snow shovel never made it outside. Now that’s a memory I don’t care to build on anytime soon!
Sweet photo sent in by reader ‘Winthrop Audrey’, inspired by the post today! Love it! Her story:
I grew up in NYC (actually just outside, in one of the burroughs) so we had some grass to play on summers days and a slight hill for sleigh ride winters (not anything like yours!) But I too have a precious memory of my brother who is 4 yrs older smashing down a hill so we could ride. It took him 3 hours and a very wet snow suit! ( Gosh we hated those things LOL) Oh ya your son will thank you years later for some great memories too!:)
Last year’s snow pictures are HERE
I love snow in Pictures!
But am allergic to it! Yep,living in Florida is perfect to prevent the syptoms that occur when the temp goes below 70. Those syptoms are as follow my shoulders hunch and pitch forward,my arms are crossed,my brow is wrinkled,I take tiny steps,and I wear lots of clothes.
Thank you for the beautiful photos!
Have a Merry Christmas!
Great stories and beautiful photos.
Thank you so much for today’s post. I was born and raised in South Florida and have never experienced any of your memories. You painted a beautiful story with amazing pictures. You were given an amazing gift thank you for sharing….
OH!!!!!! How I love the snow!!!!!! My husband hates in and thinks I’m crazy :0) But I love to play in it and walk in it and take tons of pictures of it. We haven’t had any snow yet so I’m loving your pictures and dreaming of snow.
Thank you for sharing what it’s like to live in those kinds of weather conditions. I’ve lived my entire life on the west coast (Los Angeles, Las Vegas) and snow like that is a foreign thing to us. While beautiful and serene, snow has its evil twin, blizzards. I’ve only heard second hand from a relative who lived in Chicago for a couple of years, but you’ve helped paint another picture of the extremes. Beautiful photos!
I love the snow. I drive eveyone crazy that reads my blog because I say that all the time. I know that I am alot older than you but this is how I remember the winters. We would leave first thing n the morning and be gone all day, sledding. We walked to the best hills far away from where I live. I don’t remember being cold and we didn’t have all the gear they have now. That makes me sound old but I am 62. My father was a manager of an electric company. We hardly lost power for more that an evening. They used to go out in snowmobiles and take long pulls and some how restart the power. I can remember people calling our home to tell us their power was out. I can remember only one time loosing power for a couple of days. Now in Ohio we loose power probably once a year for a week from some freaky wind storm or worse an awful ice storms.
I miss all the snow. I think it is on its way but we are only getting a couple of inches. But thanks for sharing. Happy Holidays.
I am so jealous. We are still snowless in our neck of Canada. The snow lovers are few so we have to stick together. This post was great.
I grew up on a dairy farm myself in the mountains of PA and I well remember dumping milk out behind the barn because the milk truck couldn’t get through. One time we were snowed in for two weeks. My mother ran out of a few things LIKE COFFEE…and sent my brother and cousin off with the big old farm sled-walking cross the fields and hills to the little grocers about 7 miles away as the crow flies. It was an all day trip and they left as soon as it was light and got home just as dark was setting in. She had made a list and put coffee on the very top of the list -underlining it several times to stress the importance of it- You guessed it. They ASSUMED it said LIST with the lines under it- started down the LIST and didn’t get any coffee. My mother was fit to be tied!
We are in the middle of blizzard conditions right now- xo Diana
This story is sooo funny!!! I could only imagine. I die without my coffee as well!
such a wonderful post, love hearing your childhood memories of winter!
Love your photos and stories!!!
Thanks for sharing your wonderful snow shots and memories. Here in CA, mid 40’s during the day gets noticed.
Blessings to you! I hope Santa brings me a studio like yours for Christmas!
Here in tropical Malaysia we can only dream of a White Christmas…love all your photos and love the whole romantic notion of snow…have yet to see it live.
What great memories! Love your photos, especially the mason jar rings wreath. We got the same wet snow and then rain, the other day, and then some more last night. I can’t imagine the kind of snow you had as a child…wow!
Morning Donna, well, I too can remember riding on a sled behind a tractor or pick up. Big drifts, jumping into them. You have brought up a lot of wonderful memories for me. I am a few years older than you, and I still love the snow too. I have just one horse now, no other animals and just love pics of him with the snow. You did an amazing job on your photos with all that gray sky. Thanks so much for sharing. MERRY CHRISTMAS!!
Donna, these pictures are gorgeous! I do remember how big our sow storms used to be when we were younger. So why is it as an adult they don’t seem so big? Is it the same thing as how big your elementary school was and then you go back as an adult and it is small! Whisking you a Merry Christmas!
DeDe@DesignedDecor
So incredibly beautiful, wish we had snow…
Love the pictures and THanks for the memories…..maybe this will inspire Pete to bring out the ‘Ol Sleigh again,……..just need to train another horse and find a willing passenger. LOL!!
Miss having u as a neighbor by the way!!
HAHAHA! With Pete’s lack of info and utter charm, he’ll have no issue. 🙂
This first big snow of the season is quite a lot. Glad you’re enjoying it so!
Donna I loved this post, beautiful photos & wonderful winter snow stories. I am on the other side of the world in Australia and our weather at the moment is as you would expect, the complete opposite – HOT! I can’t even imagine what a sowy Christmas would be like. Maybe one day I will have the chance to experience it. Thanks again for the lovely post 🙂
hi Donna … what fantastic pictures … thanks for sharing your snow with us. No snow expected here in South/Central Texas. A little cold, but will be a warm Christmas. Loved your stories too. Yes, you should write a book …. you have a way with words.
Happy Christmas Blessings.
Audrey Z.
Timeless Treasures
Seriously….those pictures are amazing! That is beautiful snow….and the stories….LOL! We pull sleds around here on four wheelers 🙂
Merry, Merry Christmas my wonderful friend!
karianne
Beautiful snowy pictures Donna! And I really enjoyed your stories to go with them. We had about 25 cm. of snow here yesterday and it’s staying until it rains tomorrow and Saturday. It may even outlast the rain. I hope. Merry Christmas! Blessings, Pamela
Donna your pictures are stunning! Thanks for sharing your stories with your readers. I live in Ohio and we’resupposed to get our first snow storm tonight, so excited. White Christmas 🙂
What a great snowy post. I’m so jealous. We (in Victoria) didn’t see any snow yesterday, just wicked wind and driving rain. I’m still hoping for a good dump of snow this year.
I love your pictures! I can’t wait for our first snow. It’s raining here right now, and they are not calling for snow in the near future, guess it’s going to be a green/brown Christmas. So very different from the 60’s when we had snow days and drifts up to the eaves every year. The snow didn’t melt until spring…we didn’t worry about the freezing/thawing in the gardens. This global warming is ruining winters!
Debbie 🙂
Beautiful pictures, what a white christmas feeling! I like your idea to make junk beautiful.
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I just wondered into your site… who knows how …any how I will get back home…but…I love the photos and that old jar lid wreath is the wonderful thing I have ever seen. I will now be hunting for metal lids….Happy Holidays. If I cannot find my way back home can I stay here?
I just found out I am in Canada…I crossed the border without a passport….do you think I am in trouble…hahaha….I found the tutorial for wreath…down to the cellar for canning lids I have tons…..
That canning jar wreath is AWESOME!! And the fact that it will constantly be looking new and different with the way it weathers is SO cool! Making one for my shed!!
You got a lot more snow than Lynden! But it was fun, wasn’t it?! Just sets the mood for the holidays!
I love the stories, especially about the night play. What wonderful memories you’ve created for your son!
Have a Blessed Christmas!
So pretty and so foreign to me! Our sand on the Alabama Gulf Coast is this white and actually looks like snow, so I kept having to tell my brain you weren’t sending me sand photos!
If I wouldn’t get cold, I think I could get used to that snow. It is absolutely beautiful.
Wow–what gorgeous snow! And tying a rope from the house to the barn–yowza! That is something. I grew up on a farm, too, but we never had that much snow. One time I was house- and horse-sitting for a friend with half a dozen horses, and we got a bunch of snow and the power went off, and no running water, so we were going down to the well, taking the cover off and dipping buckets of water several times a day and hauling it to the barn for all the horses–that was a lot of work as I recall 🙂 At the same time I was pretty much snowed in with a friend and her Great Newfoundland pup, who was snowy white and huge and named Tofu! I loved this post–thank you for sharing it with us!
Beautiful photos!
Just AwEsoMe Crusty… Rusty… Wreath!*!*! It’s ALL-IN-THE-PaTiNa!!!
Jeanine Burkhardt
Thanks for sharing the photos of your wintry wonderland. I grew up in areas that were blanketed in snow each year but now living here in Texas we usually get nada.
(So I just dream of a white Christmas instead.)