Winter Musings

There is nothing more inviting than fresh snow on a cold winter's day. Something about snow brings out the kid in everyone and brings back memories of childhood and youth: playing in the snow, building a snowman, rushing downhill on a sled (or a saucer or inner tube).

I remember when I was a teenager, probably 17 or 18 years old. I took my best friend, my brother and one of his friends up into the mountains of Southern California for a sledding expedition. My car was an old Renault, which had the trunk in the front and the engine in the back. Unfortunately, one of the sleds was too long to fit in the trunk and, because the trunk was in the front, we couldn't leave it propped open. So, we forced the sled into the middle of the car between the passengers in the front and back seats. It was a bit cozy, but it worked. The other sled and the saucer fit into the trunk quite nicely.

Once we arrived at our destination--Wrightwood, California--we found a place to park and then ventured into the woods to find a great place to go sledding. We found an old creek bed that wound down the side of the hill, and it was filled with enough snow to make sledding absolutely perfect--almost. The problem was that near the bottom of the hill, the creek bed made a slight curve around a tree before continuing its descent. The trick was to negotiate the curve and miss the tree.

We spent a couple of hours sledding and had a wonderful time, until my last run. I was in the saucer, which is difficult to control and tends to spin in a circle while traveling downhill. I missed the curve and slammed into the tree backward. We decided to call it a day and carried all of our sledding equipment back to the car.

Enjoying a white Christmas this year was a highlight of the holiday season. It isn't often that we have a truly white Christmas--this year was the exception with nearly seven inches of beautiful, white powder.

The snow makes everything appear clean, fresh and pure. There is nothing more relaxing than sitting in front of a cozy fire, wrapped in a blanket, reading a book, and watching the snowflakes drop from heaven on a beautiful winter day. There is nothing more invigorating than bundling up in warm clothes and stepping into the cold with a snow shovel in hand and cleaning off the driveway and sidewalk.

Snow...I LOVE it!