The national news on two fronts made this an already awesome week by the end of Tuesday. I didn’t think the week could get any better and yet it will. Later today, for the first time in almost two years, snow will fall, in possibly significant amounts. As excited as I am, you’d think I just won the lottery… or the presidency for the billionth time since election day or the vaccine race… or something.

I. Love. Snow.

I love snow so much that it’s been snowing on my website here for a month and it will continue to do so through the Winter. For the past two years, the technological snow was the only kind I experienced, which was beyond disappointing considering how much I love it — watching it fall, listening to the silence it creates, seeing the brightness it makes in the dark of night, and wandering with my camera to capture all the pretty before it’s gone.

Last Wednesday for about an hour, flurries flitted through the air and down to the ground. When I first saw them out the window, I squealed, “IT’S SNOWING!” like I’m five and just saw Santa. I didn’t expect such a quick follow up and with a real storm! Please tell Mother Nature that if she wants to do this every Wednesday, that’s OK with me.

Of course, Adult Me hopes the snow isn’t too heavy and the ice doesn’t cometh so that the power lines stay up and the lights stay on. The holiday ham and other goodies were delivered this afternoon after all (but I only ordered seven yogurts, not 10, so I think I’ll be OK).

In case you, too, are a snow lover and had similar adulting thoughts, let me remind us both that the first real snowfall of the year is not the time for adult concerns. Silence, grown-ups! Let’s just enjoy the fact that after such a long snow drought — and such a weird year — life is slowing to a crawl so we can just sit and watch the snow. We’ll be stuck at home today, like during the quarantine, but now with an endlessly lovely ever-changing picture outside. This truly is the best early Christmas present ever (the fact that it’s pretty is a gift, too, after a year of ugliness and uncertainty).

My inner five-year-old went to sleep Tuesday night dreaming of the snowy Wednesday to come: jammies all day, books stacked high atop my favorite cozy blanket near the window, the hot chocolate and the Keurig standing ready, all grown-up responsibilities scheduled for Thursday afternoon or later, the boots and mittens waiting near the DSLR camera bag for when it’s safe to go exploring.

Mother Nature’s gifting me a snow day and I’m going to savor every single second of it — one book, one sip, one fluttering flake at a time.