March 29, 2024

Column: Winter wonderland

Over the past weekend, we got our first taste of winter weather, more specifically, snow. The majority of the snow fell while I was out of town in Council Bluffs, and I hoped more than anything it would melt.

I am not a Scrooge or a Grinch when it comes to the holidays. I love Christmas and everything that comes with it — but I want it in due time.

I do not put up decorations until after Thanksgiving, and we don’t get a tree until December rolls around. I do, however, begin shopping well before hand, and I am proud to say I am about 95 percent done for this year.

I like to enjoy holiday events such as watching the yearly programs on television and visiting the mall to ride the train. We head to Bass Pro Shop to see Santa Claus and get the annual picture taken.

A new tradition I hope to start this year is visiting Jolly Holiday Lights at Adventureland in Altoona. I have gone one other time when we still counted how old my oldest daughter was in months and I think the girls, and myself, would really like it now. It also doesn’t hurt that it is a lot closer and more convenient to home.

I can be kind of a stickler when it comes to Christmas music. I love the hymns we sing at church and fun Christmas songs the girls learn at school, but I am not one to be tuned in to the radio station which plays it all day, everyday, for the month leading up to the big day. To me, it is special music and, in all reality, it can get a little annoying after a while.

Back to the weather. As a kid, I of course loved the snow. My friends and I would build huge snow forts and play for hours and usually until it got dark in the white fluffy stuff.

I will blame it on the Olympics but for a few years my mom and dad even constructed a skating rink in our yard for me to skate around doing my best Kristi Yamaguchi impression.

Snow also brought snow days which meant sleeping in for two-hour late starts and sometimes not even having to go to school if it was bad enough. Even knowing we would have to make them up when it was blazing hot during the summer, they were worth it.

Nowadays, I’m not such a big fan of the cold weather, let alone snow. Cooler temps mean coats, hats, gloves and scarves which adds about 10 minutes to our morning routine, usually because I am searching for a lost glove the girls just aren’t quite sure where they put it.

When it snows, it just amplifies things. Snow pants are amazing, amazingly difficult. Just thinking about putting the whole get up on just to get to school and take it off gets me worn.

Now, like I said, I am not a Scrooge. I love to have snow for Christmas and for my kids to play in. Nothing is better than the happiness in their eyes when the first flakes begin to fall from the sky and watching them run around, rolling through the piles of snow and our first trip down the big hill by our house.

I would just like it to be limited and not stretch into February and March — and in the one crazy year, May. A brief snow around the holidays to create the picture perfect day is good with me.

Contact Jamee A. Pierson
at jpierson@newtondailynews.com