Post republished via the ModernParent Facebook page. Written by the incredible Kelly Yale.
When I first moved to Charlotte, some 16 years ago, we had an inch of snow during the first week. I had a doctor’s appointment and a haircut, both of which were canceled due to weather. I about had a fit. I’d been driving in blizzards and madness in Ohio for four years at that point and could not understand how people could be overwhelmed by such an insignificant amount of snow. Of course, having experienced living here for snow and ice storms, I very much understand now.
But there is something so much more to the south getting snow. It’s hard to really understand unless you live here. So many of us are transplants from places where snow was a huge part of our lives. Holidays never really seem the same without the traditional blanket of snow and that takes some getting used to. While we don’t wish for four months of snow, we most assuredly love a snow day.
Southern snow days are a holiday in their own right. The build up is ridiculous, with all of us glued to our TV’s and taking about almost nothing else. The butcher at Harris Teeter told me last night that Monday was busier than Christmas with people buying enough food to get them through the next few days. The pictures of my friends holding up loaves of bread that they managed to grab off the shelf have cracked me up all week.
Snow days are a little gift to us in the south and they are the stuff of real memories with our kids. Chances are most of us can tell you off the top of our head where we were and what we were doing for every snowfall. We cobble snow outfits out of the strangest clothing and watch our kids dance in the flakes. We build very ugly snowmen with grass and twigs stuck in the snow. We stock up on enough hot chocolate to drown a small country. We bundle up and watch movies and watch out the window in awe.
There are those who hate the snow. I totally understand that perspective, but give me a snow day once or twice a year and I am a happy camper. There is nothing better than a random Wednesday when all of the errands and work and madness that is life is silenced by a blanket of snow. Few things seem more like a winter holiday to us and produce just as many happy memories.
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