Isn't This Virginia?!

As you probably already know, I spent a large part of my growing-up years in Michigan where winter equals snow. To the chagrin of my snow-loving family, I grew to despise the snow. For starters, I can't stand being cold; and the wayward snow finding crevices between my wool socks and snow pants drove me crazy. As I got older, going out in it triggered my asthma; and the presence of it often meant interruptions to my social calendar. You had to shovel it, wade through it, drive in it, and clean what was tracked into the house. I'm a summer girl all the way. To add to the many reason I adore Virginia, when we moved here I was thrilled to discover that they usually receive only a couple of snowfalls a year, most melting within a day. It's the perfect amount, just enough for my kids to get to play in it a bit with no serious repercussion.

The autumns here are long and usually there is no snow until January. Last year it was 70 degrees on New Year's Day....ahhh. So we were very surprised when we got some snow at the beginning of December. You can see my ecstatic children enjoying the whiteness:

But our winter story doesn't end there. This past weekend we received 21, yes, 21 inches of snow. The local radio stations were calling it a blizzard for the Virginia history books, but because it arrived sooner than warned my children we 30 minutes away at my parent's home when it hit. Donning our Michigan driving egos and dodging insane, and I mean insane, Virginia drivers, we made it out to our kids and ended up snowed in at my parent's (without my camera). My children have never seen so much snow and their wiser aunts and uncles introduced them to the joys of snow forts, while the ladies stayed warm inside while baking Christmas cookies like mad. It was actually...dare I say...enjoyable.