Let It Snow, Let It Snow, Let It Snow In Houston?
Posted: Friday, December 04, 2009
by Laura Trahan
There is now a 100 percent chance of snow today in Houston. I know that you are asking yourself how much have I been drinking. But it is true! Houston, Texas is forecasted to see snow today.
It amazes me how a weather forecast can bring so much excitement to an area. It started last night with news crews explaining how to drive in snow, granted we are only expecting a few inches, but might as well be 50 foot blizzard for us who never see it.
Some of my fondest memories as a child is staying up late and waking up early to see if school was canceled. On those lucky days, it was like a dream.
My mom would make hot chocolate and we would all cuddle in her bed watching Christmas movies. She would bundle us up in those thick coats like on the Christmas story and we would hit the front yard.
We had an awesome hill that ended in our driveway. We would pull out the homemade cardboard sleds or sometimes random pieces of metal and run to the top. We would make snow angels, snowmen and have snowball fights. We would begin collecting our snow to make ice cream later.
To this day, my brother will call when they get snow and start making snow ice cream. He swears he will save some in the freezer then with a tummy ache later he calls to rub it in that they ate it all.
It is funny. We get calls from them a few times a year. My kids are clueless about how much fun it is for them. See once a year or sometimes twice, we have "fake" snow here in Houston.
It is nothing like real snow. It is actually ICE. You got it. Ever get hit in the head with a big ice ball. Our own church will have the fake snow this Christmas Eve. The kids had already started counting the days.
I love raising my kids in Houston because of all the opportunities, but a part of my heart feels they miss out never having a real winter and only learning about what real winter is in school.
Today there is an excitement. Kids are plastered to windows all across the city. Adults are hoping to leave early if they went in at all. The line at Starbucks is a mile long and hot chocolate is selling out at the stores quicker then turkeys at Thanksgiving.
I sit and marvel at my kids because today for this one day, I get to be a kid again with an unforeseen excitement waiting outside. My kids get to experience a little snow flake of my childhood.
Time stands still in Houston as I say, Let It Snow, Let It Snow, Let It Snow!!
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Top-level comments on this article: (3 total)I hope you don't mind, I used some of your words in my school paper about family, from your article lessons learned
I will definitely share with you - we don't usually get this cold this early and this long (must be that global warming?) and have had snow on the ground for 3 weeks now and a high temp of 23 - burrrr, come on up! I enjoyed reading your piece! Marijo
Laura, you reminded me of my childhood in Wisconsin and Colorado. Lots of snow to go around. I remember how the snow would drift (Wisconsin) all the way up to one corner of the garage and climbing up, then jumping off into the snow. I remember sledding and then taking my own kids sledding. I remember as a high school student walking with my friends in very cold temps on nights when it wasn't windy and how pretty the snow looked just drifting down. It was quiet and cold and so beautiful. As an adult, snow meant driving on ice and high heating bills. Thanks for the reminder that it can be a beautiful thing.
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