Snow Days
On Black Friday, I find myself longing for snow days as we officially plunge into the frenzy of the holiday season.
Growing up in central Michigan, snow days sometimes turned into a snow week. The game of Monopoly that started on the weekend turned into a week-long marathon of wheeling and dealing, passing Go and collecting $200. During the winter, there was always a jigsaw puzzle in process. Cards were shuffled and dealt, and in the evenings, I listened to the gentle slap ... slap ... slap of my father playing solitare. If the sun was shining, and the wind wasn't blowing, Mom bundled us up and sent us out the door because, "It's just too nice a day to be sitting inside in front of the television." Funny, she said that during the summer, too. Off to the hills in my uncle's pasture behind our house we would go, racing down on sleds and acorss the pond at the foot of one of the hills. And then there was one winter when we got a ice storm so bad that our gravel road glazed over like an ice skating rink, too slick for any car or truck to drive on. My sister and I put on our ice skates and spent one day skating down the road and visiting our neighbors.
I think my days of ice skating in the middle of the road are behind me, and quite honestly, I played enough Monopoly in my childhood to last me the rest of my life. I think what I am yearning for is some time for being rather than doing during this season of rush -- being with my husband, luxuriating in unhurried lunches with friends, enjoying the company of a lapful of cats and a good book, and most importantly, being with God. Being present in the moment with the source of life without the urgency of shopping, deadlines, and special services.
Rather than doing a lot of decorating this year, I think I'm going to use the time to just be.
Growing up in central Michigan, snow days sometimes turned into a snow week. The game of Monopoly that started on the weekend turned into a week-long marathon of wheeling and dealing, passing Go and collecting $200. During the winter, there was always a jigsaw puzzle in process. Cards were shuffled and dealt, and in the evenings, I listened to the gentle slap ... slap ... slap of my father playing solitare. If the sun was shining, and the wind wasn't blowing, Mom bundled us up and sent us out the door because, "It's just too nice a day to be sitting inside in front of the television." Funny, she said that during the summer, too. Off to the hills in my uncle's pasture behind our house we would go, racing down on sleds and acorss the pond at the foot of one of the hills. And then there was one winter when we got a ice storm so bad that our gravel road glazed over like an ice skating rink, too slick for any car or truck to drive on. My sister and I put on our ice skates and spent one day skating down the road and visiting our neighbors.
I think my days of ice skating in the middle of the road are behind me, and quite honestly, I played enough Monopoly in my childhood to last me the rest of my life. I think what I am yearning for is some time for being rather than doing during this season of rush -- being with my husband, luxuriating in unhurried lunches with friends, enjoying the company of a lapful of cats and a good book, and most importantly, being with God. Being present in the moment with the source of life without the urgency of shopping, deadlines, and special services.
Rather than doing a lot of decorating this year, I think I'm going to use the time to just be.
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