Today we got our first real snow of the season, and it filled me with joy and Christmas spirit, like it always does.

Here are a few reasons why I love snow:

1. That silence you hear when you step outside.

When you step out into the rain, you hear the pitter-patter of raindrops on the pavement. When you step out into a sunny day, you hear a breeze through the leaves in the trees, birds chirping, etc. But snow has this special sound to it - silence. There is a certain peace and mystery that you feel when you walk out into it.

2. It covers the trees and makes them sparkle.

I love how freshly snow coats tree branches and leaves them looking sparkling and new. In winter, it’s easy to feel down when you are surrounded by brown and bare trees. But when snow coats the branches, the sun reflects off of it and gives you a sense of hope.

3. The feeling you get when you look outside.

Every time I look outside at the snow, I feel so cozy sitting inside where it’s warm. For some reason, snow just adds to that warm feeling. I always get nostalgic thinking about the snow days we used to get in the middle of the week, and sitting by the fire with family after leaving all of our boots and coats at the door. It makes me feel grateful for family and friends.

4. Sledding and Snowball Fights

It seems like everyone reverts back to acting like a child when it snows. People throw snow at each other, put it down each other’s shirts, push each other into snow banks. And then there’s the sledding. You feel a sense of freedom sliding down a hill, looking like an idiot, and more often than not tumbling down the rest of it and getting snow in your face.

5. When you see a patch of untouched snow.

As a kid, I always liked to preserve as much untouched snow as I possibly could. I just love the look of a white snow bank before anybody has walked on it. Then, it makes it that much more fun to just let yourself fall into it.