It recently snowed here at Christopher Newport University in Newport News, VA, which got students out early from classes on Friday and covered the campus in fresh, white snow. At the end of Saturday night, CNU was covered in about two to three inches of snow. This was nothing compared to the photos I was seeing on my Facebook feed from back home. In Pennsylvania, my hometown received about three feet of snow. It was super bittersweet seeing all of the photos of the snow, because I love snow and snow days back home. There is something so special about snow days in Pennsylvania.
1. Waking up to see the snow is halfway up your door.
You would always know when the snow was this high that your day consisted of staying in pajamas, watching movies, having hot chocolate and playing outside with friends. And the best part it definitely meant no school!
2. Cinnamon rolls for breakfast!
The best breakfast for snow days: Pillsbury Cinnamon rolls. It was one of the best ways to wake up to, besides the snow outside my window.
3. Scrapbooking!
Scrapbooking was always a tradition in my household. My mom would let us work on our each individual scrapbooks while she continued on her progress. While we did this, we would watch movies, stay in our PJs, and eat a lot of food.
4. Help shovel the snow!
Long before snowblowers, this was not the best part of snow days, but it was a necessity. We could not get out of helping my parents clear the driveway and the sidewalks.
5. Hot chocolate round #1
After shoveling the driveway, my sisters and I would always come inside for our first round of hot chocolate and Thin Mint girl scout cookies. P.S My mom makes the best hot chocolate!
6. Movie break (mostly Disney movies!)
Too bad this movie wasn't out when I was younger and had snow days, but we always watched movies just like this one to celebrate the snow. Disney movies always seemed to be the ones to watch on days like this.
7. Shovel the driveway round #2!
By this time in the day, the snow had covered the previously shoveled driveway, so we had to go back out and re-shovel the driveway. However, this time it was not as hard, so it did not take as long.
8. Finally, time to play with the neighbor kids.
There was always a group of us in the neighborhood that would go to the best hill and spend hours on hours sledding, getting stuck in the thorn bushes at the bottom, and walking up the hill to sled again. We would also have snowball fights, make ice castles and color snow with food coloring.
9. Time to go inside!
You see all those layers on the kids? Well, when it was time to go inside it meant all of it had to come up and be put in the dryer. I would pound my shoes in the garage to get rid of snow and after putting my clothes in the dryer, run upstairs to get my pajamas back on to relax for the rest of the day.
10. Hot chocolate round #2!
In order to get warm again (after the pajamas), hot chocolate was essential when I came back inside from playing in the snow. Hot chocolate made by my mom was the best on snow days.
11. Getting the call that the next day was snow day #2!
When the phone rang and the caller ID said Downingtown Area School District, you knew it would bring great news. School would be canceled for another day and we get to repeat the day again.
I have recently found out that snow is handled very different based on location, especially when comparing Virginia and Pennsylvania. So yes, this snowy weather is making me miss snow days back home and the joy it brought me. I love snow, and I miss the PA snow days.
