Saturday, December 1, 2007

Falling from the sky

It's snowing today.


I know that soon, this will mean cold wet toes, bad toque hair, slippery sidewalks, and traffic jams.

However, at the moment, it feels a little magical to watch footprints tell a story, have flakes stuck in my eyelashes and dart across the path of streetlights like sparks in the night. I love how snow has coated the city and emphasizes all the nooks, crannies, and textures beneath it.

After all, December 1st is the second best day of the year for it to be snowing.

I'm a staunch believer that the holidays don't really kick off until December. As such, with my first step into the chilly outdoors, and with my first steamy breath, the essence of it all just hit me.

The dancing snowflakes reminded me that soon it won't all be rushing, deadlines, and early mornings. Instead it will be flannel PJs by my parents' fire place, strapping on my enormous Sorel boots to traipse through snowbanks with my father to find the ideal Christmas tree, late mornings giggling in bed with my sister about the last night's happenings at the local bar, spooning in butter tart filling and trying not to lick my fingers.

Soon I will be home.

45 comments:

Michelle and the City said...

this post definitely gave me warm fuzzies!
SOMEtimes i do miss the large amounts of snow we used to get back home. but not too often ;)

Yoda said...

Its gonna snow here tomorrow! And its only 2nd Dec. While you look forward to spending time with family in the winter, I loathe the fact that I've forgotten where I stashed the shovels during my move this summer! Its that time of the year when all car owners cringe at the thought of ...

Jess said...

I loved this post! I hope it snows when I'm back home for the holidays. Incidentally - when I was living in Manhattan, I got so excited the first time I saw actual snow coming down. Usually, I slept through the snowfall and woke to the grime. But one night, I was walking out of a performance space, and the drops of snow just fluttered down, and for that night, everything in East Village, with abandoned cars and wide crossways seemed a little bit more beautiful.

I think there's a reason why purity is connected with snow and white.

nicole antoinette said...

I love love LOVE the first snowfall. I'm so jealous. I want snow! Send some to NYC, but just a little, enough to make me happy but not enough to make the roads all icky.

kthanksbye

Ant said...

Mmm, warm fuzzies...

We like to pretend it's going to snow, and cling to the white christmas myth year after year, but with the bookmaker's odds on it happening getting increasingly long. The heck with it, I now look forward to hot summer day's and chestnuts roasting on an open barbecue around christmas-time...

t.b.f.love. said...

I love this - you captured the feelings and nostalgia and joy that comes with a first snow. And December 1st is definitely one of the best days for a good snow!

Anonymous said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Anonymous said...

Tag!

ps - Yay snow! I had some at Thanksgiving... so awesome.

Airam said...

Waking up to a new blanket of snow outside my window and this post was a great start to my morning.

Jamie Lovely said...

I really don't think I would have minded snow yesterday had it been fluffy and pretty. Instead, I got slush and sleet.

December is definitely the start of the holidays for me too. I wish it would have been a pretty first snowfall here!

QueenBee said...

Ugh, you may have been jealous of my cartwheel abilities, I AM SO JEALOUS of your snow!! We don't get snow until MAYBE February if we're lucky. And then, it always ends up melting and being ugly and dangerous as ice.

And..Indeed. Home is definitely on its way. :-D

PG said...

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megabrooke said...

sounds perfect:)

Anonymous said...

i loved the snowfall too.

before i had to go out and shovel that shite.


hahahaha. i kid. i heart canada!

singleton said...

awwww.....
soon you'll be home....

Yeah, it's starting to feel a lot like Christmas!

Beth said...

Wonderful post - such a welcome reminder of all that is good about winter and the coming Christmas season.

(Still, I'm not too keen on the freezing rain we're getting on top of all this lovely snow...)

Mrs4444 said...

My husband and 12-year-old daughter have been outside in the dark (playing in the snow) for 45 minutes. Not my cup of tea (I'd rather just take the pictures), but I love hearing their laughter and seeing their smiling, rosey-cheeked faces out there. Yup; better to look on the bright side. It's going to be cold for a while...at least we have snow to enjoy it.

Miriam said...

Ooh snow. I wish we got it here moreoften. :)


http://lspoon.wordpress.com

Joanne said...

Yeah, same here. While I believe that the winter season starts in November (time to break out the winter coats I dearly love to wear!), the holidays can't start for me until December. Oooh, your words make me look forward to going home all over again! =)

Wendy said...

I haven't seen snows in years! I miss it.

Unknown said...

this gave me WARM FUZZIES. thankyou!!!!

DG said...

I'm so jealous that it's snowing there! It's 75 degrees here in LA today!

QueenBee said...

Alas, you are less of a nerd than I am. Tribbles are little furry bastards that are neutral colored, and are in the second season. I've yet to see anyone wear a tribble. What she's wearing, I'm thinking, is just where she skinned the head of these poor little troll things.

Tribbles were those adorable things that were born pregnant and got into this thing of wheat and the more they eat, the more they reproduce. AND CHAOS ENSUES. Hence the episode's name, "Trouble with Tribbles!"

(I'll admit, I did have to look somethings up for this, but I won't tell you what. I STILL WANT YOU TO LIKE ME! ;-) )

Lisa said...

Yeah... I got that Saturday snow, too. And now it's Monday and do you hate it as much as I do?

Lisa said...

I am more jealous than you'd care to know. Loved this post though. :)

Anonymous said...

hooray for your post - it snowed in chicago this past weekend and this post stated exactly what i felt at my season's first snow :)

S'Mat said...

herehere!
i dip in and out of this cozy book called The Poetics of Space by Gaston Bachelard, and he tries this phenomenological decouvre(?) of physical space and what about it draws our minds into comforting space... he rolls from attics to curling seashells to thick walls and low ceilings and makes the reader drift of in revery (or at least me). earlier on, he combs through Baudelaire's fascination with storms and snow and how they reify the shelter and support the dreamer (like the shell, the shelter proves itself and conveys its effectivity by enabling the dreamer)...
wow, were am i going with this... um... something about the coziness of the inside and the state of its antipode, the outside.
um.. yay snow!

Sheila said...

Snow is the one thing that makes it both good and bad to be living in Florida. I miss having snow around at the holidays but I have been so long without it, I don't think I could handle that level of cold for too long. Today our high was 81 degrees. Tomorrow, it is finally supposed to cool off to around 70.

t.k.foster said...

Wow, that looks beautiful. Lucky you! We're all suffering from global warming down here.

Anonymous said...

I wish it snowed here. Right now everyone's just hoping it gets in the 40s.

The Author Of This said...

I slap down a challenge right now as to who has the worst beanie hair. I mean, toque hair. I look like Teen Wolf when I take mine off!

Maithri said...

You know its summer down here in Australia, bright glaring sun...

But for a few minutes you transported me to a world where footprints start telling their story in the snow...

I was there with you ;)

Its a testament to your ability to tell a story. To articulate the nuances of human experience. It is a gift.

Peace and the light of Christmas, Maithri

Larissa said...

So pretty! I want snow to play in.

captain corky said...

Very nice! I can't wait for a good snow storm.

Who? Me? said...

I love snow! I wish it would actually snow here. It's usually just a light sprinkle and then it turns grey and icky. Sometimes I miss living in the country where you have real snow! Yay for holidays and snuggling up in your pj's with people who love you.

Anonymous said...

This is a beautiful picture and I am glad it makes you think of such wondeful moments - I a excited for you to go home for the holidays - it soudns divine!

Chris Benjamin said...

got caught in it on my bicycle, had to walk it home with wind in my face. it was not that magical snowy moment i'd dreamed of last christmas in ghana.

eric1313 said...

You are already there.

Your truest season is waiting in your heart all the time. You just wait to feel it's hand on yours, to reasure you that everything will happen again as it has happened before.

The cold darkness gives birth to the hottest of all things when it draws us to that which we love.

Just wanted to say hello from Detroit. I had a second, and before I even answered a response, I was here reading the slightly bygone musings inspired by all the misceleneous hijinks that ensue up and over there in the tempestous northwest.

Things are not going the best for my aunt. She now has a half a dozen brain tumors alone. This has happened so fast it's hard to believe it's real. But I'm glad to have somebody who can get my mind of of those things if only for a second.

Talk to you later my friend.

eric1313 said...

And don't worry about me! Things will be OK, no matter what.

Ultra Toast Mosha God said...

We get that frustrating half-snow here. It's quite annoying. I want real snow that hangs around for more than five minutes because it has to be someplace else.

Jocelyn said...

Having just come inside from eating the flakes of our latest 5 inches (got a foot a couple of days ago), and having just kicked off my own Sorels,

I love this post.

cdp said...

I'm totally jealous of all you fools up north and your snow. It snows here approximately once every umm, never.

I know you're so stoked to go home and hang out with your fam. I'm just ready to be done with another semester!

A Margarita said...

Aww, such a pretty picture. I love snow! Growing up without it makes it extremely captivating. I'm always amazed anew with each snowfall.

Have a Happy Holiday :)

A Lil' Irish Lass said...

This post made me yearn to be home, in front of my parents' fireplace. Soon...

eric1313 said...

That's right! Never can we be over saturated with love.

What a brilliant way to say that, Princess.

You made me smile and I really could have used one this morning. It was just in time.

Keep rockin' on, my friend, and I'll see you soon.