White Stuff is Falling from the Sky!

I was sitting at work looking out the window the other day.  It was snowing with gusto.  It's a rare commodity where I live and work.  At one point, I found myself with my hand propping up my chin, staring wistfully at the snow.  I'm 58 years old and I've never hated seeing the white stuff fall from the sky - and pile up on the ground.  It turns me into an 8 year old.  

I have lived in the midsouth for many years.  Snow that sticks to the ground opens a whole new Pandora's box here. Most people here don't really drive all that well in the white stuff...and the hills and hollows can make a slippery road, one hundred times more dangerous.  Most people just don't have much experience with it. However, the weather is routinely (mostly) predictable here regarding snow.  It rarely gets that bad.  The roads had been brined and all will be well.  

But still, I'm looking out the window watching the giant flakes dance and fall soothingly from the sky - only to melt as soon as they touch the ground.  In the distance, I hear a train whistle - another sound I love.  It was definitely a zen moment.  Somewhere inside me, I'm wishing for hot chocolate, a fire in the hearth, a cat beside me and my knitting in my lap.  I'm either a little kid or an old woman (inside), waiting to play. 

I hope you get a snow day soon, to simply enjoy.   

The Tale of the Christmas Carousel - 1985

Once upon a time, in a land far far away (Illinois), there was a girl (me), who lived with her dad (Dad).  They were getting ready to have the family over for Christmas the next morning.  It was late.  They had just come home from midnight mass and had a few last minute things to accomplish. 

Dad was vacuuming and I was downstairs working on something else.  I heard Dad saying something upstairs but couldn't understand exactly what he was saying.  I went up to see what was happening.  When I got there, I saw his thing was more important that anything I could have been doing.  The Christmas candle carousel was on fire!  Dad was attempting to put the fire out with a towel.  Within a few seconds, the fire was out and all was going to be well.  But all the while, he was kind of laughing and said "Fire in the hole!" a couple times.  When the fire was out, he was still laughing - we both were...  It was a small fire and nothing was destroyed.  All was well and we had a good laugh.  

Several years later, Dad was thinning out his decorations and asked me if I wanted "our" scorched Christmas carousel.  I immediately told him yes!  It is now in my possession and one of my treasured holiday decorations.  Dad has his own permanent reminder of that night.  There is a burned ring on the wooden divider where the carousel was sitting. I like knowing that little ring is there...

Now, every season, I unpack the Christmas carousel and proudly display it.  Most likely I have told the story behind it every year.  When our kids were younger, they may have rolled their eyes a little each time it was recited.  That's ok.  I want them to have the memory of this little item that I so strongly associate with their grandfather and those few minutes in my life.  I don't want them wondering why I have this thing they, or even other people might consider junk.    

It's not that I have become the custodian of Dad's Christmas carousel ... It's so much more than that.  It's those 5 crazy minutes their Grampy and I shared on that Christmas Eve somewhere around 1985.  It represents his character as a father, protector, teacher and friend.  He put the fire out and made it amusing at the same time.  He didn't become angry, fearful or any other negative reaction.  I was in my mid 20's and he was still teaching me - to not freak out and make the best of a bad (or what could have been bad) situation. But he didn't do it intentionally. That's just Dad.  Even to this day, that's my Dad.  I sure hope to be just like him when I grow up.

So, when the carousel comes out for all Christmases in the future, I hope they remember this story.  I hope they remember the kind of man my dad is - and what kind of human they want to be in this world.  I also hope they bicker just a little over who gets the carousel when I'm not here anymore.  

You see, it's just not about the thing - it's about what the thing means to you.