The season premiere of snow

I was driving Ari to the babysitter's house this morning, listening to a local radio station as they did the traffic report. I started listening in the middle of the report, but it didn't take me long to figure out they were talking about it snowing. The town that station is in is a few towns away from where I was, but I still found myself thinking it was weird that it was snowing so close by (and, apparently, snowing hard enough to warrant them warning drivers to be careful), and yet there was not a single flake in front of me. No sooner had I finished forming that thought when I started to see random flakes lazily drifting down from the sky.

I dropped Ari off, and as I drove my 45-minute drive to work, the snow got heavier and heavier. I saw no less than 5 accidents on my way to work--3 of which were directly before my exit and all within 20 feet of each other. I'm usually paranoid about driving in the snow, but this particular storm didn't freak me out--the road didn't seem that slippery, and I was doing fine driving at a moderate speed and allowing plenty of room to slow down. It still boggles my mind that people don't seem to know how to drive in the snow--it's not like this is an area of the country that doesn't see a lot of snow. You would think people would understand that they need to slow down and take it easy.

After I got to work, I let myself enjoy the snow, safe in the warm building. It continued snowing for a couple more hours, leaving a picture-perfect cover of snow on the landscape. The tree branches are sagging slightly under their coat of snow, and the ground is mostly covered in a thin layer, with only little bits of grass peeking out. It looks like a postcard out there, and it is gorgeous. I love the first snow of the season--no matter how old I get, there is just something so magical about watching the world get clothed in white. This storm was a bit of a surprise, too--for me, anyway. Last I heard, the temperatures were supposed to be in the upper 30s/low 40s, so they were calling for rain, and then only for scattered showers. And instead, we got a few hours of steady snow, everything from thin slivers of flakes to big chunks.

This first snow makes it finally feel like the holidays are upon us. I'm still having a hard time wrapping my mind around the idea that Thanksgiving is only 2 days away. And everyone knows that once Thanksgiving has come and gone, Christmas takes over the world (though it starts its world domination tour shortly after Halloween).

Another reason I know the holidays are here? McDonald's has eggnog shakes back. I am seriously going to have to hold myself back, because I would have one every day if I could--that's how deliciously awesome they are.

Tomorrow morning, we leave to visit Tony's family. We haven't been down there since... well, last Christmas, I suppose. Several of his family members came up for Ari's birthday party in June/July, which was the last we saw them, but we haven't made a visit in almost a year. And it will be a nice long visit, too--from Wednesday through Sunday. I'm a little nervous about how Ari will be. She's always been a great traveler, but now that she's older and more active, I'm not sure how she'll like being strapped in a car for 6+ hours. Last time we traveled with her, she was still on just bottles and baby food, so it was fairly easy to feed her on the road (and she was still a really good eater then). I told Tony I can imagine us stopping for lunch, and her refusing to eat, then crying an hour later because she's hungry. I also told him we should try to find a fast food place with a playground, so she can run around and burn some energy.

I'm also not sure how she'll be with sleeping down there, seeing as bedtime has been such an ordeal the past few days. She'll also be sharing a room with us, which I'm hoping will be a good thing--I'm hoping that our presence in her room will soothe her, rather than disturb her sleep or make her more whiny. We'll see, I suppose.

But no matter what, I know we're going to have a good visit, and Tony's family will love getting to spend time with her. She is so much more interactive now, and she's such a goofball--she's sure to provide some good entertainment, if nothing else.

I'm not sure if we're bringing the laptop with us, but even if we do, I won't be online much. So try not to miss me too much, and don't do anything too exciting while I'm gone. Happy Thanksgiving to all of you!