Wisconsin.

This will be my third winter in Washington, and the way things have been going the past two days, it looks like we may have a repeat performance of the infamous winter of 2008. We've been slammed with our first real snowfall of the season, unseasonably early. The roads are a mess, we were let out of work early, and there's just a general air of panic for the meager one, maybe two inches of snow on the ground. It's hilarious to watch the news here any time snow is in the forecast. You'd think the skies were raining dead bodies.

See? No dead bodies. Just cute little white peaks on the fence posts.
Happily, I'm all safe and snuggly in my cozy house, watching the flakes build up tiny piles on the tree branches. Poor Dave is not so cozy, still crawling through traffic after having left work almost two hours ago. Ahh. Welcome winter. And it's not even technically winter yet.

It's a little bit fun though, because it reminds me so much of my home state of Wisconsin (that is currently, as it would happen, dealing with tornados today near my hometown.)

Real WI snow.
The frozen-solid farm fields covered in a heavy blanket of "real" snow are no comparison to the Puget Sound's sticky, sloppy, mud-mixed-with-snow mess.

Wussy WA snow.
But I can't help it. The snow makes me feel a little nostalgic. As I walked down the hallway of my office building today, everything smelled bright and cold and wet, the exact same smell of snowsuits and velcro boots and the hard-packed pellets that clung to knit mittens (the worst kind of mitten). As I brushed the snow off my car, everything was hushed. The world was becoming insulated.

And there's just something about even the prospect of having a snow day that still stirs up a little bit of excitement, a little bit of hope, in even the most grown-up heart. Except that now my snow days are for an inch of snow, not the prerequisite three feet (or so it seemed) demanded by the hardy Wisconsin school districts. In grade school, there were rumors that the superintendent had a huge 4WD vehicle! With a plow on the front! And if he could plow out his driveway in time, school would go on! So. Not. Fair. In a span of less than 3 years, I've definitely had more consecutive snow days here in WA than I ever had growing up in the Midwest. The only difference is that now, I'm the poor white-knuckled driver behind the wheel. No matter how much I think I'm used to it, it's always intensely nerve-wracking.

But so far, so good. I'm starting to (dare I say it) feel Christmasy. The heater is on, I'm wrapped up in a warm crocheted blanket watching the yard turn all fluffy, and the hydrangeas are still clinging to that last bit of blue...