Sneaux Day On The Bayou

The local news channel warned us of snow and ice on Friday morning, causing school cancellations and panic throughout our community.  Mentioning the words "freezing" and/or "ice" will push the residents of Louisiana into doomsday mode. But I went to bed on Thursday night filled with doubt: they're exaggerating, it rarely ever snows here, I'm sure we're overreacting.  As soon as I heard our two little girls come bounding down the stairs early Friday morning, however, I knew that I was wrong.

"It's snowing, it's snowing!!!", they yelled at the tops of their lungs, flinging the curtains up, showing us the yard filled with snow.  It was as if a big white magic carpet had landed in our yard overnight, covering our usually green filled world.  We got dressed as quickly as possible, laughing at our complete lack of snow appropriate gear. The girls ran around the yard, catching snowflakes in their mouths, shaking it out of their hair, and throwing snow at each other. It was coming down fast and hard and Brees said, "It's so cold and wet, Mom!", running back into the house and the warmth of the fire.  She took a while to warm up to the idea of playing in freezing cold ice, her Southern blood finding the whole experience pretty unnatural. She watched from the safety of the front door at first, waving to us, working up the courage to brave the cold.  It took a couple of hours and quite a few trips in and out of the house but she finally fell in love with the winter wonderland experience, playing with her little garden tools and chasing after her big sister.

We did every snow day activity we could think of: snowman building, snow angel making, snowball fighting, even snow sledding using one of our laundry baskets.  "This is so magical!!" I repeated over and over, marveling over the way the snow glittered across the front yard, how quiet and still everything felt.  Belle and I went on a hike in the woods behind our house and I really felt like we had been transported to a completely different world. The trees and trails and landscape that are so familiar to us all looked so incredible covered in that white, glittery powder. It was all so special to us because it only happens every decade or so.  We took it all in as though we may never see it again because, truthfully, we don't know if we ever will.  In and out, from sunrise to sunset, we played in the snow, the girls not wanting to come inside even as the grey sky turned dark.  And the best part: it was all still there when we woke up the next morning!  What a memorable weekend it was down on the snow covered bayou!