A Perfect Storm

Tonight was better than Daylight Savings, when you get that extra hour in the fall.  Tonight we got a whole extra evening, due to the Storm of the Century.  The first I heard of the storm was this morning when I got an email from Ruby's guitar teacher cautioning me against driving this afternoon and suggesting we reschedule.  I trust Ruby's teacher.  He is a ski instructor, so he knows weather.  As the day progressed, more and more things shut down, closed and got canceled (snowball effect?), validating the decision to reschedule guitar.  I felt like I should go to the store and stock up on batteries and flashlights or something.  Instead, I came home with six cans of Stephen's Hot Cocoa mix and a Christmas movie.  Scott, Golda and two steaming David's pizzas made it home from the office and voice lessons right before the snow started to fly.  In the end, guitar, a YW planning meeting, three violin lessons, a dance class and a YW activity were casualties of the storm.  In Utah, where people just generally ignore winter, wear shorts in January and drive freeway speeds in blizzards, that's pretty unheard of!  Even Tabernacle Choir practice was canceled!  As the wind whipped the snow in swirls around our house, we all hunkered down to watch Search for Santa Paws and drink gallons of hot cocoa.  Oh, and Brussels sprouts.  Ruby has been dying to cook Brussels sprouts. 

The kids were disappointed that the storm didn't cause a real "Snow Day" from school, but we made up for it with our "Snow Night."  It's not often that you can take a night off from all of life's demands with impunity, and that's what makes it exciting.  It almost makes me want to spend the dark winter months somewhere like northern Alaska or Iceland, where we'd be snowed in for a month at a time, hibernating.  Almost, but not quite.  One evening of playing Inuit was magical.  A month?  Maybe not so much.  We'll be shoveled out by 9 am and back out on those icy Utah roads.  Snow doesn't scare us!  Much.