Just 18 More...

This has been a snowy winter in Syracuse, NY. We've had 174.2 inches so far. We had a really snowy December (over 70") and the ground was covered non-stop until a couple of weeks ago. (Though some people, like our friend Nick, still have huge mounds of snow in their yards.) It was funny as the snow melted to see bags of leaves and Christmas trees appear out of no where on the side of the road that we had remembered seeing last fall before all this snow fell. As the snow melted on our way to church a couple of weeks ago I told everyone to look out the window on the right to see if the brown toilet was still there that had been on the side of the road at the end of November, I think. It was.

So far we are in position to be the 4th snowiest winter on record in Syracuse and it is snowing again. I know that many of my friends on the west side of the state had snow days or delays because of the white stuff and that system started into Syracuse a couple of hours ago. I went out to move our van to the street because we need to get it inspected tomorrow and started singing, "It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas" because that is what it felt like. I am actually smiling at the snow. I think that it is so pretty. If it is going to be cold it may as well be pretty.

The sight out our back door

One crazy reason that I like it when it snows is that I like shoveling. It is something that I can do and see that I have actually done something. I love bundling up and heading out with a shovel. Most things that I do I have to re-do over and over again and it never stays done. With shoveling eventually it stops snowing for a couple of hours or a day or even a week. During that time I can look out my window or walk outside and see an empty sidewalk and driveway  and I think, "There's no snow there, it's empty. I did that!!" There are few things in life that can give me that satisfaction so I take it where I can get it.

I guess another reason that I am OK with it snowing is that I have been a frequent stalker of The New York State Golden Snow Ball Award blog. It has been fun to be on top of the list almost all winter. In fact we are the snowiest city with over 100,000 people. I think that it would be cool to be able to say that I lived in the the snowiest winter on record in Syracuse. I am only here for one more winter and if it happens this year then it doesn't have to happen next year :). We are only 18 inches away from the record so I am hopeful that we will beat it. I've been told that one year we got 60 on one day in April. Not sure if that is true but if it happens again we are sure to beat that record. I'd personally just be content with 18 though :)

OK, it's time to go grab my shovel. Thanks God for this beautiful stuff you created called snow. I know that I will miss it when it is time for us to leave snow country. Thanks also for the reminder that You wash me white as snow.