Freezing My Grits Off, Y'all

 

We made it through the church Christmas pageant on Sunday evening.  It was really lovely.  Emma played a wonder-filled, humble shepherd while Sophie sparkled as a cherubic angel.  The pageant really was fantastic, but the most awe-inspiring part of it to me was the fact that it happened at all.  I mean there were five inches of snow on the ground.  There were howling winds and even more snow was on the way, and all of these crazy Michiganders trundled off to church (in frilly dresses even) as if it were no big deal.  The North Carolinian in me cried out, "This is so wrong!!  We should all be at home, in our pajamas watching the weather channel... in other words, being sensible... after we clear the super marker shelves of bread and milk, of course."  But that is not what happens here.

After the Christmas pageant, we all piled into the big family vehicle and headed for our local Meijer.  With all of the snow, we obviously needed to buy a few gallons of milk and some Chapstick.  I was shocked to find that at Meijer, it was all "business as usual."  I didn't even have to wrestle an old lady to the ground for the last loaf of bread nor did I need to take off my earrings and start swinging my pocketbook wildly to get near the dairy case.  It was oddly calm.  Shoppers went about their business as usual, and I was left feeling that my wintry shopping experience was a bit anticlimactic.

Midland Public Schools had canceled school for today before our kids even went to bed last night, but we didn't tell them.  We thought it might be more fun for them to wake up and have a morning surprise.  This is a view from our front door today.  Quite beautiful, really...

 

Of course a snow day means hot chocolate, and if you're lucky, your mom might add whipped cream and a little candy cane.  That's when you smile like this... 

Yum!  Happy Snow Day!

(On another occasion I will have a nice rant about how cold it is... 9 degrees Fahrenheit this afternoon!  I really don't know if I'm up for this.  I see fashionable, decorative ski masks in my future.  "Honestly, I'm not here to rob you.  I'm just from down South.")