Could it be, could it be winter?

It appears that this streak of the world's lamest winter has perhaps been broken by a beautiful New Year's Eve snow. It is gorgeous. One of the things I love most about Minnesota is the snow. Having to wait until New Year's Eve in order to get our first measurable snow fall is like waiting until July for the daffodils to bloom. It's all wrong.

My kids, who have spent most of their lives suffering in a practically winterless Arkansas, could not wait to get out and sled. When the snow had merely frosted the grass, there they were in sleds. We're supposed to get up to 5 inches.

The first snow of the year makes for ugly snowmen. Unless you let it snow a lot, the rolling of the large snowballs presses into the grass underneath the snow and it picks up all loose grass and the leaves you should have raked back in October. However, the novelty of it all overshadows the ugliness.