Two weeks before Christmas, the kids had 2 snow days. Last week we also had 2 snow days plus MLK Day. Snow days have always been a family affair around here. My husband is a former-English-teacher-now-school-administrator. He’s always had the same snow days as the kids. Occasionally, his county will declare a snow day while the kids’ school districts will have only a delayed opening. You would think that the weather wouldn’t be that dramatically different across counties, but it often is. Now that he is an administrator, he often has to report to school for part of a day…but sometimes he can work from home.
Even before the kids were in school, a snow day meant staying in PJs, watching more TV than usual, and drinking lots and lots of hot chocolate. Not much has changed!
My husband learned to drive around here so is used to driving in adverse weather conditions. I learned to drive in the U.S., but grew up in England…the land of no snowfall whatsoever. I recall one snowfall of about 1/2 inch when I was about 12. And yes, we scraped together snow and had a snow ball fight…snow pellet fight? There are a bunch of great sledding hills a very short drive from my house, but since we choose not to drive we sled on an open space in our neighborhood. My daughters have decided that walking to the sledding hill is just not worth the trouble. My son on the other hand loves to go. He could walk there by himself but I like to go with him. Last week, I did a bit of sledding with him. Although the snow was so powdery that my sled sank in to the snow. Me and my sled weren’t going anywhere. My son got a bit further down the hill on his sled.
10 Things To Do on a Snow Day
- Relax — Stay in your jammies!
- Be Active — Go sledding.
- Read — Pick up that book you have wanted to read and actually read it. No excuses. The dishes, laundry, and cleaning can wait.
- Movie Day — Watch a movie or better yet watch MANY movies. When I was pregnant with my son, we were snowed in for about 6 days. The kids watched 101 Dalmatians: Patch’s London Adventure about a million times. I memorized most of the movie. During back-to-back snowfalls about 5 years ago, we watched Home Alone, Unaccompanied Minors, and The Polar Express on a continuous loop. Not a bad way to spend a day!
- Mmmm Food — Cook a pot of soup. Our family’s favorite is potato soup. For hearty fare, we like to make a pot of chili and a pot of rice and eat bowl after bowl.
- Get Busy — Do that project you never have time for. One snowfall, I re-framed all our portraits. Another, I organized school photos. On still another snow day, I started a scrapbook. If you are crafty, gab those knitting needles and knit away!
- Organize — I love organizing rooms, drawers, shelves, closets. I’m never happier than when my frenzied organizing ends with a pile of stuff for the donation pile, a pile of stuff for consignment, a bag for recycling, and a bag of trash.
- Sleep — Babies and toddlers aren’t the only ones who need a nap. When do you have time for a nice snooze…on a snow day of course. So snooze away, EVERYTHING that needs to be done will still be there when you wake up.
- Game Night — My youngest is our game wrangler. He loves playing games. After a snow day, playing a game can be a fun way to unwind after sledding or snowball fights.
- Cleaning — Ugh. I hate to even add this to the list because is there anything less fun than cleaning? But when you are snowed in for a few days, having a few uninterrupted hours to clean means you won’t have to clean when the kids are at school.
What do you do for fun on a snow day?
