For the first time in weeks, I felt as if I had had a good night’s sleep. I was excited to actually have a weekend at home that brought the promise of Halloween activities along with it. When I opened my eyes from my peaceful slumber, I was in for quite a surprise.
As I would on a frosty winter morning, I rushed to the window, thrilled at what I saw. There were snowflakes floating in the air and the ground was sparkly white. It was October 29th and we had snow.
If you’re reading this from, say, Colorado, I’m sure this is nothing special, but for a resident of Pennsylvania, snow isn’t usually seen until the end of December.
Once I got over the initial shock, I changed into my flannel Christmas pajamas, grabbed my Santa hat, and rushed downstairs to greet my parents with a rendition of “Let it snow! Let it snow! Let it snow!” My parents laughed and we all gazed out the window at the snow gently coating the trees and recently changed leaves.
The morning was spent like any good snow day- in the kitchen with my mom, making breakfast and listening to Christmas songs. As I ate my pancakes, I laughed at the sight of the Halloween decorations next to the frosted window. This was all so surreal.
Later that afternoon, we continued our kitchen adventures with Halloween cookies and cupcakes. I had to pull out 20 different Christmas sprinkle jars until I finally found orange.
We also carved our pumpkin, which wasn’t in the best shape after sitting in the snow for hours. I wanted to do something clever and Disney, and soon enough, the idea hit me! I had to do Orange Bird! Unfortunately, I did not have a test pumpkin and my idea didn’t work as well as I’d hoped, but it still somewhat resembled my little citrus friend! Next year, though, I’ll remember to carve simply his face and add another green leaf to his stem.
This day was more confused than I was- it had no idea what we were celebrating. There was only one logical way to end it. We had to watch The Nightmare Before Christmas. That movie has always been a favorite of mine. The music and animation are equally superb and it combines two of my favorite holidays (kind of like this day did).
October 29 was not just a snow day or Halloween or somewhere in between. It was a chance for me to regain my spirits that I had lost over the past few weeks. I had hit a wall of anxiety and exhaustion, but as always, a day devoted to magic, family bonding, and food brought me back to my center. The snow may have seemed like Mother Nature’s trick, but overall, it provided me with a Hallo-Christmas-ween holiday treat.
Faith, trust, and pixie dust,
Lindsay
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