I don’t think I’ve ever seen a school shut down for any reason other than snow and Covid. After having grown up in Chicago where the wind-chill could easily drop temperatures to something more closely resembling forty below… I was overtaken by a case of the giggles when I received a text message from Nikolai’s school that read something like this:
“Due to extreme weather changes, we have decided to delay the school day by two hours this morning. Please drop off students before 9:20 AM. School bus schedules will continue on a normal schedule just on a two hour delay.”
I sat staring at my phone screen trying to figure out what I was missing. Had it snowed over night? I checked the window and stared out at my driveway. No snow. Was the temp outside that outrageous? I pulled up the weather application on my home screen. Twenty three degrees was the low but it only lasted for an hour and the day was calling for sunshine and clear skies. The school couldn’t possibly be on a two hour delay over a hair below freezing. Could it?! Apparently so! Not a single snowflake to be seen and yet we all got to sleep in because… it was a little cold in Georgia.
By this time I was having fits of laughter. The only time my school in Chicago shut down was if the streets were so full of snow and ice that the plows didn’t have the ability to handle bailing everyone out right away. Even then, at the most it lasted a day… maybe two and we were right back at it as soon as possible. Most of the time school resumed even when our parents thought the roads were still too dangerous.
For fear of an unexcused absence, as kids we waited to be loaded up onto busses. We spent a lot of time waiting at the bus stop in temperatures fit for living in Alaska while blowing hot air into our gloves to heat up frozen fingers. School hallways were covered in muddy icicles that got kicked around. Most of us wore the same fluffy snow boots and snow pants to school multiple days in a row to help us stay warm. Our hair was frizzy from our snow hats and our lockers would barley close but we were there to learn!
More recently I got a weather report on my phone calling for 2-3 inches of snow and ice in North Georgia possibly by this Sunday. I have only seen it snow once on our little farm but it was a magical sight. Snow in Georgia is usually gone by the late afternoon but it’s balmy and delightful instead of bitter cold like it is in Illinois. I’d happily take a snow day to watch Nikolai’s cheeks turn pink as we spend the morning making snow angels and snow men together. I’ve been dying to make him some snow ice cream this year! I’d also happily take an extra two hours of sleep over trying to back down my driveway in the dark to get Nikolai to school in the morning. I am hopefully optimistic that we may get this privilege once more.
Our Easy Homemade Snow Ice Cream Recipe:
Add snow to a bowl
Add milk but only until the snow is packable or a tick more soupy
Toss in a splash of vanilla
Add sugar to taste
Everpine Forest & Farm 