first snow

Ah, the month of November!  When it's finally cold enough to snow!  I often hear people complaining about the snow here in Cache Valley, but I have to be honest...by the time it finally snows for the first time, I'm so ready and so excited!  Snow means blankets, hot chocolate, fireplaces, good books, snuggling, popcorn, Christmas movies, snowball fights, igloos, snow angels and snowmen, sweaters and knee-high socks and the beautiful sight of those microscopic crystalline wonders of nature known as snowflakes. 
The amazingness of the first snow happened just last week.  There is something totally magical about the first snow of the season, something that is never duplicated any other time it snows.  I love the first snow, and I have a few reasons for loving it as much as I do. 
The first reason is that it simply signifies the ending of one season and the beginning of the next.  Don't get me wrong, I absolutely love autumn--it's my favorite season--but by the time it snows, I'm so excited for winter that I'm absolutely ready for fall to be on its way.  Especially this year, where we had a lovely, long fall where all the leaves changed color and fell before it snowed.
The second reason I love the first snow so much is that it means it's time to pull out all my knee high socks!  Don't ask me why I love knee high socks so much, because that's one thing I've never been able to explain even to myself, but I truly do love them.
And the final reason that the first snow is so purely excellent is the complete silence that falls over the whole world, and when you go outside it's like you're in your own private little bubble of hushed atmoshpere with little puffs of white coldness floating slowly down from the sky like tiny frozen feathers.
Friends, we have entered the season of snow.  Here's hoping we can all enjoy its beauty today, tomorrow and as long as it lasts.