As the snow falls and coats the world in a blanket of white...I reminisce. I reminisce about the holidays. About the good times with good people and good food. About all the laughs and the warmest hugs and brightest smiles. About my family. About my Dad.

The holiday season was the best time of the year. Our parents had more time off of work which equated to more time spent with us children which just meant more fun in general.

My sister and I would watch eagerly for the first heavy snowfall. We loved playing outside in the snow. We were led fearlessly through our snowy adventures by our father. He would be outside before we were, shoveling paths for our little legs to follow and getting out every sled we owned from the garage. After trekking across the frozen pond behind our house, we were rewarded with the best hill for sledding. My sister and I would race down the hill, laughing gleefully without a care in the world. We would take turns going down the hill with our Dad because the ride seemed to go by faster when he was on the sled with us. In hindsight, it probably didn’t go faster, but it was just seemed to be more fun when he was there.

After leaving a multitude of tracks across the hill from our adrenaline-filled sledding runs, our dad would pull us in our sleds back across the pond. After a team effort in shoveling, we had cleared off space on the pond for our own ice skating rink! My Dad would even pull out his old skates so he could join us slipping and sliding across the ice. The laughter of amusement after anyone fell was utterly contagious. After hours outside in the cold, it was time to go back inside. We giggled as my father’s glasses fogged up. He would make the best hot chocolate for us and start a real fire in the fireplace for us to warm up to. Christmas music and the scent of fresh pine filtered through our house. As the lights twinkled from the tree we laughed and told our mom about our latest adventures.

Those glorious days of our childhood spent in the snow with my family are golden memories for me. Just like how my father inspired my winter adventures, I can’t wait to inspire and create new holiday memories with children of my own.