Dear Snow,

I love you, really I do. We've had tons of great times, and your presence is speckled throughout my childhood memories. You're an old childhood friend who's never visited me in Portland until now!



I grew up in a small town where getting a foot or three of snow at once was not uncommon (the photo is not a good example of the deep snow, but trust me it happened a lot). My siblings and I had our own personal sled run in the "woods" about 500 yards from my house, and I have packed many a snowball, made many a snowman and built a dozen snowforts complete with secret compartments for storing "ammo." Those were awesome times, snow.

But right now, you and I need to have a talk. I was so excited to see you when you dropped in for a bit last week. It was even more fun when you decided to spend the night on Friday and stuck around for me to take my son on his first sledding trip on Saturday. But let's be real. When you start inviting your discourteous, freezing rain buddies over and make a mess of everything, its really just time to go. You've extended your stay and we just can't host you anymore. In fact, if you keep this up, you're going to keep me and my family from being able to be together on Christmas, and that's just not cool.

So please, let's keep this friendship that we've got going, and take your leave for a little while. You can come back again in January, ok? But next time, leave that freezing rain behind.... got it? He's kind of giving you a bad rap.

I'm glad we talked about this, snow. Thanks for listening.

Update: We all made it to my mother's house safe and sound, and have been thoroughly enjoying the three feet of snow accumulation and icicles on every house....some reaching all the way from the roof to the ground! Pictures soon... Merry Christmas!