The Best Christmas Present Ever

The first thing I did when I opened my eyes this morning was go to the window near my bed and look outside. Yep, there it was. It had snowed overnight...and it was no little 2-to-4 inch dusting, either. My porch was already half-covered at 7AM. I tried to go back to sleep, but I knew darn well that wasn't going to happen. I was just too excited. I wrote in my journal and watched the whiteness fall with my American Girls dolls Molly and Samantha instead.

Since I got up so early, I had plenty of time after I finally dragged myself out of bed to make Applesauce Muffins and watch snow-related holiday specials. The Applesauce Muffins come from the muffin cookbook my friend Jen Payne in Washington State gave me for Christmas earlier this month. They're pretty simple and very low-fat, made from whole-wheat flour, baking powder, soda, spices, applesauce, canola oil, and a scant 4 tablespoons of brown sugar. (The recipe also called for raisins, but I didn't have any.) They came out moist, spicy, and delicious, a perfect breakfast on a snowy day.

Manor Avenue still hadn't really been plowed by quarter of 10...and it wouldn't have mattered if it had. The snow was coming down so fast, any plowing would have been futile. I didn't want to drag anyone else out in this weather, and I obviously couldn't ride my bike. I just decided to walk to work.

It was the best walk I ever had, going to and from work. It was so magical. Children were out sledding and throwing snowballs on their frosty lawns. Parents ran their noisy snowplows or shoveled their sidewalks. Cars did pass by, but their sounds were oddly muffled in the falling snow.

I was about fifteen minutes late for work, not too bad, considering the weather. At least I got there at all. Not surprisingly, there were quite a few call-outs. We still had enough people there to handle the mostly steady stream of customers buying rock salt, snow shovels, and items for their Christmas baking and the few parties that hadn't been canceled due to the weather.

The Acme had it's Christmas party today, too. Enough peopled showed up that we had plenty to eat - hot roast beef sandwiches, three different kinds of macaroni dishes, Marlene's heavenly baked ziti, my cookies, cupcakes and brownies from the bakery, two kinds of pasta salad. I happily stuffed myself during my break.

The snow continued to fall all day. It wasn't really too bad when I walked to work, but by the time my break had ended, it was nearing blizzard conditions. The store began to clear out. The cashiers who did arrive swapped (mostly) true stories about how we managed to get here. I saw one set of customers with skis in their cart while I was doing returns; they'd skied to the store!

My walk home from work was even more stunning than the walk there. Sure, the snow was coming down harder, and the snow drifts on the Black Horse Pike were half-way to my knees. It was still exhilarating to be walking in snow half-way to my knees in December. Some of the houses hadn't turned on their lights, but the ones who did looked absolutely amazing against the white and blackness of the snow and bare trees. It was like walking through a Christmas card. I walked on the street once I got to Kendall. This had its own problems. The street was packed snow and slippery, especially at Manor Avenue. I slipped and fell once, but I was mere feet from my house, and thankfully I didn't hurt anything.

And the surprises weren't over, even after I got home. There was a package between my front storm door and the regular door when I finally got up the snow-covered stairs and onto what I could see of my porch. It was from my friend Amanda in Vineland. After I'd stripped off my soaked socks and snow-crusted pants and black winter coat and changed into dry clothes, I opened the package to reveal three smaller gifts. Amanda gave me fancy hot chocolate, a cute book of Peanuts Christmas sayings, Christmas Is Together-Time, and a completely adorable Beanie Baby gingerbread girl named Gretel. (Amanda must be on a Peanuts kick - her card was Peanuts-related, too.)

I watched Christmas Eve On Sesame Street and the Rankin-Bass Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer while working on cupcakes for Christmas presents. Dad called after I'd slid the first batch of cupcakes in the oven. He's fine; he just got home from his cruise ship job yesterday. He and his girlfriend Jodie celebrated his arrival by walking to CVS in the snow this morning and thoroughly enjoying it, then spending the rest of the day decorating the house. They'd wanted to buy a Christmas tree, but the trees at the lot near-by were covered.

Forget the Red Ryder BB Gun. Today was the best Christmas gift I've ever received, or could ever receive. I've wanted it to really snow at Christmas since I was a child. After all, my favorite "holiday" song has always been Winter Wonderland. I've always thought we were too far down south, or too close to the water...but sometimes, Mother Nature works in funny ways. Ways that you never expected. And sometimes, the most wonderful presents are the ones that could never be wrapped and put under the tree.

"And if that isn't a true blue miracle, I don't know what one is..."
"True Blue Miracle," Christmas Eve On Sesame Street