Let It Snow! Let It Snow! Let It Snow!

Snow Days

I’m not a winter kind of girl, because I love warm weather, but my idea of a perfect snowy afternoon would be sitting in front of a lovely fireplace surrounded by cats and books.

That is how I spent many snowy afternoons while I was growing up, especially on Sundays.

The roast beef and potatoes for Sunday dinner would bake in the oven. My parents and I would sit in front of our living room fireplace and read. We would occasionally glance up and watch the snow falling outside.

My father would read his magazines: Time, U.S. News and World Report. My mother would read biographies.

I would read my favorite children’s books, usually, old-fashioned books I discovered at my parents’ favorite used bookstore in Morristown, NJ: Understood Betsy, Caddie Woodlawn,  the Melendy series, and many others.

The cats would be purring on the couch, the wonderful scent of food would fill the air, and all would be peaceful.

Sometimes we wouldn’t have roast beef but would roast steaks in the fireplace. We would toast marshmallows in the fireplace for dessert.

I long for those innocent, bygone days sitting in front of the fireplace with my parents.

My father is long gone, and my mother is in a nursing home with Alzheimer’s.

I long for the day I will live in a home with a fireplace again.

You can also read 9 Things That Bring Me Joy.

Written for Mama Kat’s Pretty Much World Famous Writer’s Workshop.