If you ever want to see a region of happy people acting like children on Christmas morning, regardless of age, travel South during a rare snow storm! I am one of those happy people at the moment! But I have to admit that all this snow joy has left me a little sleepy today because I was unable to get much sleep last night. Really, who can sleep when you have, as one friend described it, snow flakes the size of fajita shells falling outside? When I did finally fall asleep, I had nightmares. I dreamed that the snow had melted in the middle of the night! Thankfully, my nightmares did not come true and I woke up to 10 inches of beautiful snow.
SUPERSNOW SUNDAY
The sleet started yesterday afternoon around three but the preparations started a couple of days ago with the excitement building as we got closer to the predicted time of snowfall. The atmosphere in Krogers yesterday felt like a holiday quickly approaching as people hurried to grab the last few needed items. People were talking about the same thing, planning on cooking the same food, and just had that excited energy that said something big was about to happen. This weekend had the same type of preparation and anticipation as SuperBowl Sunday has, provoking me to playfully name yesterday SuperSnow Sunday.
BREAD AND MILK
We, as Americans, know there are a few items you have to have for SuperBowl Sunday. You must have a hearty dish prepared, usually chili. A variety of chips and dips are available. Desserts are usually cookies so that you can pick up and eat as you watch the game. And of course, beer is readily available in most homes for the big game.
We, as Southerners, know what you have to have for SuperSnow Sunday - bread and milk. Yuck. Why are the two necessary items that quickly disappear off the shelves of any Southern grocery store so bland? I can think of a lot of other foods I would like to have if I am snowed in. Sure, bread and milk are fine but those two items alone sound awful. Can't we have something more exciting? Even the weatherman asked the viewers to please leave him a gallon of milk and bread, multigrain please! He knew that as he predicted the snow, Southerners were running out the door to grab their bread and milk!
At my house, we got our bread and milk but we also bought a variety of other foods too. We made chili and baked pumpkin bread. We also have a few items available in case the power went out like chocolate and chips. Afterall, an emergency like a blizzard calls off all diets! And of course, we made sure to stock up on snow wine. In case you don't know, snow wine is wine you drink when it is snowing outside. This is the same wine you drink when it is not snowing outside but you just don't get to call it snow wine on those days.
SNOW DAYS, CARDBOARD SLEDS, AND SNOWMEN
A few other necessary requirements for a Southern snow storm are days off, cardboard sleds, and snowmen. Our northern friends...bless their hearts....they think we do not know how to drive in the snow. I am going to let you in on a little Southern secret: we could drive in the snow if we wanted to do so. We just have chosen to not tell our emergency officials this little bit of information. We are smart and gladly accept the free day off from work. To my yankee friends, you may want to stop bragging about your snow driving skills because you are only hurting yourself by having to go work when you could be home like us!
As for cardboard sleds and snowmen, you will see us out early in the day (if we ever went inside at all) to take advantage of the rare snow. We are inventive, using whatever will slide us down a hill as a sled. Usually we have to use cardboard boxes because like snowplows, sleds just don't exist in the south as we would never use them. So our children gladly slide their way to a variety of injuries on homemade, unsafe toys! 
I did not get the chance to slide down a hill today but I did spend the morning creating my snowwoman. I wish it snowed more often because there is something very gratifying about rolling a big ball of snow around. But then again if snow was a regular occurence, I guess I would not appreciate it as much. Also, if snow was a common part of our winters, our emergency officials would most likely purchase snowplows. Then we would lose our snow days because we would be driving to work like our northern friends. With all those factors in mind, I will gladly take my rare snow day that shuts the South down for a day or two so we can all play. Happy Snow Day Y'all!
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