The Beauty of a Snowflake

I grew up (mostly) in the Piedmont of North Carolina.  To say that it rarely snows here would be an understatement.  Using both hands I can count the number of times it has snowed enough to make a snowball in my entire life, and I am 26 years old.  As a child, if we got even the smallest of flurries we were nearly guaranteed a snow day.  I think the school board is secretly as excited about the rare snow we get as the children in the district are.  Who can blame them?  We hardly ever get snow, so when we do it's kind of a big deal.

I know many of my readers hale from colder climes and are somewhat jaded by the copious amount of snow they get to see every year.  You probably see so much white stuff that you have lost some of the childlike wonder the rest of us feel when we see snow.

I become a five year old again every time I see a snowflake.  I'm so surprised by these beautiful shimmering flakes falling from the sky that I frequently run outside without a coat and stare at the sky until my face is wet with a giant smile plastered to my face.  When it snows, I see this:

I see (and feel) glitter and magic and wonder.  My yard becomes a fairy paradise and the world sparkles with hope.  If it can snow here...well anything could happen.  It's amazing to me.  These shining, icy flakes are stunning in their simplistic beauty.  I love snow.  I love the way it flutters to the ground like glittering specks of fairy dust.  I love the clean, crisp way it smells.  I love the cool wetness on my cheeks and clinging to my eyelashes. Snow is perhaps one my most favorite things in the world.

It just snowed here.  It is one week before Christmas.  This is the closest I've ever come to a white Christmas. The snow fell for about twenty minutes.  I stood outside and grinned while it lasted.  It's gone now, but that twenty minute flurry made my day.  This little bit of snow is the best Christmas gift I could ever get.  So if you are fortunate enough to get lots of snow, take a minute to see it through my eyes and appreciate the beauty of a snowflake.