Day 17 – Big Merch Bundle
Our new original song and video will be up in a few hours … there’s just some final touches needed before it’s time to render and upload it! (UPDATE: THE VIDEO IS NOW LIVE!)
Once it’s ready, you will find it on the Clubhouse page and we’ll also send it to you in today’s MLT Club Wire (our weekly newsletter here in the Club) – probably during the evening time here in the UK. The video will stay in Early Access for all members for a few days before it is going to go live on our main YouTube channel for everyone to watch!
But while you wait … here is today’s Advent Calendar video! Today’s Giveaway is a big merch bundle including a T-shirt, towel, hat and more, so good luck to all of you who decide to take part by leaving a comment!
Day 17 – Merch Bundle (2 Winners)
We will give away 2 bundles of various merch which will include:
- A T-shirt of your choice
- An ORANGE hat
- A beach towel
- A lanyard
- A patch
- Two magnets (ORANGE & Live design)
How to enter:
Comment: What are your first memories of snow?
Prize:
Merch Bundle (2 Winners, one set each)
Good luck for tomorrow and congrats to today’s winners!
Mona & Lisa
Yes, tis more of a Canadian thing , the sugar bushes and maple syrup in the snow taffy…went on a school field trip to a sugar bush, enjoy both the maple sugar leaf shape, the syrup, and Taffy in snow, ….????????????????
I was so small it seemed like a dream when I was dressed in some warm cloths and taken outside and basically was let go to do whatever I wanted to do. Other kids in the neighborhood was playing and enjoying the snow but I was fixated on one thing. There must have been a small leak in a water line and it had frozen solid like a tiny skating rink that was crystal clear. Of course I had to walk on it and slipped and fell. It was worth it!!!
one of my first memory of the snow was getting ready for school and my mother putting me in a snowsuit and looking like Ralhie’s little brother in the movie “A Christmas Story” lol
My first memory of snow was going downtown with my mother on the bus for Christmas shopping and the snow began falling when we arrived. It was like a magical moment and was both exciting and heartwarming. I will not forget it all of these years later.
Hi dear twins, in the past there were more snow in winter. I remember, we went always
with our slides to school and after school downhill in the mountains
COOL My firsttimewith snow wasin the early60 on winter holiday inThüringen
Hi Mona, hi Lisa, I remember my first adventure with snow in the winter of 1948 when I was 4 years old. It was a cold and snowy winter and I had to go one day with my mother to the neighboring place for shopping. I lived in a small village in Northern Germany near Hamburg that time. The road was high covered with snow and we had to find our way through the snow. It was very tiring but we made it.
PS. Mona you said yesterday about the film “Dinner. for one” it was a British production.That´s not true. It was a German production from the NDR (Norddeutscher Rundfunk Hamburg) of the year 1961 with two British actors and it was first released in Germany 1963 under the title “Der 90. Geburtstag”.
My first memory was building a snowman with my father complete with coal for eyes and a carrot for the nose.
My most memorable time though was being amazed at the amount of snow when going to watch biathlon at Ruhlpolding in Germany and also how well everyone coped with that amount of snow. Some places in England struggle to cope with just a couplle of inches of snow.
Making snow huts in the side of huge snow plies
Turning my head towards the sky and trying to eat it!!!
Walking to school with plastic bags over my shies so my feet stayed dry and the cat seeing snow for the first time…
I remember being shown how to make a snowman at the age of three or four. Feeling the cold temperature, and seeing everything covered in snow was very surprising.
Living in South Florida there wasn’t much of a chance to see snow falling out of our own sky so we had to travel to see it. My sister and I decided to travel to Ohio in 1977 just after Christmas and stay with some friends we knew from childhood who had relocated. We didn’t have to wait long after arriving to finally see the frozen rain. It was a novelty that we enjoyed but it was such a cold dry snow we couldn’t really get it to stick together very well for snow balls and a snow man but did our best. I remember better after the cold front going through that caused it to snow, the temperature dropping to -5 degrees Fahrenheit better with a 20 mph wind that froze my face whenever stepping outside to explore. Since the house we stayed in had been an old tavern and Inn from the early 1800s I think I enjoyed the way the place was built nearly 200 years ago and learning how living there was like since there hadn’t been many modern upgrades to the place when they bought it. Another treat watching the frost form on the windows, blowing my hot breath on it to melt the frost and watch it reform in all kinds of ornate and fern like patterns. This old place wasn’t terribly air tight and stayed pretty cold inside so we spent most of our time feeding wood into a pot bellied stove all day long and staying close by it or buried under 3 blankets in bed. For native Floridians it was a frosty experience I’ll never forget. We went back the next year for Christmas and by then they had made enough improvements to the house to make it easier to keep the house warmer and didn’t have to spend so much time feeding logs into the pot belly stove to stay toasty warm and had more time to entertain ourselves with board games, cooking and baking and skating on their frozen pond.
Living in Minne”snow”ta (Minnesota) all my life, we’ve always had snow in the winter. I guess my earliest memory of snow was making a snowman when I was little with my siblings. We put all of our strength into making the biggest snowman on the block, and it was about 8 feet tall when we finished it. I guess I don’t remember a time when we didn’t have snow for Christmas.
Hello, Mona and Lisa!
I live in East Kazakhstan, it’s hot here in summer, and there’s always a lot of snow in winter. And cold.
I was born in autumn, but I don’t remember my first winter :).
I was probably three years old, and I remember that my parents and I went to visit, I went sledding. It was that late night but the moon was shining on the white snow, and that made this night light. The snow sparkled. Snow lay on the rooftops, and yellow lights burned in the windows. The shadows were blue.It was very beautiful. I was happy.
Moved from California to Kansas when we were young. You’d think, Kansas, middle of the country, can’t really snow there. You would be wrong. First memory was a Christmas gift of skis, wooden skis. This was many, many years ago. The skis were pint sized for little boys and girls. It just so happens that it snowed several feet in the days leading up to Christmas with several feet still on the ground on Christmas. Couldn’t wait to get the skis on and take em for a spin. One ski immediately fell off – at the top of the hill – and the remaining ski twisted to the side of my foot. I tripped and fell plunging headfirst into a two-foot drift. Sixty years later I still haven’t put on another pair of skis. Enough about me. I got a huge kick out of your snow tunnel memory. Very cute. The two of you are so upbeat and genuinely enjoy what you are doing and SO giving of yourselves. You are a real treasure.
By the way: I have taken to having a cup of tea while I watch your advent videos. So, Mona, try Earl Grey, hot. You’ll like it. Stay away from that stuff that Lisa tried to get you to drink.
I don’t know snow that well, but I did see it once when I was a kid. It was nice, cold, and beautiful. Some made a small snow man like you did in your video.
I’m on camp Mona with the Chamomile tea. I can definitively relate to the conversation:
????
I grew up in Buenos Aires, and it doesn’t snow there. Winter gets below freezing sometimes, but it doesn’t snow. The first time I saw snow was at 14 (1982) when I went on a winter break to my great uncle’s tea house in southern Argentina, San Martin de los Andes, which is close to a ski resort. That was a very memorable visit for me, since I met my storied great uncle for the first and only time. He was a pilot for the RAF in WW II and had been shot down and a POW for a year. He also loved to to climb and had climbed most of the peaks in the area (southern Andes) some for the very first time.
I have a picture of him and me together, which I hope I can find to share.
Here’s a picture of the tea house in winter and summer when it was first built.
I remember my mom bundling me into my snowsuit and sending me out to play when I was 3 or 4 years old.
We always had lots of snow in Wisconsin.I didn’t mind the cold and snow at that age.
First I want to say thank you for your Christmas Card. That was delightfully unexpected! My first remembrance of snow is when I was about six or seven and my older brother and sister was teaching me how to make Snow Angels! It was a time of being carefree and innocence. Continue to stay groovy, young ladies, and keep the music playing!
I usually have a good memory, but this question confronts me with a curious fact: I really have no idea! I do remember, however, how we had to sleep in the living room near the coal stove, being the only source of heat in the Winter of 1963. Even the Northsea was frozen near the coast, but I was not aware of it as a 3-year old. No doubt I must have noticed that white stuff everywhere outside. I have more vivid memories of a few years later when we had fun with our sled and making a snowman.
I was born in the San Francisco bay area. Needless to say the nearest snow was hours away. My first real snow experience that I can remember was when I was 5 and my parents decided to drive to my Grandparents for Christmas. They lived in Ponca City, Oklahoma. The most exciting experience I remember from that trip was sledding down the hill so fast on a Flexible Flyer!
In my childhood here in Denmark, it was very normal with snow during much of the winter.
What I remember best, is that the knitted mittens, quickly got very wet when making snowballs.
I remember when I was about 4 or 5 Oklahoma City got a really heavy snow storm. My uncle and my parents took us kids to the fairgrounds. He tied a sled to the bumper of his 57 Chevy. We would take turns riding on the sled with my mother holding us. It was one of my fondest memories of snow. Now that I have to drive in it I hate it. Lol. Peace be
I grew up in Southern California so we knew nothing about snow. My first experience with snow came when my father packed all five of us kids into our car and drove us up into the mountains (a four trip, one way). We played in the snow in shorts and t-shirts building snowmen. Needless to say, our feet and hands froze as we were unprepared for the cold in our SoCal attire.
never say never ladies. while not my first this is one of my more memorable rememberences. in 1989 i took my family to what i thought would be a warm christmas vacation in disney world. but on christmas eve we were in epcot and there was real snow. flurries and only for a little while but snow.
My first memory of snow must be from when I was around three years old, in the mid 1950s. My family visited my grandparents in their New York City apartment. It snowed heavily so we decided to stay the night. To me, this was a grand adventure. I sat by the window, watching the snow mount against the window on the fire escape, as my mother and grandmother told stories of big New York snow storms during the late 1800s and early 1900s.
I lived on the plains of eastern Montana in the US as a a child (4 to 7 years old). During the winters, the wind would blow the snow into deep drifts that covered the bottom floor of our two story house. One time the house was covered so deep front and back after a blizzard one of my older brothers had to climb out of an upstairs window, slide to the ground, and dig a path to the front door so the rest of the family could get out! Most of the time it was better. We’d often go outside on windy days with two coats and a sled and use one coats as a sail to glide down the street. Maybe not a smart thing to do, but fun!
I may have built snowmen first, but I really remember making snow forts and having snowball battles. We had our gloves/mittens clipped to an elastic band that ran inside our coat sleeve from one sleeve through to the other.
The representatives of the Mona Lisa Twins, YES? LOL! I was born way south in Texas not far from South Padre Island and smack dab in the Rio Grande Valley. We left and came to Colorado when I was 7. I was just starting 2nd grade so our first winter was magical for me, even if I had to walk 5 miles in the snow to school, LOL I’m kidding!! Here in Colorado, we can get some huge amounts but usually it will snow and clear up the next day, at least here in the valley, so my first snow man was a treat. Anyone skiing yet? My mother always told me she walked 5 miles in the snow to school with snow up to her waste, Huh? I think she was kidding.
I grew up in Northern Virginia where we usually received one or two significant snowfalls every winter. The street in front of my house was on a fairly steep hill that was perfect for sledding, especially after several cars drove up the hill to pack the snow. My friends and I would spend hours sledding – especially fun if school was canceled! As a teenager, our sledding parties would go late into the evenings, sometimes with a bonfire at the top of the hill to warm your hands after each run.
When I was a young lad, our elementary school class visited a Maple Sugar “Farm” in the dead of the winter. We saw how the maple trees were tapped and the syrup collected, and boiled down. The greatest moment was dipping into this elixer and throwing spoonfuls into the snow. Instantly, it solidified into maple candy we all scrambled for.
I was born on december 23rd 1969 n grew up in montreal quebec in Canada . On december 28th of that year we were hit by the snowstorm of the century with over 30 inches (70cm) of snow n I remember lots n lots of snow . Playing hockey outside til my toes were frostbitten ,building snowmans with my 3 sisters, snowball fights all day with my childhood friends . This year hardly no snow here n im not sure if we are gonna get a white christmas at all.
Grew up in a desert where it never showed.
Almost never.
When I was in second grade, my class was hard at work on our studies when our teacher got a phone call from the office. She excitedly told us all to calmly leave our seats and go to the window to watch the snow fall.
The rest of the period was a loss, as all of us were excited for recess, so we could actually play in the snow. However, by that time, the minor flurry had stopped, and all of it had melted . We were so disappointed!
Growing up in central Florida we never got snow there. However, my parents were from New York state and we vacationed there at times to visit relatives. One trip while I was still a youngster, was during the winter and I remember walking on snow through a forest with our cousin. Eight years ago I moved to the mountains of New Mexico and now get snow every winter. I still enjoy it!
I live just outside St. Louis MO. I remember staying outside so long I was crying because my fingers and toes hurt so bad.
5years ago I bought my own house and my first winter everytime it snowed we got 2ft of snow every storm and it took me 6hrs to shovel my driveway
i grew in south Texas and we never had any real snow, so my first experience was over Christmas when I was eleven years old and we visited relatives in upstate New York and we got to go sledding and my dad took us out into the country so we could see deep snow. While we were looking at a field a farmer came up in his snow mobile and my dad explained to him this was the first time we had ever seen real snow and the farmer gave my brother and I a ride on his snow mobile, and I will never forget that, back in 1969. BTW your new song is a beautiful song and very much your style, keep up the super work.
I was born and raised in Salt Lake City, Utah (home of the 2002 Winter Olympics). I have several memories of making a snow man with my grandmother as early as 3 years old. I adored her. Those memories will always be so precious because I lost her to cancer when I was thirteen.
Not a lot of snow where I grew up, so most of my memories of snow revolve around my niece, who was born in New Jersey and moved to North Central Texas later. She always wishes for snow every winter to which I suggest a visit up north would be welcomed by all for her. I even send her pictures of the snow after it melts and forms nasty muddy slush. I refer to it as snow poop for her.
I tried to find a photo album of pictures that my mom took of me as a little boy experiencing snow for the first time, but without success so the hunt continues. Meanwhile, I thought you might enjoy seeing pictures of Colorado snow on my patio and around my house (the buffalo are in a nearby park). As a bonus, in honor of Mona and Lisa and they’re beautiful song “Songbird” I included a picture of a little songbird (a hummingbird) that visited my house. I hope you enjoy seeing them.
It’s so long ago that I can remember a lot of first time snow. I have had memories of sledding, making tunnels, & freezing my butt off. There was 1 year it snowed as late as May 3.
I was 5 or 6 years old, and I went in the car with my father. When I got out there were snow ruts from tires which were mesmerizing walking over them.
William Hauslein
The earliest must be our dad towing me and my younger sisters, who are twins, on a sleigh through the meadows. And of course building a snowman in the garden afterwards!
I remember a photo of me when I was a baby. My mom and dad where building a cabin at Huntington Lake, California in the Sierra Mountains in November. It started snowing really hard, but my parents wanted to finish the floor of the cabin, no walls or roof yet. So they bundled me up nice and warm and put me in a picnic basket so I could watch them. They said I was having a great time watching the snow fall.
My earliest memory was moving to a house when I was 3 1/2 years old. That winter we had a lot of snow and I would have been about 4 years old. My mom and dad pulled a scoop shovel around the yard and my younger brother and I would take turns sitting on the scoop. Sometimes the corners were a bit sharp and we would fly off face first into the snow. We actually have Super-8 movie footage of this. My parents are now in their eighties and it is hard for me to imagine them running around in the snow pulling two little boys on a scoop shovel.
My first snow related memory comes from 1961, when it snowed enough to stick to the ground and accumulate enough to build a snow man AND have a snowball fight!. I live in the Houston, Texas area, which here in this area snow is pretty rare, so for a five-year-old who had only seen snow on television or in the movies, it was quite exciting!
I live in Minnesota, when I was a child we used to get so much more snow, I don’t remember what memory is actually my first. There were many snow forts, snow slides and slides through tunnels. The most memorable event, and I have no idea how old I was. We had a really large snow fall, the drifts were 3/4 way up all the doors, and I was the youngest and the smallest family member. So Dad bundled me up in hat, mittens and boots got me all psyched up to dig out the front door. Dropped me out a second story window, tossed me a large plastic bowl to use as a shovel. I cleared out the front door so my older brothers and my dad could get out of the house. Then my brothers spent most of the day shoveling snow off the sidewalks around the house and dad used the snow blower to clear out the drive way. The snow was way too deep for the snow blower, so dad cleared the first path about 16 inches (40cm), he would back up, then I broke the snow down into the opening he had just made for the snow blower to throw it. I remember it took us the whole day to clear the drive way. For a normal snow fall of 8 inches (20cm) or less it usually only would take 2 hours.
My first memory of snow was when I was about 6 or 7 and I had a small black mutt of a dog named Baasheba that was extremely fluffy about the size of a small beagle. We were playing outside in a massive drift of snow.
I’ve lived in Connecticut in the northeast US all my life, and I remember having a lot more winter snowfall when I was a child than in recent years, though maybe that’s because it made a bigger impression on me. My recollection is that ALL of our Christmases used to be white back then. My earliest memories/impressions are probably going shopping with my parents in our town one evening when it started snowing, and between the snow and the Christmas lights and decorations the entire main street of our town turned into something magical. I also remember the first time my mom took me outside to play in the snow, and helped me build a snowman. We didn’t have any old scarves or clothing to dress it in other than one of her skirts, so the snowman became a snow-woman! Sadly she melted within a day or two.
My early years were spent in the southern United States where we never had snow. But one day snow began falling and since it was such a rare occurrence we were allowed to leave our classrooms to frolic in the snow. It didn’t last long but it made a huge impression on me – I was 8 years old I believe. A good memory of long ago. Merry Christmas all!!!
Both looking on point today ladies ????
First real memory was walking to school in the snow and then finding it was shut as teachers couldn’t get in ????????♂️ Was a great snow day with snowball fights and snowman building (something we don’t get many of here in the
???? ????????) #GrooviusMaximus
My first memory of snow (in Birmingham UK) is of my school being closed, as that would be something that would stick in my mind. I also remember wearing hand knitted scarves, balaclava helmets, and gloves that were connected together by wool that went through the arms of my coat (so that I wouldn’t lose them).
We drove way out into the forest to pick out a Christmas tree one morning right after heavy snowfall.
Living in Adelaide and hating the cold, I have no direct experience of snow, so no memories for me 🙁
I remember as a kid growing up in Maryland in the 50’s & 60’s the winters we’re a lot colder & much more snow than in today’s world. Because the days we’re colder the snow would last a lot longer. Me and my brother would build snow huts(igloos) & grab some scattered rugs from the house & place them inside all the snow huts. We usually forgot to bring them inside & when spring came & the huts would begin to melt there would be my mom’s rugs scattered all over the yard.
Probably walking to school when I was in kindergarten. The fun times were sledding down the big hill by our house with my good friend !
I remember when I was young that snow in the UK used to fall quite heavily compared to the sprinkling of recent times. 6 foot snowdrifts and living in a hilly area in the countryside meant we could go sledging, tunnel under the snow similar to being in an igloo. Communities were cut off so everyone looked out for each other in our tiny village, we spent a lot of time playing in the snow until our fingers were numb and our toes we could no longer feel until they started to warm up then they were painful with chilblains.
I loved where we lived so beautiful and picturesque, I wished I had photographs to remind myself of the lovely scenery around me.
Well, I don’t recall my first snow memory, but like you, I enjoyed digging tunnels and building snow forts whenever there was enough snow. Sledding/tabbogganing was always fun, too! Not to mention building snowmen! One year, when I got on the school bus, which drove back in our long lane to pick me up, several of the kids on the bus heralded me for the awesome snowman and snow woman in my front yard. Clueless, since I had nothing to do with it, I was flabbergasted when I saw what they were referring to: Someone had constructed very graphic, anatomically correct naked snow people at our lane entrance! Yeesh! That was tough to live down! Never did find out who did it, but they were gone by the time I got home from school; thankfully, my parents had discovered them, too.
When I was 16 I spent a week at Mt Hotham in Victoria on our school ski trip. It was one of the best weeks of my life!
Growing up in Southern California, we never had any snow near the beach. As a kid, my father would take us to the San Bernardino Mountains. Crestline, Lake Arrowhead and Big Bear to “play in the snow” for the day
My first memory of snow is walking to school during a snow storm.
I remember the snow was so high I could walk over the fence in the backyard
UK Winter of 1981-82 where there was snow on the ground in December 1981 followed by the Blizzard if January 1982. In the latter the snow was several feet high and it lasted a few weeks.
I remember I was 7 years old and a few days before Christmas and we had an 8 inch snow and my mother gave me a sled and she said it was supposed to be my Christmas present but she gave it to me early because of the big snow!
Sorry, I mean “Doppelpunkt”…
There was a lot of snow in my youth and the winters were very cold: (this is a colon – one for MONA and one for LISA????).
Today this is not that way. At that time it was so cold that the windows were frozen inside the apartment. In the bedroom you could see your breath. In the morning you were looking forward to the already heated coal furnace. We children drove with our ski over the field in the forest and had a lot of fun. It was a very nice time with a lot of snow.
We lived out in the country, but there weren’t any good sledding hills on our property. Whenever we got a big snow, mom would get us ready to go outside and dad would drag us around on a big piece of plywood hooked to the back of the farm tractor. So my earliest snow memories are mostly of Vaseline, splinters, and carbon monoxide.
My first memory of snow was when it snowed over the new year. We had my Aunt Uncle and Cousin still her after Christmas. It was so deep they could not get home.
I had to walk to school, which was really hard as I was only 6. It was freezing cold.
What made it worse was my cousin who could not get home, did not have to go to school but I did. I wasn’t happy. I do love snow though. If I have nowhere to go.
Here in Finland snow is so common (At least it used to be, Winter 2019-2020 was the first winter in my lifetime when here in Southern Finland wasn´t snow at all.) that is impossible to say what is my very first memory of it. But one of the first ones is definitely the one where I was learning to ski. I used to ski a lot younger but the army and their lousy skis killed my interest to it. I haven´s ski since the army.
I don’t remember my first snow but we used to build snow tunnels too as well as snow forts. We don’t get as much snow as we used to where I am in N.Y. (Mid Hudson Valley), we would get 2-4 feet of snow quite often back in the 60’s and 70’s. We get occasional big snows but not like the good old days. Climate change is really changing things in a big way. As kids we used to huddle around the radio in the morning hoping to hear our school get cancelled for the day!
I remember when me,my sister and two brothers and all our friends in our neighborhood went sledding down this huge hill at night time when it was snowing it was one of the best times we ever had even all of our parents was out having fun with us.
We get very little snow in the city in central New Mexico, But when we finally did, I remember my Dad (a car mechanic) got an inner tube and a rope out of the garage and pulled my sister and I up and down the road behind our car. It was cold and VERY scary…but FUN!
I can’t remember my first encounter with snow . But I remember an incredible snow storm in 1978/1979. It was new years eve and i drove with my step dad on the highway. On the news on the car radio it was said that in the north of the netherlands the snow piled up to two meters. At that time the temperature on the highway was 10 degrees C ABOVE zero. We couldn’t believe the news. But later the same day the storm hit us with full force. The snow blew horizontally through the streets .I’ve never seen so much snow fall in such short time. On new yearsday temperatures plummited to minus 17. For you I hope the snowwiil fall in England
As a child in Kansas back in the 70’s I can remember we use to get a lot of snow every year I still have fond memories of sledding and snow ball fights. Now we don’t see near that much snow so kids may only get one chance a year to actually go sledding
My earliest memory of snow, as I told my kids, was walking 5 miles to school in 3 feet of snow during a blizzard. The story will be 5 feet of snow for the grandkids. Truthfully, what I remember are some great snowball fights, snow forts and sled ridding.
I live near Boulder, Colorado (was born in Boulder) and we get snow every year (though this year so far not much), we will get 3 or 4 inches and it’s usually gone in a couple of days. It’s nice that it doesn’t hang around very long. When I was in grade school the city would close off 7th street for about 3 blocks (if we got a big snow) so we could sled down it. There was always a parent with a truck to take us and our sleds back to the top. We had 90 mile per hour winds a couple of days ago, which happens every so often this time of year. Not fun!! Being it this club has been a real joy. Thank You Mona and Lisa and all your helpers.
First of all, thank you ladies for the Christmas card – it came in the mail today!
When I was young a strong wind blew snow into a hedge row of trees. We could climb up the snow and be high (to us) in the trees.
I don’t recall my very earliest memory of snow although I do remember lots of tunneling under the snow when I was a young child. My most vivid early memory is from the blizzard that struck Southwestern Ontario in January 1971. The snowbanks were nearly up to the eaves of our house! My father was a high school teacher and many students were stranded at the school because the storm struck after classes had begun for the day. Students who had been bussed in from the surrounding rural areas had no way to get home. My dad brought two of his students home to stay with us for the three days the storm lasted. As children, we thought that this was grand fun to have two teenagers staying with us! And when we were finally allowed to go outside, what fun it was to climb the banks and tunnel through them! A second, even worse, blizzard struck in 1977. I was in high school by then and we had several days off school. Winters seem tame now by comparison.
In color
Other than just random still-image memories, the first I can really remember is when I was 9. We had an ice storm first that took out power city-wide, then the snow fell on a 1-inch layer of ice. No power anywhere for over a week. We all huddled in our neighbor’s house because they had a wood stove. But that year we build igloos in the yard and slept in them for fun. The craziest thing? It happened again the next year. Two years in a row! Never before or since. At least the second year we already knew the drill.
When living in Illinois for a short time, my siblings thought it a fine idea to put their toddler brother on a sled and see if I could steer it without hitting a tree and knocking myself out. Failed!
While I don’t exactly remember this day, apparently I was trying to quit smoking but was having little success. 😉
In 1967 we had a very large blizzard in Michigan. One where high winds created huge drifts. I was 5 at the time and I remember when my dad opened the front door, a drift covered the whole doorway. It was so smooth except for the imprint of the doorknob in the wall of snow. Shoveling our way out wasn’t as fun.
My main memories are from walking to school as the route was via a public park with a large boating lake in the middle. The lake would be frozen (not good for the swans) and there was quite a lot of snow all along the journey. In those days school was never cancelled due to the weather which is not the case nowadays! As we live at the top of a hill it was always tricky walking on the icy pavements and roads. At home we would build snowmen with a carrot for the nose! A Christmas tradition I have is to read the Agatha Christie short story “The Adventure of the Christmas Pudding” which is so evocative of Christmas with the snow being a large part of the story.
My office had some girls from India visiting and when they saw snow out the window they all rushed out to see what it felt like as they had never experienced it before.
Today was the first day of my Christmas holiday so I don’t need to get up in the dark mornings to go to the office for a few weeks. Good news. So I put the Christmas tree up along with all the decorations. I even managed to get the moon in the picture as well as my favorite Christmas album! All I need now is a MLT cover of Bad Moon Rising!
My first memories of snow? white, cold, wet and fun.
Yes fun. I’ve got 2 brothers so you can imagine the snowball fights on the rare occasions that we had snow. The other local kids refused to take part as all 3 of us played a lot of cricket and so were used to throwing things the size of snowballs. They found being hit by one of us hurt too much!
Yes the cheeky Nesbitt Brothers. I have heard of them 🙂
Cheeky is a marvellous way of describing us. Our mother encouraged this, in a way, as she wanted us to have a bit of ‘spark’ about us as long as we weren’t rude or disrespectful.
Beannachtai na Nollag ar chach. Ba mhaith liom ceann de na tuailli sin i ndairire.
I have hazy memories of the long cold snowy winter of 1962/3, I was only 2 after all. It snowed here in the UK on Boxing Day (26th Dec) and the snow lasted until February as did sub zero temperatures (Celsius) until February. That is 4 weeks longer than usual. At one stage it was about 2 feet (60 cm) deep, which for Bournemouth on the south coast of England was/is remarkable as most winters there is no snow apart from flurries.
My favourite snowy scene was about 12 years ago when I lived in Birmingham (UK). One day there was a fall of about 5cm, a few days later the same and then again a few days later. There was a tall and broad brick wall outside my flat and, as the temperature had remained below zero and the sun (what little there was of it) was week, for a few days you could see distinct layers of snow in ascending order of whiteness. That winter I also sent a video of the falling snow to my friends in Chennai who never get snow. They were very envious and found it hard to believe me that the novelty and fun soon wore off when you had to try to get to work or needed to go to the shops!
Edit. I’ve just had another snow memory. The winter of 74/75, I think, was another rare one of lying snow in Bournemouth. Our back garden had an L shaped piece of grass and my pet cat, Tinker, was mostly black and a very large moggie. He went out through his catflap in a very slow hesitant manner which was very unusual for him. We decided to watch and after a while he started prancing up and down where the grass was supposed to be. He become more and more skittish and manic but would suddenly stop sending up a shower of snow before shooting off in another direction then doing the same. It was great fun watching this large black creature contrasting vividly with the snow as he dashed around. After ten minutes or so I suspect that the new sensation of cold paws wore off and he came back in. Naturally he was soaking wet so one of us got a towel and dried him off. He loved that too as it was like a mega stroking session!
Má bhuann mé, rud nach dtarlóidh, gheobhaidh tú mo thuáille, Phil.
Go raibh maith agat Jurgen. Má bhuann mé is féidir leat an chuid is mó den duais a bheith agat seachas an tuáille agus giotán agus píosaí eile.
This is not really a memory (I was very little and do not remember it) but it was a rare time when it snowed enough in San Jose, Ca., for it to stick around and to play in it. The only reason I know was that my father had an 8mm film of it. I wish I knew where the film disappeared to.
It was the end of the world. My parents took me to the back window to show me something wonderful, but what I saw was that my backyard was GONE! They called it snow, but all I saw was terrifying white nothingness.
That’s hysterical, Greg! I can’t believe I didn’t have that reaction myself when I was little. I was always drawing the most frightening possible conclusions from novel situations. (For example, department store mannequins were customers who had been captured and transformed against their will.)
Oh, my! Glad I didn’t know that when I was pulling the dress off a mannequin in a store the other day. What if that was how they snatch you?! (It was the only dress in that size. For my daughter, not me.)
Hi Mona and Lisa! I remember walking on an icy sidewalk cracking the ice by stomping on it and enjoying the crackling sound it made. The ground was white with snow. I think I was maybe 4 or 5 years old the time. This would have been in the mid 1960’s.
Hi Mona and Lisa. My biggest snow memory is somewhere in the 60s. I think I was 9 or 10 and we had a blizzard in Michigan. The snow was so high. The only way to get around was people who had snowmobiles. Everything was closed for a few days. I remember when things finally opened up, the piles of snow were so high it was hard to see around intersections and they actually put orange balls on the antennas of the cars to be able to see if someone was there.
I am not sure, but I do remember being little and it snowed on Thanksgiving. I remember being confused and asking if it was actually Christmas already. When we we little the first snow always meant Christmas was just around the corner.
It’s supposed to snow here tomorrow. HooHa
TGIF
JP
I remember when I was in elementary school (a long time ago), huge mounds of snow at school where they had piled it from plowing etc.
It was like a mountain, so all the kids would try to climb it and play “king of the mountain”
I remember being cold for a good part of my early life. Living in the middle of the United States we got both extremes thru the year. Blistering summer heat and freezing winters.
Building snow men in the yard with my brothers.
I grew up in the Carribean. In 2011, I came to America for the first time to visit my cousin in Chicago. After a short stay in Florida we arrived to Chicago. Dear Heaven! The airport was so cold and we had to stay near the door to wait fir our ride.
I can tell you it is not a fond memory.
My first real memory of heavy snow, was walking to school in deep snow (back in the days when kids weren’t all driven to school and schools didn’t shut at the first sign of bad weather ????), to get to school we had to cross a railway bridge, which was never salted or cleared, so was always deadly to get across once the snow turned to ice. It’s amazing there wasn’t more serious injuries as most of us ended up slipping down the steps at some point.
For as long as I can remember We couldn’t wait for it to snow so we could go out and shovel pavements to earn money I love the snow but don’t love shallowing it any longer.
Living in Pittsburgh Snow is a way of life during the winter months. I first remember when I was 3 and going to the park which had a huge hill with my mom and she sat me on her lap and we went down the hill and got to the bottom and we both fell off and covered with snow and laughing like crazy. Oh my so good memories of that day. I can recall it like just happened yesterday and she was so happy and that will always be in my thoughts.
You girls are just too cute, I could eat you all up!!!
My first memory of snow is sled riding in my alley behind my house. There is a hill on my block and we would wait for the first snow and all the neighborhood kids would grab their sleds and run out to go down the alley. We would do this for hours and long after dark. It snows frequently here in the Pennsylvania mountains although we haven’t had hardly any at all so far this year. I can’t wait for it it makes me feel like a kid again.
We used to make igloos when it snowed a lot, and I remember making a garage station out of snow that I would pull up to in my little John Deere tractor and say fill her up! We had fun in the snow with the neighbor kids. After a fresh snowfall we would run and play all day never a dull moment and lots of energy. Today a different story it’s more like work but still enjoy getting out.
I won today, thanks Mona and Lisa, that’s the best gift ever to receive something personal you made. Looking forward to having it hanging on the wall. You’ll always be in my heart.
I’m too late for Christmas but I’ll send you something in the new year.
My first memory of snow I was 4 I loved snow as a kid but after I broke my arm after slipping in the snow I never liked It after that
That happened to my brother too!
I was about 3/4 and I vaguely remember it snowing heavily and our small garden was covered with what seemed mountains of snow to me. Down the middle was a concrete path and after running around for while and throwing snow balls at my parents got me running short distance and then sliding along on my tummy.
And that was in East London back in the mists of time.
When I was a kid, we had some snow in the back garden (in the UK so very rare). My sister and I built snowmen together and had a snowball fight 😛 My mother also recorded it so its a nice memory to revisit.
I don’t actually remember, but I have pictures of snow drifts that were as high as our front door. Rochester, NY has quite a bit of snow each year.
Can remember that I had a 3 person toboggan that we steered with a stick and the legs and then there were some wild rides down between the spruce trees. Can not remember that we drove into any trees, but dangerous it was – but fun – when? about the winter of 1956. It is not often we have white yule but we dream about it every year as you can see from this list that show a year when all of Denmark was covered in snow yulenight 24th of December: 1915, 1923, 1938, 1956, 1969, 1981, 1995, 2009 and 2010. In Scandinavia we have in ancient times always celebrated yule around the 21th of December which is winter solstice.
Congrats to the winners today, enjoy the Fab Felt Paintings Creations ????
I can’t really recall the earliest Snow memory but being in Ottawa Canada, for my entire life, as a kid, I do recall there being more snow than what occurs now, or at least normal Winter weather, you knew when it was winter, not mixed up insane weather as of current times, going tobagging/crazy carpeting down a hill nearby, going on a toboggan which was tied behind a skidoo, making snow forts, getting boot stuck in an unspecting hole while pkaying and having to come inside to with one boot on, and other foot in sock …lol…. the time a furnace oil truck went into ditch in front of our house when ditch existed at the time, going out to aunt/uncle’s farm on Xmas Day during a winter storm , etc… homemade ice rink beside our house so my 2nd older bro could practice his hockey skills, I learned but never successfully how to skate …etc⛄❄☃️????
My first memories of snow, was when I was 4 and going to primary school, we walked 3 miles to school and it was quite deep, playing with snow balls and Dad rolling the snow to make a snowman on the way. When we finally reached the school, it had been closed due to no heating and so had plenty of time to play in the snow
my memory of snow ,we would look out the front window, waiting for it to snow, and when we saw the first of the snowflakes we would get excited , and knew soon we would be able to play in the snow, It was even better on school days , if we would get to much snow we would get to stay home.
I live in Michigan so we always had snow all winter. But lately, due to climate change, we don’t get nearly as much. Like Rich’s comment before mine, we hit 60 degrees yesterday. My first big memory of snow was in 1967 when I was 10 years old, we got about 2 feet of snow in 1 day, and had fun getting out of the house with snow drifts up against the doorways.
Hello Ladies,
I’ve lived in the South most of my Life, so snow is a rareity. ???? (I love snow)
I guess I was about 5 or 6 and it had snowed pretty good. My Grandmother, Aunt And Uncle had come to visit shortly after Christmas. I was standing on the front porch with my aunt and uncle and they were making snowballs, then putting a firecracker in it, then lighting it, then throwing it, and watching it blow up, sending snow everywhere. I wanted to try, so they made one, lit it, and I just stood there looking at it. At the very last instant, I threw it. Much to my aunt and uncles relief.
Can’t wait for the song later today. I know it will be Spectacular, just like you both are.
Have a Spectacular day and all the best for you
Rick
My first memory of the snow was 6 or 7 years old and by 10 in the morning it was already melted, where I am from, although it is very cold in winter it is not common for it to snow.
Congrats to the winners today, what can be nicer than hand made art by Mona and Lisa.
Hey I have one of those groovy caps, and I must say it looks wonderful on Lisa!
My earliest memory of snow is when we lived in a small isolated town in central Washington State, Bridgeport WA, right next to a big hydro electric dam where my dad got a job. I was about 5 years old I think. Being a semi-arid area with huge apple and peach orchards, in the winter it snowed a lot, like a few feet. We had a small dog, I think a mix, kind of looked like snoopy to me in my eyes (name was Musket), and I remember playing with him in the snow. The snow plow pushed a huge wall of snow up against our front yard and remember playing in it with my dog. My other fond memory of snow is back in 2008, after we moved into our new place and we just got Max, he was only a couple months old, and we had one of the biggest snow storms that December in recent memory. So this would have been Max’s first memory of snow. In 2017 Max died of an illness, but that year in particular we had a lot of snow and remember getting to play in the snow a lot with him again in the snow which was particularly sweet. So snow always reminds me of dogs, and Max in particular. Here is a video of Max and his first experience with snow.
https://youtu.be/fgIs2GF4ts4
Looks exhausting what you are doing Jung. Max clearly had more fun on his side.
Jurgen, in those early days Max really exercised me! I slept like a baby every night. ????
I am no stranger to snow. The part of my family that lives in Norway runs the Arctic Experience and they’re also part of Sami, the indigenous population. I was really little dog sledding and reindeer racing, which is very fun but also quite dangerous.
Those are fabulous pictures!
Thank you!
I’ve lived almost all my life in the northeastern US, so snow was usually about as memorable as air or grass. I can’t think of a specific snow related memory until when I was 10 years old, when there was a huge blizzard that crippled the northeast, and in our city we got 42 inches (about a meter) of snow in four days. There was a snow drift in front of our house that was over 6 feet (about 2 meters) high. Of course school was canceled for a few days and we too dug tunnels and made snow forts. Some neighbors piled up the snow from their driveway along the side of it and then tunneled through it making a tunnel I could stand up in all the way from one end of the driveway to the other.
I still live in the same area and we still get a lot of snow compared to most cities. But it varies from year to year and climate change affects it. This fall we’ve had only one snowstorm so far, which is unusual — snow on the ground for much of December is not uncommon — and yesterday we set a record with a temperature of 67°F (19°C), but they’re forecasting snow for tomorrow, and then again on Christmas day.
Update: Forecast is now rain for Christmas. 🙁
I don’t remember my first snow encounter, but I remember a couple of fun times. We don’t get much snow here in the NM desert, but there were a couple of years when we got six inches to a foot in town. When snow falls here we try to make the most of it, as you did in your “All I Want Christmas To Be” video. We had a couple of semi-truck tire tubes, and quickly headed out into the desert to go tubing down the jeep road hills.
We usually get quite a bit of snow on our side of New York State and I can still remember making a snowball and rolling it across our yard making it grow bigger and bigger. Soon we had a snowman! Snow was fun when my brothers and I were young!
Growing up in New England, snow was a winter staple. I can remember making trails in the snow by stomping down it with my 3 younger siblings following behind. We’d spend hours just following them around the yard once they were made.
When I was young, we lived in a valley where it snowed quite a bit and quite a lot. I can remember jumping off the porch and getting stuck in four feet of snow. After that experience I stuck with building forts.
My first memories of snow are at about 3 years old and going out in it on a very heavy blue wooden sledge with metal runners. None of your light plastic stuff this home made sledge and a hard pull back up a slope after a ride.